Google + 2008 GOP Convention = Awesome

By Andrew Meyer on February 18, 2008

Note: This post means to be politically neutral.

I was just browsing Techmeme and came across an awesome conversation thread... Google is the Republican National Convention's Official Innovation Provider.

What will Google bring to the 2008 GOP Convention?

They are going to help streamline the convention organization and and expand its online reach across websites, mobile devices, blogs, and email.

They are going to do this with integrating new applications, search tools, and interactive video. Some of the Google products that will be integrated are Google Apps, Google Maps, SketchUp, and customized search tools.

This is a huge breath of fresh air for me. And, should be a huge breath of fresh air for anyone who likes to keep an active role in democratic government systems.

Why?

Because we are going to start seeing the all-too-often closed doors of political office/representation open a bit more to citizen interaction.

You could say that our individual voices will be amplified more and our political representatives will be able to represent us better (ahem... you hear me superdelegates!).

People like Carl Malamud (who I blogged about here) have been finding innovative ways to get government data and public works online using technology for years and years.

We are seeing new trailblazers like OpenCongress using technology to help citizens track and find information about congress actions, representatives and bills etc (which I've blogged about many times).

Now hopefully this Google/GOP Convention arrangement will be a small positive step in the direction of opening political office/representation up to more citizen interaction.

In the YouTube video below, Convention President & CEO Maria Cino says that they want citizens who can't make it to Minneapolis to be able to interact and participate with the convention.

Check it out:

You can find the 2008 GOP Convention's YouTube channel here.

You can catch more perspectives on this unveiling over at Techmeme.

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