The Making of a (Big Data) President

Hurwitz, Judith. "The Making of a (Big Data) President." Bloomberg Businessweek, November 14, 2012.

From the article: For the first time in presidential politics, there is a considerable focus on the role that large amounts of data played in the course of the campaign. Technology has always been important for any political campaign, but in this presidential election, both campaigns attempted to use Big Data analytics as a strategic weapon. There were some important lessons to learn from how the data were used—and misused.  Read more

Reed Hundt and Blair Levin: For a Politics of Abundance, Growth First

Hundt, Reed and Blair Levin. "For a Politics of Abundance, Growth First." Mercury News, November 12, 2012. 

From the article: "After the election, Washington, D.C., has the same power structure, but a very different strategic situation. Because existing law raises taxes and cuts spending at the beginning of 2013, the Republican House must compromise with both the Democratic Senate and re-elected President Barack Obama on the budget. No one can prize gridlock above agreement.

Washington's habitual inclination in such situations, however, is toward protracted negotiation of marginal changes. Now is the time for Silicon Valley leaders to demand that while negotiating budget compromises, Congress also immediately pass laws that allow the private sector quickly to deliver breakthroughs in information technology and clean energy to the market.

Potential technological abundance can give the United States both a high and rising standard of living and a rapid reduction in dependence on carbon-intense energy uses." Read more 

Despite Obama Win, Health IT Efforts Still Face Heavy Scrutiny

Bowman, Dan. "Despite Obama Win, Health IT Efforts Still Face Heavy Scrutiny." FierceHealthIT, November 7, 2012. 

From the article: "The re-election of President Obama to the White House--and Republicans retaining control of the House and Democrats retaining control of the Senate--almost assuredly means the continuation of healthcare IT efforts currently underway such as the Meaningful Use incentive program.

But those efforts will likely face increased oversight and scrutiny…" Read more

2012: The First Digital Election

Savitz, Eric. "2012: The First Digital Election." Forbes, November 5, 2012.

From the article: "2012 could well be the Twitter Election. By December, election retweets and hashtags will inevitably feature in the postscript to this election, as tweets are by nature terse and very quotable – easy fodder for journalists. The volume of tweets surged from the moment Romney questioned federal funding to PBS and Big Bird. Many of those with Twitter accounts were raised on Sesame Street. This could be the first election where social media rather than advertising made the difference. ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox are all using the volume of blog and tweet activity as a real time barometer of this too-close-to-call campaign." Read more

See also

Springer, Paul and Mel Carson. Pioneers of Digital. London: Kogan Page (2012).

Inside the Secret World of the Data Crunchers Who Helped Obama Win

Scherer, Michael. "Inside the Secret World of the Data Crunchers Who Helped Obama Win." Time, November 7, 2012. 

From the article: "Exactly what that team of dozens of data crunchers was doing, however, was a closely held secret. “They are our nuclear codes,” campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt would say when asked about the efforts. Around the office, data-mining experiments were given mysterious code names such as Narwhal and Dreamcatcher. The team even worked at a remove from the rest of the campaign staff, setting up shop in a windowless room at the north end of the vast headquarters office. The “scientists” created regular briefings on their work for the President and top aides in the White House’s Roosevelt Room, but public details were in short supply as the campaign guarded what it believed to be its biggest institutional advantage over Mitt Romney’s campaign: its data." Read more

Politics on Social Networking Sites

Rainie, Lee and Aaron Smith. "Politics on Social Networking Sites." Pew Internet and American Life Project, Pew Research Center, September 4, 2012.

From the report: "Some but not most users of social networking sites say the sites are important for a variety of political activities:

• 36% of SNS users say the sites are “very important” or “somewhat important” to them in keeping up with political news.
• 26% of SNS users say the sites are “very important” or “somewhat important” to them in recruiting people to get involved in political issues that matter to them.
• 25% of SNS users say the sites are “very important” or “somewhat important” to them for debating or discussing political issues with others.
• 25% of SNS users say the sites are “very important” or “somewhat important” to them in finding other people who share their views about important political issues. In each activity, Democrats who use social networking sites are more likely than Republicans or independents to say the sites are important." Read more

You’d Need Six Months to Watch Every Presidential Campaign Ad

Giroux, Greg. "You’d Need Six Months to Watch Every Presidential Campaign Ad." Bloomberg.com, August 22, 2012.

From the stats: "At 30 seconds a spot, and sometimes 60, it would take more than six months to watch all 526,633 presidential election ads that have run on television since the general election began in earnest in early April." Read more