Digital Meld

At 12:00PM EST big changes are coming to our country with the inauguration of Barack Obama as our 44th President. One of those biggest changes may actually be coming from where we least expect it; the Commander-in-Chief’s official web site at WhiteHouse.gov. It seems that the technological geniuses behind Obama’s campaign and his transition web site Change.gov have been hard at work on revamping the President’s web site with all kinds of bells and whistles. Obama showed early on in his run at the White House that he would leverage the power of the interwebs to take over the world… and he obviously succeeded.

Obama and his team used social media sites like Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and MySpace to spread the word about his campaign and kick-start grass roots efforts. He and his tech team also built an amazing campaign web site (BarackObama.com) using the MovableType platform and turned it into the central hub for all of their online and offline activities. It seems that Obama and his team will be trying to recapture the lighting in the bottle that they had with BarackObama.com and bring it to the nation’s #1 web site, WhiteHouse.gov. But can the technology revolution work in old Washington?

It is no secret that the mad men behind Washington are old money and old-school and have been technologically inept until this point so it is refreshing to see Obama’s dedication to technology. However, are Obama’s “connected to the people” ideals too optimistic? There are over 305 million people in the United States, can all of them have a voice? I know when I send emails to my Congressmen and Senators it can take months to even get an automated response, how is Obama and his team going to sift through all of the data? It will be interesting to see the implementations that Obama and his team will put into place, and we’ll have thoughts and reactions when we see them.

In any regard the Commander-in-Chief seems to get all of the greatest gadgets. President Obama is getting a swanky new Presidential limo that is more like a tank with Internet access ($425,000). He will also be pimping his trusty Blackberry ($199), although the NSA has approved it for personal use only. For official-use mobile communications Obama will be getting an NSA approved General Dynamics Sectera Edge which runs a cool $3,350. He’ll also be flying in style in a new modified hybrid Boeing 747-400 ($50+ million) with a completely new plane on the horizon… and Obama will also be the first President to have a laptop computer in the oval office, although he will probably be forced to be a “PC”.

Today is an amazing day in America. Regardless of our stance as a people the swearing in of a new President should be a proud moment. This inauguration should be viewed by millions from all around the world thanks to the technological advances in the last eight years. Obama is already the first digital President and you’ll be able to stream the swearing in on iPhones, SmartPhones, notebooks, handhelds and countless other devices. They’ll also be sharing their experience and feedback by the millions Twittering, texting, Facebooking, MySpacing, Qik’ing, blogging, chatting and using countless other mediums to experience this special day. It should be epic.

How will you be watching?

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