Obama: a man with a plan

Now when it comes to making full use of the internet and its various tools to promote oneself during an election campaign, American presidential candidate, Barrack Obama is definitely a man with the master plan.

WebPages offer a great opportunity for campaigning, giving out information and, when used effectively, can host a conversation between the voter and their politician. Obama’s election campaign website is a shining example.

The homepage introduces the user to Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden and their campaign as a whole. The user is given a wide range of options from video to merchandise to registration. All a voter would ever need to know about the Obama-Biden campaign is easily and clearly accessible.

Voter registration is an essential part of the election process. If one’s supporters are not registered voters they become meaningless as they cannot change their support into the votes necessary to make it to presidency. The website enables users to register as eligible voters and to verify that they are correctly registered. They can also apply for an absent ballot and find information on political groups in their area so as to promote politically active constituents.

Lack of funding for an election campaign could lead to one’s demise. The costs of running an effective electoral campaign can be extensive. Federal Election Commission Chairman Michael Toner said for a candidate to be taken seriously, they needed to raise at least $100 million.

The internet has proven to be an efficient means of gathering funding. It is reported that on the 16^th of December 2007, Republican Ron Paul collected over $6 million through Internet donations. This is more money than any presidential candidate in US history. Obama’s website gives the user the opportunity to donate money to the campaign on a number of different pages.

In a democracy, voters are enabled to make informed decisions as to who they vote for because they have access to information about a candidate, their manifesto and views on topical issues. Obama does not rely on a media that has been called into question due to bias. He uses his website as a platform to speak to voters about issues that Americans care about. Users can read up on his views on civil rights, the economy, ethics, family, poverty, urban policy, women and of course Iraq, homeland security and foreign policy.

With the feedback application, voters can even respond, challenge and support to his ideas. He also has a blog that can be accessed through his website. As covered in a previous post, effective blogging is an important tool that can yield positive returns.

The use of video and pictures of Obama, his wife Michelle, Bilden and their supports adds a personal touch to the campaign. Michelle Obama has become an integral part of her husband’s campaign making it a great idea to include video footage of her speeches and pictures of her on the road with Biden and Obama.

With the wonders on the e-wallet, where users can purchase goods over the internet, Obama has made merchandise available on his site. One can get golf shirts, golf balls, umbrellas, pins, buttons, summer gear and accessories delivered to their doorstep within 2 weeks of odering and paying online for them.

The internet and its technologies have opened up an entire world of possibilities for communication and campaigning. Barrak Obama is one of the few politicians who have taken full advantage of this.

Information alone is never enough

A while ago I took a look at how well the South African government was using their website to communicate with the public in the interests of cyberdemocracy.  I thought it useful to look at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa’s (Idasa) website under a similar lens; with the question being ‘how is Idasa making use of the internet?’

Idasa is an internationally recognised public interest group “committed to promoting sustainable democracy based on active citizenship, democratic institutions, and social justice.” With its international links, the internet offers a better opportunity to communicate and mobilise than any other medium.

The organisation grew out a need for “an alternative to the politics of repression”. Their aim to create “a democratic culture in SA and strategic interventions to help the new democracy take root” make them an interesting group to look at with reference to e-politics.

Idasa uses the internet to communicate with the general public. Initiations to events and information about exhibitions are placed on the home page. One can also find articles on workshop reports, news stories (mostly about African countries) and a bookshelf where users can read reviews of books deemed important.

Educating the public enables informed decisions which would aid and strengthen any democracy. On their homepage, Idasa posts important information relevant to the programmes they run at the time. Currently they have information about their Party Funding Campaign. They also have information about community and citizen empowerment, governance and aids and safety and security to name a few.

Idasa fulfils their task of trying to create a culture of democracy by being a great platform for citizens to access information, possibly get involved and educate themselves about political issues. However, when it comes to using internet technologies to create a space for debate and conversation, the website falls short.

Idasa has a newsletter to which users can subscribe however there is no place for user feedback, comment or opinion…not even on the “peace building and dialogue” page! There a ‘contact us” page complete with the contact details of Cape town and Kutlwanong democracy centres and contacts for the various programmes Idasa is involved in.

For a democracy to be strong and for effective political engagement for the public they need to be well informed about their political landscape. Open discussion is an important part of that process. In his defence of free speech, John Stuart Mill says that even unpopular opinions should be allowed to be expressed as their authors can be corrected in an open public debate.

