Yesterday one of my friends sent me a link from Google Reader. The story: “Help NPR Plan Our Social Media Activities for the Inauguration.” Read on to find out how you can help - or just be part of a colosso, Y2-Obama-K, power failure that will trash DC’s cell phone towers on Inauguration weekend.

Now, NPR - and Andy Carvin, Senior Product Manager in the Digital Media department, are on to something different. To add on to what they did for the Election (VoteReport), they have two techies building iPhone Applications for the Inauguration — so that people can post audio, text (and maybe even video?) online. I will definitley take part and text updates from @ericaamerica to NPR. If you are a DC Local, use the tag #inaug09. If you are coming from somewhere else, use the tag #dctrip09.

With all the early reports of cell phone towers being stretched with an estimated 2 million out-of-town visitors, it is safe to assume this project, though smart and ambitious, will have problems. But how do you cover such an event through social media — when technology and towers will be so seriously challenged?

If the towers fail us all - which would be tragic considered how connected we are - watch out for me on my little red rider, biking back and forth to my media station in Dupont to upload, tag and blog. Then, I’ll be back again on the streets. It’ll be like a little post-Street Team reporting marathon. :)

**If you are an iPhone App guru, or have any other ideas for NPR’s social media coverage, contact Andy via Twitter. (@acarvin)

Lawn mowers have a special place in my heart. When I was in highschool I had what my Dad called, “The largest female-run lawn mowing business in Indiana.” He might of been right. Or, he might of just been hoping I would stay in the Hoosier state forever.

This is why there is one group in this year’s Inaugural Parade that I can’t wait to see roll by. The Illini Lawn Rangers will be performing in the Parade with a spirited train of wacky, colorful and oddly-decorated lawn mowers.

While they are here, maybe they can head over to some of the unkept areas of DC and perform some civic duty. Mayor Fenty knows we can use all the help we can get.

The most famous pregnant teen, at least for a hot second, Bristol Palin, has given birth to a baby boy.  No word on what family was thinking when they named the little Alaskan Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston. What a mouthful!

In other top news, President Bush, who is on his final vacation as POTUS, decided not to interrupt his vacation to to make a public statement on the crisis in Gaza. Israel is now moving into the fourth day of airstrikes in the Palestinian territory of Gaza. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called the situation “all out war.”   

And on Facebook? User Yaman S. posts a citizen journalist’s eye witness accounts of the carnage. He writes:

Please do what you can to help. I think contacting your Congressman or woman, or your Senator, or writing a letter to the editor, is one of the most helpful things at this point. Please encourage your friends and family to do the same if you are able. Check out the following statement from Jewish Voice for Peace…:

http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/publish/article_1146.shtml

regards,
yaman

Over the past 48 hours, a few things have progressed with what Ryan Tate of Gawker called the “Street Team Stipend Disaster.” First, the conversation over MTV not paying freelancers has gone viral - and is being led by the community of past and current freelancers. Second, we have still not heard a public response from the Network as to why the Street Team and other freelancers not been paid on time.  

I took the MTV job because I believe in the pursuit of truth in all aspects of life - especially in journalism. I also believed that if there was one time to set the tone for my career, it would be to work hard, willingly and fearlessly for the network. I did - and I valued every moment. And now I see that perhaps, in some ways, what we were paid to do - “promote digital innovation and advance the quality of journalism worldwide”  is precisely what we are now doing. Except the subject of the story is hitting awfully close to home.

Here is a quick recap for those of you just joining in.

• On Friday, Gawker published this: “Is MTV Hoarding Charity Cash from Workers?”
• Later that day, I responded to the post with a link to my own account called “Street Team Real World: Late Paychecks Again.”
• On Saturday, the Huffington Post ran with the story and posted this…“Viacom to Employees: Happy Holidays and Go Screw Yourself”
• And on Sunday morning, I woke up to a Google Alert that read: “Whistleblower: MTV Sweatshop Sponsored by Charity” with a photo of my face. Sweatshop? Whistleblower? Me? Lord! I jumped out of bed and positioned myself at the computer to see what was happening.

