YouTube

Our friends at SparkAction are promoting the Young Minds contest, which is sponsored by Google and will send 12 young people (18-24) to Zeitgeist Americas in Arizona this September. Be sure to apply!

What is Young Minds?

Young Minds is a competition to find twelve young people who have made or are trying to make a positive difference in the world.  It’s a platform to promote what young people are doing to improve their communities and make a difference in the world.

Previous Young Minds winners have had big ideas and taken steps to make them a reality.  The winners attended Zeitgeist Europe 2011, met an array of influential business leaders and thinkers; three of the winners even had a chance to speak at the event.

Now it’s your turn.  We want to find twelve 18- to 24-year-olds who will win entry to a special program of events and master classes held at this year’s Zeitgeist Americas 2011. 

How do you enter? Upload a 1-minute video by August 25, 2011 for the chance to rub elbows with the best and brightest people on the planet.

What is Zeitgeist?

Zeitgeist is a special event hosted by Google that brings together over 400 of the planet’s top leaders and biggest brains – from businessmen to bloggers and inventors to activists.  That’s guest speakers like Professor Stephen Hawking, Desmond Tutu, Bill Clinton, Will.I.Am and Queen Rania of Jordan.  Why?  To talk about the big issues affecting our everyday lives, hear what they think is shaping this world of ours and begin to identify solutions to longstanding concerns.  You can view talks from past Zeitgeist events in full at zeitgeistminds.com.

Who, What, When & How

Young Minds is open to all 18-24 year olds from the USA, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.  (Click here for complete rules.)

Zeitgeist Americas 2011

September 25-27, 2011

Montelucia Resort & Spa

Paradise Valley, AZ

http://zeitgeistamericas.com

Submitting an entry is easy:

1. Record a 1 minute video describing how you are making an impact in the world.
2. Upload it to your YouTube account.
3. Click this link to fill out the entry form.
4. Hit submit!

Bill Maher's recent comment that "Twitter didn't save Iran. Iran saved Twitter" has sparked some debate about the use of social media and its relevance to important issues and events.

Personally, I don't think Maher's comment hits the mark. Twitter wasn't a service that needed saving, nor is it alone responsible for helping promote Iranian protests. It would be more accurate to say that Iran helped the general public realize Twitter's potential, and that Twitter is one component of a new media toolset that is enabling activists in oppressive regimes to communicate where state-run media dominates.

The situation in Iran shows the world that the communications game has changed. It isn't Twitter or Facebook specifically, but the general principle of online and mobile communication.

Mashable created a social media timeline of the Iran Election crisis. It shows how a wide range of online tools have played a role in getting the stories of Iranian protesters to the outside world. These tools range from Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube to Flickr and even Wikipedia.

The essence of the matter is that previously if a country expelled all foreign journalists and had a state-run media, the world would have no way of knowing what was happening within its borders. The emergence of online and mobile technology has turned every person with a camera, cell phone, or computer into an amateur journalist; on location and with unfiltered access journalists have never truly enjoyed.

While it may be a while before these new media tools can change the game everywhere (Africa is still largely left behind, and they could use it the most), the Iran election protests have shown the world what online organizers have known for some time now: social media has fundamentally advanced the way we communicate and coordinate.

Here's a video wrap-up from UMass Amherst's YouTube and the 2008 Election Cycle in the United States, an interdisciplinary conference of academia exploring technology, scholarly work, and politics. The conference was held April 16th and April 17th.

Now this is an education secretary I can believe in.

On Wednesday, Arne Duncan took his message to a club in Washington, appearing with singer-songwriter Neko Case, who introduced him. Check it out for yourself:

• PopTech is accepting applications for their Social Innovation Fellowships
• Washington Times ran an article about the Republican Party's appeal to young voters at last weekend's Conservative Political Action Conference.
• Check out an interesting article on the roadblocks WhiteHouse.gov faces in becoming more transparent and participatory.
• The White House ditches YouTube for Vimeo.
• TechPresident offers a recap of a bar-camp style event to brainstorm better government through technology and transparency.
• Be sure to read Part three of E-Politics' evaluation of the Obama campaign.
• Personal Democracy Forum highlights an interesting new trend in activism and online literacy.
• Still baffled by Twitter? Check out Part two of Deanna Zandt's Twitter for Dummies.

