While many think of advertising and marketing solely in a consumer based sense, issue advocacy groups (Think Tanks, 527 orgs, nonprofits) are now using some of the same tactics to detail the importance of their cause to the public. Many are realizing that the people they serve want to be engaged in various mediums, whether that’s the television, print, internet or mobile.
So was the thought at the 1st annual opening of the International School of Digital Transformation (ISDT) at The University of Porto in Porto, Portugal where I chatted & researched about the topic with academics, students, and practitioners from across the globe as a Textopoly-sponsored attendee.
The topics ranged from Obama’s use of social networking and the internet to gain the presidency to the uprisings in Iran & Burma and how revolutions are actually being televised, but this time with camera phones, social network feeds, and video phones. I’ll be talking about that more in detail with guest bloggers here as well as upcoming scholarly journal articles regarding Political Mass Behaviour and technology, particularly mobile.
However, in those discussions and the most recent town hall discussions here in the states over the summer, I thought about political imagery and how that is steadily changing with digital technology, especially mobile videos and photos.
Traditional news outlets are now generating user/viewer produced content to drive news stories (particulary CNN’s iReport feature that recieves heavy video phone submissions) and blogs, which in essence is more based on opinionated writing, are oftentimes breaking areas for news that gets covered much later by traditional media.
I guess thats what Gil Scott was thinking about when he feared the revolution will be televised…