Since then, dozens of responses of support have been posted to both Gawker and EricaAmerica. What’s more, other Street Teamers, like Idaho, Michigan, (former) Vermont, New Jersey, Maine and New York Rep Sara Benincasa, have come forward to add other valuable and humanizing insight to the story. The time we spent communicating over listserves and late nights seems to have created a unique bond. What a refreshing result - to have a collection of people from different parts of the country and the political spectrum - protect each other in a digitally divine way.

The positive responses from others in the industry are also much appreciated. 

In short, I think the organization has tried to handle the situation as best as they could - but at the end of the day have fallen short. It is as simple as that. But we must keep going.  No matter what politician, person or corporation is discussed. Honest Journalism does not criticize, it empowers people to do the right thing.

Keep up the important work.

EricaAmerica

A year ago, I was hired to report on the election for MTV News as part of their Street Team ‘08. I was thrilled - and so stoked that the Knight Foundation provided MTV with about $700,000 to run the program. With my gifted gear, I was ready to reach out to my peers, get some formal clips and gather lessons about life, journalism and the shape of our nation.

Did I ever.

Today Gawker broke the story about how MTV has been continually late on paying the Street Team. My heart just about dropped as one of my Street Team colleagues sent it to me. (I was the Washington, DC Rep for the program.) “Wow,” I thought. “This shit is finally out.”

Here is the story of how 51 totally connected, mobile, ambitious, do-good nerds…were recruited, called Street Team ‘08, and taught a very personal - and public lesson about the world we live in.   

Back in the summer, we received the first indication that MTV was not able to meet parts of their contract. Our paychecks were late. The official line from the company was “This is not just happening to you,” and that all other freelancers at the company were also not being paid on time. On the private Street Team list serve, the conversation raged. Admittingly, I listened more than I participated as I didn’t always notice how late they were. I, very fortunately, had another job that was more than understanding of my late hours and commitment to the network. What I didn’t have was more than four hours of sleep a night. But when you want something enough you make it work.

On the list serve, the team began to commiserate about not being able to pay bills on time. This is when I realized it was serious. We were under tremendous stress to meet deadlines and produce quality, Emmy-award winning work. (The program won an Emmy last month.) One of our colleagues lost his job because he updated a MTV post at his office. Another quit (well, many quit), because the time requirements were so enormous and the pay was hardly enough to cover expenses. Soon, the resignations began to pour in.

Each time a Street Teamer resigned, he or she was replaced and an email from our Producers would follow. To be honest, I did not blame any of them. It was a grueling 11 months, one that required us to hold down other jobs, work late into the night and wearily try to use the MTV Brand to land unbelievable interviews and opportunities.

But one thing happened that I never expected. The lesson now, has become so relevant to the news we were covering - and our experience with MTV at the intersection of our nation’s financial crisis, the meltdown of traditional news media - and how the innocent idealism of youth that helped change a nation’s course - was exploited. What happened would wake us all up - on the Street Team, to the Real World.

** This was difficult for me to write because despite the issues, I learned a tremendous amount about life, new media and the path I want to take in journalism from the Street Team experience. More than anything, this is not a personal attack towards any individuals who communicated the bad news to the team. Without them I would not have gained so much out of the program.

If you don’t know who Harvey Milk is yet, here’s your chance. Give this video a second. It gave me the chills.

And for a review of the documentary, check out Andrew Sullivan’s blog on Daily Dish.

I was at lunch today with an old Washingtonian. She is someone who had a big impact on politics in the ’80s and well into the ’90s, as a female pioneer and a staffer in the Senate. I have no doubt from her stories that she totally kicked ass…which I totally, completely respect.

But today, I mentioned a way the new generation was kicking ass. And her look was of total disgust — which I took as a complete compliment.