Tim Kaine, the governor of Virginia and President-elect Obama's choice to be Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, released a YouTube video on Friday of him answering questions sent in from all over the country. I thought I'd share the video, and then take a bit to point out a few interesting answers.

Kaine gives young voters some recognition at about 6:35 in. While he's quick to include "first-time voters" in his answer, Kaine explains that the Democratic outreach efforts have been especially successful over the last couple years, due to Howard Dean and Obama. Dean's 50 State Strategy led Democrats into deserted territory, reintroducing the party to some Americans who got used to seeing the GOP as the only option. Kaine noted that Obama's campaign built on this by raising efficacy among potential voters -- each voter's donation or time spent volunteering mattered, and he used whatever tool he could to send that message. With that in mind, Kaine explains that he wants to bring Obama's message of engagement to voters, but with governance in mind.

Hopefully this means that Kaine will be incorporating even more technology into the day-to-day operations of the Democratic Party, in order to attract more and more young voters. I'm a bit concerned that Kaine was so quick to lump young voters in with "first-time voters." I'd like to hear more of Kaine's plan to mobilize young Americans.

About 19:34 in, Kaine answers a question asking for simple things the questioner can do to help. Kaine notes that the first thing they can do is "pitch in and help your neighbor," which made me think of Democrats Work's suggestion for the DNC to reorganize around the idea of service to others. Kaine's answer revolves around "communal responsibility," as the governor points out that many non-profit organizations are experiencing difficulty getting donations in these hard times.

If Kaine means what he says, infusing the party with a service-focused theme would be a great move. With the current state of the economy, the exhaustive list of volunteers the Obama campaign was able to collect this summer and fall, and the coming-of-age of service-loving Millennials, Kaine is in a position to establish and strengthen bonds with both newer, older, and younger voters. The political benefits would be outstanding, but more importantly, the Democratic Party would be tangibly giving something to Americans, not just asking for money or time on its own behalf.

Kaine speaks more about the 50 State Strategy at 23:00, saying that he will continue the strategy, while conceding that it may not look the same, as he and the DNC try to improve on Dean's efforts.

Finally, Kaine answers a young questioner asking how to "get started" in politics. Kaine repeatedly notes that everything starts with "a desire to serve others," explaining that that's what made him leave his job as a civil rights lawyer to pursue politics -- more people to serve.

I applaud Kaine's use of YouTube in answering these questions, and I hope it continues. I hope that Kaine will put much of what he says in this video into action, and that the Democratic Party will continue and broaden their efforts toward engaging every American.

Any thoughts/comments?

It's funny how much more relevance a "radio" address takes on when it's on YouTube. Of course, it could be that we now have a leader who has priorities that are more in line with ours. Either way, President-elect Obama's address this week is important because for the first time in a long time, we're going to be embarking on a grand effort to improve our country from the inside out.

Today, I am announcing a few key parts of my plan. First, we will launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy-efficient. Our government now pays the highest energy bill in the world. We need to change that. We need to upgrade our federal buildings by replacing old heating systems and installing efficient light bulbs. That won’t just save you, the American taxpayer, billions of dollars each year. It will put people back to work.

Second, we will create millions of jobs by making the single largest new investment in our national infrastructure since the creation of the federal highway system in the 1950s. We’ll invest your precious tax dollars in new and smarter ways, and we’ll set a simple rule – use it or lose it. If a state doesn’t act quickly to invest in roads and bridges in their communities, they’ll lose the money.

Third, my economic recovery plan will launch the most sweeping effort to modernize and upgrade school buildings that this country has ever seen. We will repair broken schools, make them energy-efficient, and put new computers in our classrooms. Because to help our children compete in a 21st century economy, we need to send them to 21st century schools.

As we renew our schools and highways, we’ll also renew our information superhighway. It is unacceptable that the United States ranks 15th in the world in broadband adoption. Here, in the country that invented the internet, every child should have the chance to get online, and they’ll get that chance when I’m President – because that’s how we’ll strengthen America’s competitiveness in the world.

In addition to connecting our libraries and schools to the internet, we must also ensure that our hospitals are connected to each other through the internet. That is why the economic recovery plan I’m proposing will help modernize our health care system – and that won’t just save jobs, it will save lives. We will make sure that every doctor’s office and hospital in this country is using cutting edge technology and electronic medical records so that we can cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes, and help save billions of dollars each year.

