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They Aren't All Jib Jab

I love Jib Jab! Seriously, I love it so much that when the IPDI study, Under the Radar and Over the Top mentioned they had done a video on the 2000 campaign, I immediately rushed to their website to check it out.

For the most part, their videos offer slightly off-color, bipartisan mocking to catchy tunes and they are the first thing that comes to mind when anyone says, "viral marketing." I wouldn't really consider them "political communication" since they appear to only use the presidential campaigns as a hook to interest people. I think the main motive in their productions has been to make the Spiradellis brothers both rich and famous.

However, the other videos in the IPDI video library are clearly designed to influence the election. The ones I viewed range from funny to gruesome to cruel, but the one common factor I saw was that they all undermine true political discourse by making the attacks personal.

Each video I viewed implies or makes outright the point that the opposing candidate is an evil person and wants to do the country harm. Swift Boat Veterans (not linking for a reason) didn't attack Kerry's policies or ideas, they attacked his character. Bush Straight Talk (by America Coming Together) portrayed Bush, not his actions or plans as stupid.

While I enjoyed sending, forwarding and watching these videos during the campaign, it saddens me to see yet another indicator of the sad state of democracy in this country.

I believe Bush and Kerry both care deeply about this country and have differing viewpoints about what is in its best interests. However, that viewpoint isn't funny or mean, so it won't circulate around the Internet, even though that is what most Americans truly believe.

But I Didn't Inhale...

I was reading a nice little article on CNN.com and there was a sentence that gave me pause:

"I would bet that in the 2016 election, somebody's Facebook entry will come back to bite them," Steve Jones, head of the communications department at the University of Illinois at Chicago...

I can't wait to see how a 2016 candidate chooses to defend his Facebook title as Officer Wake and Bake in the 4:20 Fatties group*.

* Real title of a Political Science major at GW on The Facebook.

The Ethics of Persuasion

Reading Persuasive Technology this week, I couldn't help but recall an incident from my youth:

When I was a little kid I saw a small, black and white advertisement in the back of a kid's magazine. The ad talked about how your signature is an important indicator of character and how, in the adult world, people always judge you on your signature. It then went on to offer 3 new and better signatures and instructions on how to change your signature for the low price of only $1.50.

Well, I couldn't pass up that offer for the key to a better and more successful life, so I sent in my $1.50 and waited anxiously by the mailbox for my new signatures to arrive. After 6 long weeks my package arrived. It consisted of three pieces of paper on which someone had signed my name and a slip of paper instructing me to use tracing paper (not included) to trace the new signature I wanted.

Unethical persuasion? Perhaps
Important life lesson? You betcha!

It doesn't take music and fancy graphics on a computer for unethical persuasion to take place. It worked pretty well on me with just some words on a page.

Children are, indeed, an extremely vulnerable group when it comes to exploitation through persuasive technology, but unethical individuals have always looked for new ways to exploit them. While it is our responsibility to examine the ethical ramifications of our work, it is even more important that parents and teachers teach children at an early age to avoid and combat exploitation.

All Hail MINERVA

As I was doing some research for another class I came across a really interesting site called MINERVA. Maintained by the Library of Congress, it archives campaign and other website. It currently has election 2000, 2002 and September 11th archives, but is working on election 2004 and the Iraq war among others.

The best part is that it archives the websites daily for several months so you can see how they change on a day-to-day basis throughout the campaign. Enjoy!

Filtering Democracy

It makes me sad to read about the extensive filtering that China does of it's citizen's Internet access (and angry at the corporate collaborators who made it possible such as fascist Microsoft). I happened to read a really interesting article called The Filtered Future: China's bid to divide the internet on Slate, which presents an interesting viewpoint:

Techno-optimists like Kristof nonetheless take it as an article of faith that all of China's controls are destined to fail. They echo the hacker's creed—if a system can be beaten it will, so control of information is impossible. They point out that when chat rooms are closely monitored, people start talking about "cabbages" when they mean "democracy." As one blogger wrote recently, "No democratic movement in the history of mankind has ever stalled just because the word 'democracy' could not be uttered."

I think they are right. If people want freedom, they will necessarily use whatever they have to get it. The Internet is a powerful tool and if the people are forced to talk in terms of "cabbages," they will use online-offline synergy to let others in on the game.

I hope there is a bumper crop of "cabbage" in China very soon.

I Thought the Whole World was Designed for Teenagers?

Hmm. I thought that the entire Internet was designed for teenagers, but our buddy Jakob Nielsen says in Usability of Websites for Teenagers that isn't true. Apparently that is a pretty common mistake in the web design world.

That being said, I can't help but think that his study just advocates the dumbing down of the Internet. Certainly, I don't think the Nickelodeon website should be written on a 12th grade level or reference Nietzsche. But I don't think it should be considered "poor usability" to actually include text or have a site that requires an adult amount of patience.

If we continually expect less of users they will constantly deliver.