I’m willing to stand up and say it. C-SPAN, which is dedicated to airing non-stop coverage of government proceedings and public affairs programming, is the one channel that we all skip past as fast as possible on those rare occasions that we actually flip the channels on un-Tivo’d television. If not for The Onion making fun of it all the time, I’d forget it existed. If CSPAN has a demographic, no one I know is part of it. I bet that even the people who work at C-SPAN never watch C-SPAN voluntarily.
But today C-SPAN gets fairly cool with the launch of two new sites dedicated to the upcoming Democratic Convention in Denver and Republican Convention in Minneapolis. C-Span is still workingout some technical issues, but TechCrunch readers can get an early preview by clicking on these links for DNC08 and RNC08. Both are similarly formatted sites that incorporate citizen journalism via blogs, Twitter, YouTube and Qik into portals to cover convention and related news. They will complement the existing C-SPAN Politics site.
The sites also incorporate normal C-SPAN video content. But unlike the unwieldy content on the main C-SPAN site the new sites will show video in Flash format and allow embedding on other sites. Third party blog content from sites like Huffington Post, Instapundit, Gateway Pundit, RedState, etc. will be incorporated into the site and Twitter messages marked with hash marks #RNC08 or #DNC08 will also appear on the site (with moderation). C-SPAN employees will be given Qik cameras to record the action when not on main camera.
All in all, it’s a great effort to spice up coverage with user-generated, up-to-the-minute content. This may not make the cable channel more watchable, but political nuts will definitely want to bookmark the sites. It may have the most up to date news on the conventions.
Screen shots below:
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This looks like it’s going to be very cool. I don’t watch normal C-SPAN, but I’m a huge fan of tuning in when they have Book-SPAN, especially when they have interesting authors speaking, which is often.
This looks really great! Heading over now.
very cool… who’d have imagined.
This is the funniest intro Arrington has ever written. I almost spilled my coffee.
Touche.
If by funny you mean uninformed, I concur.
Fairly nice looking site, but buying into the Twitter fad doesn’t add any value IMO.
First — full disclosure, working with C-SPAN on this project with my company http://www.NewMediaStrategies.net (and also the design start-up involved, http://www.JESS3.com)
Second — Mike and Erick, a million thank yous. I know we aren’t as sexy out here in DC, but we love us some C-SPAN. Really, we wake up to it and look to is when all of the other talking heads are tainting the news. Ask my friend Bill (he is also on the project). He is obsessed.
Third — Bear with us as we work out the bugs of the site, should be a wonderful ride and great way to bring the conventions to tech and non-tech folks alike.
Thanks again
Leslie
In my capacity as a member of the C-SPAN convention team, thanks for the post, Mike. We’ve all been working hard, C-SPAN and the public affairs firm I work for, New Media Strategies.
But in my capacity as a TechCrunch reader, I’m compelled to say that I *do* watch C-SPAN on a daily basis. I wake up every morning with Washington Journal — unlike the Today Show, you won’t be dumber for having it on. And as Simon notes above, BookTV on C-SPAN 2 weekends is like going to a dozen book readings at Politics & Prose (here in the District, where many of them are recorded) except better, since I can do it from my couch. I definitely heart the TV side.
Just how much of a C-SPAN junkie am I? I wrote a post about this on my blog just last week.
They even have a very nice map - http://www.c-span.org/Politics/Election-Map.aspx
UMapper - http://www.umapper.com
I often watch C-SPAN. Their book reviews and talks by authors can be quite interesting and refreshing compared to the scripted material on commercial and PBS channels.
Mike,
You might want to mention what the impetus was for this - the movement on the floor of the House right now.
http://www.dontgomovement.com has a little background on this and so do these congressmen, using Twitter and Qik to communicate with the outside world after Speaker Pelosi turned off CSPAN’s cameras and microphones and cut the lights to the House.
Rep. Pete Hoekstra - http://twitter.com/petehoekstra
Rep. John Boehner - http://twitter.com/johnboehner
Rep. John Culberson - http://twitter.com/johnculberson
It’s been going on for over two weeks at this point - a sizable number of Congressional have taken a stand and insisted on an up-or-down vote on offshore drilling. Whatever you think of their politics, you have to admire their innovative use of technology to provide real clarity for the political process.
I actually really like C-SPAN… although I’m much more fond of the clips that Jon Stewart (link to his ebooks) plays on his show. I could see this being extremely valuable during the election season…
Awesome, I like C-Span, though I have to admit i only tune in periodically. If you hit it right it has much better news and information than CNN and the other garbage.
Very cool!!! However, interestingly the QIK links from the two differenct sites go to the same Qik page.