What's refreshing about this, of course, is the attention this president is paying to the future. Let's place this next to an example of our current president's lack of vision and stubbornness, when he rebuffed the National Governors Association's request to invest in the nation's infrastructure last February.

President Bush rebuffed appeals from the nation’s governors on Monday to increase spending on roads, bridges and other public works as a way to revive the economy.

Governors said Mr. Bush had told them at a White House meeting that he wanted to see the effects of his economic stimulus package before supporting new measures.

A bipartisan group of governors is pushing for major road and bridge projects as a way to create jobs and foster economic development. But the White House says the money could not be spent fast enough to be of much immediate help.

“There’s no short-term stimulus to the economy for some of these projects,” Dana Perino, the White House press secretary, said.

Moreover, Ms. Perino said, the president will not accept any bill that raises taxes to finance such projects. Governors would have more money available, she said, if Congress ended the wasteful earmarking of billions of dollars for specific projects.

One roadblock the Transportation Department tried to put up in order to keep from doing work was the argument that the jobs don't happen fast enough in order for it to lead to any stimulus.

Brian G. Turmail, a spokesman for the Transportation Department, said highway spending was not an effective way to stimulate the economy because “it takes too long to get the money into projects.”

Rather than asking for an increase in federal highway spending, Mr. Turmail said, governors should seek additional money from the private sector, including pension funds and investment banking concerns.

Obama's answer -- use it or lose it.

We’ll invest your precious tax dollars in new and smarter ways, and we’ll set a simple rule – use it or lose it. If a state doesn’t act quickly to invest in roads and bridges in their communities, they’ll lose the money.

Of course I only really focused on infrastructure in this post, but Obama's overall big-picture and future-oriented thinking on these issues naturally emphasizes civic engagement among youth. You get the idea, with his Facebook/YouTube/MySpace use, that he's serving as America's dad. With a large younger audience listening intently, Obama is teaching us how to put America together again. He's showing us the priorities this country has, and he's investing his time so that when he is no longer around, we know what to do in order to keep this country safe and moving forward. He's not an authoritarian parent; he's one that empowers his family to work hard and do the right thing.

Meanwhile, Perino's/Bush's focus on short-term stimulus speaks volumes. The future is only important to this administration when it comes to some Rovian project to rewrite history. Bush was so paranoid about not getting credit for any long-term strategy that he decided to not do anything, repeatedly rejecting any sensible long-term ideas. No wonder the GOP has major youth issues.

• Marc Ambinder continues his question to educate us about the difference between VANs and VoteBuilders, Catalist and MyBo. Meanwhile, Sarah Lai Stirland at Wired thinks that all these databases pose a privacy problem for Obama supporters.
• Meanwhile, K Street Cafe has some interesting ideas on how Obama can continue to capitalize on MyBo/his supporters while in the White House. The most feasible option, according to the author, would be a leadership PAC.
• You voted. Now what? WireTap has the answers.
• The Christian Science Monitor notes the rise of a new kind of values voter:
  

  Nearly three-quarters of voters (and of religious voters) said people of faith should promote the common good, not protect their own views. Even groups most active in the religious right said a broader faith agenda would best reflect their values.

  Only 1 in 5 white Evangelicals and 1 in 8 Catholics said an agenda focused on abortion and same-sex marriage best expressed their values. A majority of both Evangelicals (55 percent) and Catholics (51 percent) opted for a broad agenda that also includes poverty, the environment, and the war in Iraq. The survey involved a nationally representative sample of 1,277 voters and had a margin of error of 3 percent.

  h/t to Zack Exley

• Does the Ohio GOP face a future without the youth vote? I think that's a question that all smart, conservative operatives are asking now.
• Nicholas Kristoff celebrates youth activism. As in 10 year olds.
• John Dickerson, Slate's political correspondent and host of the rather excellent Slate Political Gabfest, thinks that Obama's YouTube "Fireside Chats" are the opposite of transparent.

President-elect Obama is making sure people actually pay attention to the weekly radio address by putting it on YouTube.

Here's the first one:

Oh man. Those pesky prank calls. A radio station in Quebec, Canada did the dirty work, posing as French President Nicolas Sarkozy:

Shouldn't someone who is running for the second highest office in the United States be able to tell this is a prank?

This can't be good for John McCain's temper.