In the days after the election, new media leaders like Jim Gilliam of Brave New Films, have created Web portals for voters to continue their civic engagement. Sites like Change.Org and WhiteHouse2.Org are modern social voting tools - that allow interested users to rank the policy issues that matter most. With that, some raise to the top, others fall, and eventually will disclose a microcosm of what voters want.

These two sites act almost like social bookmarking sites such as DIGG and Technorati. While it may sound crazy… there are some real players creating and partnering in these initiatives.  Will social networking change the world? Who knows. But as Howard Dean said,

“The Internet is the most important tool for redemocratizing the world since Gutenberg invented the printing press.”

Who knows how far this will go - for good and for bad. We will have to wait and see how far the Millennials, with the help of Obama and his leadership, take it. But from my perspective, the future couldn’t look brighter.

Wow, Kim. Though we’ve never met, I have to tell you. Speaking at the rally took balls.

Today, as any day, we need to be indifferent to the uninformed judgement that being gay might bring - and encouraged by the fact that our nation, gay and straight, are organizing against the passage of Prop 8. This is the kind of conversation we need to keep on having, until all of our rights, from Medicare to Marriage to the Military, are equal.

My name is Erica Anderson, and I’m gay and I want the rights, the same 1,069 federal marriage rights and the same equality for those who defend our nation, that others have. It is really as simple as that.

You can check out Kim’s blog here.

While many of my friends were distressed by the passage, I think it is a good thing.

Why? Well, for one the passage of Prop 8 stunts the growth of our free nation. And with the new President-elect Barack Obama, we know the country’s voters, when communicated with effectively, won’t let that slide. So let’s not all lose our cool.

Already, Prop 8 has become a vehicle for the other anti-equal rights measures to be brought to light in the online and national media. Oppression of minority groups and demonizing them as second-class citizens (it is 2008, right?) goes beyond the ballot boxes of California. It is alive and well in dozens of states.

[For an example of how the passage of Prop 8 has brought other anti-gay measures to light, read this New York Times OpEd: Anit-Gay, Anti-Family.]

The march was well organized in that the police were there to stop traffic and get us through. But it was quite apparent that there was not one leader there. A few people had megaphones – trying to garner the attention of the masses but no one could hear. My friend casually made the point, “We need a Gay MLK to step forward and bring this group together.”

I could not agree more. Physically, yes, we were all together. But no one was on the same page. One organizer with a megaphone used words “angry” “heated” and “pissed.”

When it comes to the movement for equal rights, the GLBT community needs to take a look at Obama. He didn’t win this election with anger. He won it by sharing idealism and optimism. The angle he used did more to attract undecided voters than it did to alienate the uncertain. In the case of the GLBT mission for equal rights, we have to look at homophobes as the undecided and try not to be angry — but gracious and patient educators. Now is the time – and we have the digital vehicles and presence to get them to listen.

This country has more important issues to focus on than petty ballot initiatives aimed at degrading their brethren. So let’s do just that. Make it known that these social setbacks won’t stop us from focusing on the bigger issues at hand – two wars, an economic crisis, a planet in peril.

But to get there, the GLBT community needs a clear leader with a message – to first define for everyone that being gay is not a choice. Next is the task of lifting up new GLBT faces, the feminine lesbian and the masculine guy, to confront the stereotype and bring more people out. Finally, we need to work without animosity to educate. With this kind of angle, I think we will be better serving our cause – and will be better set to make positive progress for us all.

It was certainly a historic election to cover, perhaps in ways I will only understand with time and reflection. Last night as I dozed off and looked over my video camera perched on my tripod, I thought about all the times we spent together. Will I ever be out on the trail again with my mobile pack? I sure hope so. But in the meantime, I’ll take the break to relax, reflect and write about what the experience was like…for better and worse. It was one of the greatest learning experiences in my lifetime.