Brazil has done that with great success with “TV Senado”. TV Senado is a Brazilian television network responsible for broadcasting activity from the Brazilian Senate. It was created in 1996, and the channel broadcasts 24h on cable chanels and web streaming. http://www.senado.gov.br/TV/
Bye,
Alex
Interesting, looks like http://www.politweets.com with some funding behind it.
Anyone else notice the convention hubs are IP Addresses and not dedicated domains?
http://38.105.88.215/ [Democratic]
http://38.105.88.241/ [Republican]
@Jeff Woelker — good catch, we are in fact migrating everything over today and tomorrow (I am working with them on this project w/ my company, NMS). Tech Crunch got the first look while we were still in Alpha… hope you can understand
my first impression from those two screen captures is that the Democrat site has received a greater effort. I dont know who maintains them, but it would seem to me that sites hosted under CSPAN would be equal. If the government is maintaining the sites, its a problem that the Republican site is receiving separate and unequal effort.
Sodapop, I took the screen shots and am helping C-SPAN populate both Hubs. The screen shots were demos; the RNC site is now complete. Also, right now I am simply finding more discussion about the DNC. This is probably because it starts sooner, and I expect that to change next week.
OMG. Did you actually visit the site? Both sides are exactly the same except for some branding elements. Sing your ‘poor me the media treats republicans differently’ sad song somewhere else.
Awesome job on this. NMS/JESS3.
I love C-SPAN! From the insightful morning shows to the unvarnished coverage of legislative debates, it’s the best way to strip out the middle-man, the press, and connect directly with the political process. Hopefully their expanding and improving web presence will take the process into the 21st century, making it more interactive and accessible to young Americans.
The thing about C-SPAN is that you have to force yourself to listen to a complete thought. After that, it can be the best station on TV depending on who’s talking.
I actually chose my career as a computer scientist because of a book I heard first about on CSPAN, Ray Kurzweil’s, “Age of Spirtual Machines”.
I really like the Twitter integration
regarding c-span: for the first time, I testified in front of a congressional subcommittee last month on the topic of deep packet inspection. the c-span cameras were rolling but there were only a handful of members in the chamber and the cameras were zoomed in tight (I saw it on the monitor and the feed later).
I wish c-span cameras zoomed out during congressional meetings so we can see how few of our elected officials actually attend these sessions where they are supposed to learn & debate. And even those that attend, they are looking at their blackberries or talking to staffers until the camera points at them.
Cheers for C-Span. Online forums like Yet Another Politics Board have been a place for people to exchange ideas for years.
Thanks for posting about this Mike~!
Leslie will be on C-SPAN tomorrow afternoon and throughout the convention talking about political use of social media! you can follow her tweets @leslieann44
@sodapop - nope each side was given equal love. those screenshots show one page of each.
@doug kind of.. but our entire site isn’t live and the subpages of our twitter section blow away pollitweets
hmmm “blows away” is a strong statement from someone who has never created anything for himself. Who has constantly been known to steal other peoples work and has been fired from every job he has worked. Nothing about this blows anyone away, just like your personality and your talent.
sorry for the strongly phrased comment, realize it probably came off wrong — was in reference to a feature that we will be rolling out later this week that catalogs archives. Politweets is a real inspiration and ahead of its time, so all the respect in the world for them.
as for the digs at me personally, not sure where you are coming from but you are definitely off base. i have an immense amount of integrity, creativity and passion in all that i do. statements made by bogus accounts, however, have none of these things.
@ jesse thomas (i refuse to say jess3 because it’s corny and not at all creative) i have to agree with bootney- your rep is horrible. you are one of the worst designers (work-ethic-wise) i’ve ever seen. anyone who works with you will have to learn that the hard way. you should really work on trying to focus on what clients have you doing… so that your rep doesn’t sink any lower.
@jill and @bootney, not sure if we have met, but you are welcome to come talk to me personally instead of sideline hating here in the comment section. my cell is 571-213-4308 and i would be happy to discuss.
like any small business owner who has struck out on his own, i work extremely hard. and the clients i work for are great and we are doing awesome things together. your comments to the contrary are misguided.
as for my company’s name, at least it’s the real thing “jill”
jesse.com was unavailable and it has grown on me ever since.
I’m with Craig on this - you have to be willing to really think to be a regular C-Span viewer.
My favorite part of the day is watching Washington Journal as I get ready in the mornings. Between the really good points, you get some hilarious idiots calling in.
And you can’t but respect the hosts who have to keep their opinions to themselves. They’re able to re-direct callers who try to catch them think better than the best stage magicians.
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I think that now we have twitter, policitians should use it right. Take a word of advice from our Young Republicans. http://youngrepublicans.tv
They are the future of the country and they are going to help us create a better America.