A digital victory
The Obama Campaign’s Technology Is a Force Multiplier
By STEVE LOHR, NYT
Technology doesn't win political campaigns, but it certainly is a weapon -- a force multiplier, in military terms.
Both sides in the presidential contest mined click-stream data as never before to target messages to potential voters. But a real edge for the Obama campaign was in its use of online and mobile technology to support its much-praised ground game, finding potential supporters and urging them to vote, either in person or by phone, according to two senior members of the Obama technology team, Michael Slaby, chief integration and innovation officer for the Obama campaign, and Harper Reed, chief technology officer for the Obama campaign.
A program called "Dashboard," for example, allowed volunteers to join a local field team and get assignments remotely. The Web application -- viewable on smartphones or tablets -- showed the location of field workers, neighborhoods to be canvassed, and blocks where help was needed. "It allowed people to join a neighborhood team without ever going to a central office," said Mr. Slaby.
Another ground-game program was a tool for telephone canvassing from people's homes instead of having to travel to a campaign office and work from a telephone bank. The call tool was a Web program that let people sign up to make calls and receive a list of phone numbers, names and a script to use, noted Mr. Reed.
(More here.)
By STEVE LOHR, NYT
Technology doesn't win political campaigns, but it certainly is a weapon -- a force multiplier, in military terms.
Both sides in the presidential contest mined click-stream data as never before to target messages to potential voters. But a real edge for the Obama campaign was in its use of online and mobile technology to support its much-praised ground game, finding potential supporters and urging them to vote, either in person or by phone, according to two senior members of the Obama technology team, Michael Slaby, chief integration and innovation officer for the Obama campaign, and Harper Reed, chief technology officer for the Obama campaign.
A program called "Dashboard," for example, allowed volunteers to join a local field team and get assignments remotely. The Web application -- viewable on smartphones or tablets -- showed the location of field workers, neighborhoods to be canvassed, and blocks where help was needed. "It allowed people to join a neighborhood team without ever going to a central office," said Mr. Slaby.
Another ground-game program was a tool for telephone canvassing from people's homes instead of having to travel to a campaign office and work from a telephone bank. The call tool was a Web program that let people sign up to make calls and receive a list of phone numbers, names and a script to use, noted Mr. Reed.
(More here.)
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