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How Obama’s Internet Campaign Changed Politics

One of the many ways that the election of Barack Obama as president has echoed that of John F. Kennedy is his use of a new medium that will forever change politics. For Mr. Kennedy, it was television. For Mr. Obama, it is the Internet.

“Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president. Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee,” said Arianna Huffington, editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post.

I just got this in my email:

OCTOBER 1, 2008 (WASHINGTON, DC): On September 30, President Bush signed a funding measure which included $20 million for the Department of Defense (DoD) Ovarian Cancer Research Program. This is an amazing accomplishment for the advocates and partners who have been fighting for an increase in federal funding for the past six years. Earlier in 2008, the House of Representatives draft bill contained $25 million in Fiscal Year 2009 (FY09) to the DoD Ovarian Cancer Research Program to help maintain current research and expand innovative investigations into early detection and screening tools. While $20 million is not the full $25 originally requested, the ovarian cancer community is pleased that Congress has recognized the importance of the DoD program and the need for increased funds for ovarian cancer research.

Since 1997, the DoD has had a Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program to eliminate ovarian cancer - the Ovarian Cancer Research Program. The Ovarian Cancer Research Program is a peer-reviewed and highly competitive bid program. In 2008, the DoD program was only able to award approximately 17 of the 250 scored grants on the $10 million appropriation. Since 2004, this program has received $10 million per year to fulfill its goal of eliminating ovarian cancer by stimulating and supporting innovative, multidisciplinary research efforts that will lead to better understanding, detection, diagnosis, prevention and control of ovarian cancer. The accomplishments of this fund include:

• Researchers discovered biomarkers for early stage ovarian cancer
• Development of animal models to study ovarian cancer
• Discovery of biomarkers that predict survival
• Establishment of tissue repository and registry
• Published 164 papers in gynecology oncology
• Discovery of the type of cells that control ovarian cancer
• Understanding of platinum drug uptake, which will be used to address chemotherapy resistance

“The Ovarian Cancer National Alliance is very pleased with the $20 million appropriation,” says Karen Orloff Kaplan, Sc.D. Chief Executive Officer of OCNA. “This money serves as a life line to ovarian cancer research and provides medical scientists and professionals the resources they need to help find an early detection test and eventually, a cure.”

More research and funding for ovarian cancer are essential because diagnosing the disease is so daunting; only 20% of women diagnosed are in Stage I. In the more than 30 years since the War on Cancer was declared, ovarian cancer mortality rates have not significantly improved. About 22,000 American women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2008 and 15,000 women will die from the disease.

Congress plays an integral role in the DoD program by maintaining the structure of the Ovarian Cancer Research Program as an independent, site-specific, dedicated research. Furthermore, Congress determines the appropriations level each year.

“The DoD’s $20 million dollar appropriation comes at a time when the House and Senate just passed Awareness Resolutions officially proclaiming September as ovarian cancer awareness month,” says Cara Tenenbaum, Senior Policy Director of OCNA. “Capitol Hill is making large and small milestones toward the fight against ovarian cancer and we look forward to working with Congress to keep the momentum going.”

I have just discoverd Facebook.  Facebook used to be only for college students but now it’s a social network where I’m connecting with people I haven’t seen in 20 years.  Cool, huh?  It’s neat to find high school acquaintances to see where everyone has ended up and it’s neat to be able to spread a message to every day friends in an instant.  But, the political agenda of Facebook may be what the candidate’s need to get their “face” and issues out to an audience that they never could reach outside of Facebook.  In just a few short weeks, we’ll find out how and IF the Internet shaped this election.

Here’s an interesting article in the NYTimes that looks at John McCain’s Facebook page and determines if this is what politicians should do.

Facebook Politics

Where my own page on Facebook, the social-networking site, lists my “friends,” the pages of McCain and other politicians and celebrities show “supporters” or “fans.” McCain had fully 269,709 when I last looked. He seems to have picked up about 45,000 between the Democratic National Convention and the start of the Republican one. The day that McCain named Palin as his V.P. candidate, I notice idly from McCain’s Facebook résumé, was also the candidate’s 72nd birthday: Aug. 29. His political views are listed right after his birthday: conservative.

Facebook appears to have supplied a job-seeking template for aspiring free-world leaders, and blanks have been informatively filled in.