Access to information is essential to any democracy. However, it is useless if the public does not know the many ways that information affects them. Discursive spaces are essential for the exchange of ideas and the growth of any nation.

A Global Voice can be heard

Over the past blog posts I’ve taken a look at (among other topics) the number of issues that hinder cyberdemocracy especially in Africa. The digital divide and the language barrier of the internet as it is are major contributing factors to the low levels of e-political involvement.

A large majority of websites are in English. However a large majority of the world’s population does not have English as their first language and some do not even speak a word of it. This presents an obvious language barrier and obstacle for any non-English speaker wanting to participate as an internet activist.

The digital divide has worked to cut off an entire section of the world’s population. As noted in a previous post, “even in the advent of this great cyber-democracy, those who were marginalized by the politics of the apartheid regime are still marginalized by the politics of this new virtual-democracy”.

But…this does not mean that e-democracy is doomed to fail in Africa. The fact that Africa only makes up 3.4% of the world’s online population does not mean that this 3.4% cannot become internet activists.

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Global Voices is a non-profit global citizens’ media platform that allows everyone the opportunity to raise global awareness about the issues that the mainstream media often forget, or simply choose not, to cover.

They use “weblogs, podcasts, photos, video, wikis, tags, aggregators and online chats – to call attention to conversations… that will help shed new light on the nature of our interconnected world”.

Bloggers spark up conversation, spread information and call on action for their particular regions. A team of translators ensure that all content is available in a wide range of languages like, French, Spanish, Chinese and Bangla. Users are even able set up their own networks which translate content into any language of their choice.

This means that with as little as just a GPRS enabled mobile telephone and basic computer literacy, a small group of women in rural North West province can take part in e-politics by blogging in seTswana. They could express the view of people at the grassroots level and have their content translated into a number of languages for global access.

South African bloggers are regular contributors to the site with debates often started with user comments. Nelson Mandela’s 90^th birthday celebrations, environmental issues, and the International Criminal Court’s charges against Sudanese President al-Bashir are only some of the most recent posts from South Africa.

South Africa still has a long was to go when it comes to internet penetration but that does not mean that e-politics is not a possibility.

Granted, one could argue that with internet access still largely in the hands of the more financially affluent, the politics of the poor and uneducated are still marginalize. However, with the government setting up more Thusong Service Centres, all voices can gradually begin to be heard at the global level.

ICTs in South Africa

In a previous post I looked at the issue of the digital divide. From that comes the question; what is being done about the unequal development of countries in the information age? The answer, or at least part of it, is the introduction of information and communication technologies (ITCs).

In South Africa there are a number of challenges to the widespread use of ICTs. Just as the digital divide happens between developed and developing countries, it also occurs between rural and urban areas with any country.

South Africa’s rural areas are behind urban areas in terms of infrastructure, literacy, household income and computer and telephone access. Because of the costs that go into ICTs calls for cost-effective facilities that the community can share.

In an effort to increase access and availability of government information and services, the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) has introduced Thusong Service Centres, previously known as Multi-Purpose Community Centres.

Dr. Essop Pahad, Minister in The Presidency, described Thusong Service Centres as “one-stop centres providing integrated services and information from government to communities”. These centres provide the community with access to print and electronic media to allow for communication with their government.

According to the GCIS, there are 66 service centres in the country. These centres would are needed more in communities with the lowest access to landline or cellular telephones, computers and the internet.

Households in the Limpopo province have the lowest number of landlines, computers and internet access. They are 7th in the ranking for cellphone access. Only 7.1% of their households have landlines, 4.4% have computers, 3% have internet access and 26.1have access to cellphones.

Limpopo has nine Thusong Community Centres, the third highest number in the country. Each centre services an average of 14 824 people.

The Western Cape has the most access to landline telephones, computers per household and the internet. They are second in the rank for cellphone access. It is therefore quite interesting that they have the second most community centres in the country.

According to South Africa’s Telecommunication Act, the Universal Service Agency is mandated with to promote universal access and services. Together with NEPAD, the e-school project was launched in 11 African countries including South Africa. The idea is for each e-school cyberlab to have computers, photocopier, fax machine and printer to be shared by under-serviced communities.

E-schools and Thusong Service Centres assist in the development of businesses, education and e-politics, through access to information and services. By informing and educating the masses, the state allows for greater political involvement.

It would be worthwhile to look at how successful ICTs have been in promoting e-governance, but, that’s a topic for another post.