Interesting Thoughts On Technology/#OWS/Traditional Politics... 'Did Politics Just Change?'

[WillyT]

Did politics just change?
By Dave Winer - ScriptingNews
Wednesday, October 12, 2011 at 9:09 AM.

<snip>

Going back to before Dean For America, I was hoping that, with the advent of the Internet, the economics of elections would change. I got close to the Dean people, but they either didn't see the possibility, or felt it was too early, or felt they couldn't afford to be an experimental campaign.

But with Occupy Wall Street, it would be wholly inconsistent to use their presence on the Internet to raise money to buy ads on television. If they did that, we would need to start an OOWS to occupy them.

Look at all the attention this leaderless movement has managed to draw to itself, without any kind of a media budget. And I have a feeling this is just beginning. Hopefully we will build decentralized communication networks that allow ideas to be distributed instantaneously without being controlled by Time-Warner, News Corp, Comcast, or even Google, Twitter or Facebook. Of course we already have the technology, it's just what the Internet already does. But we have to build a critical mass outside the corporate silos to have the independence we'll need, imho.

If the economics of politics were really changing now, it would be a predictable part of the usual technology cycle, written about here many times. First with a new technology the users need training wheels. Limits that make it easy to approach. For that you need companies. But their utility diminishes as two processes converge:

<snip>

More: http://scripting.com/stories/2011/10/12/didPoliticsJustChange.html

:kick:

[DireStrike]

1. But they do have a budget.

This isn't political campaign type cash, but it is serious money.

http://nycga.cc/

We are here representing MEDIA group.
We want a budget to support LIVESTREAMING.
On a broader level, we also hope this will establish a precedent for other working groups to establish budgets.
Come on this journey with us!
Since day 1, a live video stream:

http://www.livestream.com/globalrevolution

THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING!
Some facts:
2 million unique viewers.
7 million streams representing every single country on the face of the planet
Except for N Korea (we gotta work on that…)
165,000 streams in CHINA.
Lots of censorship there, but still watching.
In total, 106 million minutes of video served.
Do the math = 200 years of #OccupyWallStreet
(Oy, that’s a long time)

Why does MEDIA need a budget?
Hodgepodge of donated equip and personal gear
With rain and elements and police oppression, gear has been broken/taken/gone missing.
To keep up our livestream coverage, we need a budget to purchase necessary gear.
This Saturday, GLOBAL PROTEST.
People all over the world will claim their rights and demand a TRUE democracy.
On Sat., 80 cities will participate in a livestream for
#OccupyTheWorld
Right now, over 5K are watching this #GeneralAssembly.
You are all beautiful.

What we are asking for:
$25,740
for livestream equip.
Finance: we’ve raised about $150,000 so far!
Much of that money is not available to us now, but will be available in the coming weeks.
Please be patient.
I’d like to get it all paid out in the next week.

[Odin2005]

2. We are creating a new world in which communication and information is decentralized.

In which the narrative cannot be controlled by centralized Mass Media.