Will newspapers survive in the digital world?  I already unsubscribed to the The Dallas Morning News because I can get all the information that I need from news Web sites.  It’s amazing to me that electronic readers are looking more like books.  I still love holding REAL books and perusing through a newspaper. But, that paper newspaper doesn’t give you automatic updates if breaking news happens.  Real newspapers are old news by noon.  That’s the problem.

New E-Newspaper Reader Echoes Look of the Paper

Newspaper companies have watched the technology closely for years. The ideal format, a flexible display that could be rolled or folded like a newspaper, is still years off, says E Ink. But it foresees color displays with moving images and interactive clickable advertising coming in only a few more years, according to Sriram K. Peruvemba, vice president for marketing for E Ink.

E Ink expects that within the next few years it will be able to create technology that allows users to write on the screen and view videos. At a recent demonstration at E Ink’s headquarters here, the company showed prototypes of flexible displays that can create rudimentary colors and animated images. “By 2010, we will have a production version of a display that offers newspaperlike color,” Mr. Peruvemba said.

Here’s an interesting article about the fight against cancer.  I really like what the oncologist says below.  Don’t refer to cancer as a fight–because it implies someone or something will win.

Rethinking the war on cancer

We also tell you about Mayberry because of something Boston oncologist (and cancer survivor) Therese Mulvey told us. She has seen real progress in her 19 years in practice, but the upbeat focus on cancer survivors, cancer breakthroughs and miracle drugs bothers her. “The metaphor of fighting cancer implies the possibility of winning,” she said after seeing the last of that day’s patients one afternoon. “But some people are just not going to be cured. We’ve made tremendous strides against some cancers, but on others we’re stuck, and even our successes buy some people only a little more time before they die of cancer anyway.” She pauses, musing on how the uplifting stories and statistics—death rates from female breast cancer have fallen steadily since 1990; fecal occult blood testing and colonoscopy have helped avert some 80,000 deaths from colorectal cancer since 1990—can send the wrong message. “With cancer,” says Mulvey, “sometimes death is not optional.”

Abilene Christian University in Abilene, TX passed out iPhones to their Freshman class to start using in the classroom.  Interesting idea.  I don’t even have an iPhone right now because, well, they are too expensive, but one day when I too am a tenured-track professor, I can take attendance right from my phone. But, what interests me, is the fact, professors can create interactive features to their lectures, which creates interactive learning!!!   And, I LOVE interactive learning!!!!

Cell phones welcomed in some classrooms

Cell phones have long been anathema in the classroom, banned as a potential distraction, at best, and as a possible vehicle for cheating, at worst. But lately, educators have begun changing their tune on mobile phones.

Abilene Christian University will hand out Apple’s iPhone 3G smartphone to two-thirds of this year’s entering class of 950 freshmen. Students will be expected to use the devices to brainstorm ideas and get virtual handouts and podcasts during class. Instructors will use them for such tasks as monitoring attendance.

“This is a new platform for learning, in the same way a laptop or a desktop was a new platform,” says William Rankin, co-director of mobile learning research at the school in Abilene, Texas.

Text messaging, Twitter, are under fire for bad grammar.  Some may wonder, do students know how to write correctly?  Are using such things as text and twitter teaching kids how to communicate a message effectively?  I believe, there’s a time and place for Twitter and Text, but when it comes to the real world, a smiley face won’t take you that far without knowing how to use technology to your advantage.  Here’s an interesting article about grammar, signs and how some teachers are frustrated.

Grammatical errors on signs becoming a ‘regualar’ occurrence

Educators say these bungled words are a symptom of a deeper problem: Students aren’t learning grammar.

The State Board of Education in May adopted new curriculum standards, including greater emphasis on grammar instruction in Texas schools.

Some also say that students’ text messaging and Twittering – which encourage short notes and abbreviations and spelling-be-damned – are seeping into formal writing.

Students are writing informally now more than ever, said Diana Grumbles, director of the First-Year Writing Program at Southern Methodist University.

Some of her students don’t capitalize or use punctuation when they send her a quick e-mail. Some will submit in-class writing assignments with symbols – using @ instead of “at,” for example.

42% say they don’t know what Social Networking means…

Across the 17 global markets surveyed, 42% of people know what online social networking is, says Synovate. The Dutch were most likely to know the term with 89% answering ‘yes’, followed by Japan at 71% and Americans with 70% answering in the affirmative. 26% across the markets surveyed are members of social networking sites. This peaked with the Netherlands at 49%, United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 46%, Canada at 44% and the US at 40% (though keep in mind that’s 40% of a huge population).