For the final video, we all had the same assignment. Create a highlights reel of our work. I wanted to include not just mine, but a few of the others that I particularly enjoyed.

Best of ST ‘08, Washington DC

Read the rest of this entry…

In April, there was an Earth Day Concert on the National Mall. I fought the rain, went and reported it - and think it is one of the coolest pieces I did. I got schooled in comedy by Chevy Chase and even better, discovered my peers engaging eachother on the election and issues, with beers in hand, on the National Mall. Who said we aren’t active? We just do it on our own terms.

Here is why it just came back to me. Less than 24 hours after Obama became the President-elect, in a lightening speed fashion, social network invitations starting pouring into inboxes across the country. The call to action for Obama’s Inauguration - was for everyone to Caravan to Washington to have “our own Inaugural celebration on the Mall.”
 
Hotels are sold out. In one facebook group alone, there are 1,939 confirmed guests. This is amazing. Who else is in?

It is not the kind of scare tactic you might expect. But with more than 70,000 views in 24 hours just three days before the election, the Obama-Biden camp is yet again successful at marketing a message. This viral ad poses the question to viewers: “On November 5th, Will You Have Done All that You Could Have?”

Here is a particularly good example of a video that leverages amatuer footage to give a very clear call-to-action in under 3 minutes.

From the MTV News Press Release that went out yesterday

****UPDATE: Watch AP’s “BIG ISSUE: ELECTION RESULTS” LIVE web cast Election Night, starting at 7:00PM EST. Here’s the link: http://video.ap.org/v/Legacy.aspx?partner=en-ap 

“Two MTV Choose or Lose citizen journalists will take part in the first-ever Associated Press live streaming online continuous video stream, “Big Issue: Election Results.” Both will report their experiences from being on the ground, covering the youth vote throughout the year. The webcast will be available to some 2,000 Web sites of newspapers, broadcasters and other AP customers throughout the U.S. beginning at 7 pm ET on AP’s Online Video Network at http://www.ap.org.”

Be sure to check myself and Nevada Street Teamer, Michael Gonzales, as we show a few of our best videos and talk about what it has been like to be a part of the MTV-Associated Press Youth Press Corp.

Last week I spoke to a Georgetown University class on the use of social media, video and blogs in the election. Alan Rosenblatt of Center for American Progress, also the Professor, invited me. I opened up with some stories about my experience blogging and reporting for MTV, and then listened as Netroots Rising authors, Lowell Feld and Nate Wilcox took it away. I love speaking at classes because I know I am bound to learn something. That night was no exception.

This morning I spoke for the American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL). The organization works in tandem with the House Democracy Assistance Commission and is internationally recognized for introducing rising political and policy leaders to each other. I spoke alongside Arielle Fleisher of Campus Progress and Adrian Talbott of Generation Engage.

ACYPL had brought young political leaders from Jordan, Israel and Hungary for their Election Study Program. From the Hungarian Socialist Party to Israel’s Women’s Rights Movement, these intellectuals would be in the U.S. for a few weeks — starting in Washington and then moving to battleground states to observe U.S. democracy in action.

I wondered last week what I could discuss about the Youth Engagement in this election that would be original and of interest.  Then it dawned on me when I saw this video.

The impact of citizen journalism in this election.

I gave an overview of how user generated content on YouTube, THINK and Facebook have revolutionized the way my generation interacts socially and politically. But then I got a question.

“Will young people be to blame if Obama loses?”

The question was fair, and my answer simple.

Definitely not. With an age-old electoral college, state resources stretched to accomodate the record number of voters - we have bigger problems than pointing fingers at first-time voters. Yes? No?

Has anyone else seen Real Housewives of Atlanta? I’m telling you - that city is putting itself on the map! While this clip is not from Bravo, it goes to show, the A T L is on to something.

Here is a play on T.I.’s song, Whatever You Like. These seventh graders at Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta give it a new flavor with Vote However You Like.

See the full lyrics here.