The World Has Ended, And So Begins A New World

 

 

You might not have noticed but the world has officially ended. According to Mayan calendars, and doomsday politics, it’s all over.

[SOURCE: © Tim Green, used under creative commons license]

Five Innovative Social, Mobile, Cloud, and Big Data Apps From the US 2012 Election Campaigns

Cross posted from my blog at the SAP Community Network…

With the US 2012 election campaign finally, thankfully, winding down, I wanted to share some interesting stories about the technology being used by the campaigns and super PACs to more effectively direct their field staff and target voters.  From the various news stories I’ve heard over the past few weeks on NPR, and read in articles, it seems that both the presidential campaigns and the big budget super PACs have been making heavy use of social media, mobile device applications, cloud platforms, and big data.

This blog isn’t meant to take a position in the campaign. I can’t even argue that one campaign has made more effective use of new technology than another. Whereas in 2008, the Obama campaign clearly made more effective use of social media than his opponent, it seems that both campaigns in 2012 have aggressively embraced emerging technologies.

Here are five descriptions of applications that I was able to find. I will add to this list as I run across more.  Please feel free to add any links to interesting stories that you know about as well in the comments. Also, the application of this technology is strictly an American perspective. I suspect many of my European colleagues will have an entirely different view of the acceptability, and even legality, of some of these applications. Please share your perspectives on this issue as well.