Immaculate Reception — Vatican Goes Video

VATICAN CITY, VATICAN - JANUARY 08: Pope Bene...

OK, so maybe I shouldn’t be sacriligious about this.

But you have to admit, it’s pretty Web 2.0-cool when the Vatican launches its own YouTube channel, and that’s exactly what happened on Friday. Pope Benedict XVI joined President Barack Obama and Queen Elizabeth II in launching his own channel, the latest effort by the folks in Rome to reach out to the digital generation. (It probably won’t work on my college-age kids, however.)

At a Vatican news conference, an executive of Google Inc., parent company of YouTube, joined with the Catholic clergy to announce that the Vatican had posted its first 12 videos on the pope’s new YouTube channel. The Church hopes to publish three new videos each day.

“This is in particular directed towards the young, but not exclusively,” said Father Federico Lombardi, director of the press office of the Holy See. “This is a step toward better communication. The pope encouraged us to adopt new ways of communication in order to reach out to the people who are interested in the pope’s message.”

Initially, the new YouTube channel will post videos in four languages — Italian, English, German and Spanish — and more languages will be added later.

Way to go, Ben!

Public Engagement – The Obama Way

1817 study of the White House south facade bas...

Image via Wikipedia

Those of us in the public information business, particularly the non-profit public information business, should rip a page out of the Barack Obama public engagement manual. The lessons are many.

A case in point – the new whitehouse.gov website, a clean, well-organized, interactive place that makes the previous White House website look like your grandmother’s kitchen cabinets. Old, outdated and hard to open.

The new site invites you in. After all, you are the owner. With videos of Obama’s Inauguration address and the whistlestop tour, a White House 101 Fun and Facts page, a frequently updated blog, and the Briefing Room, a way to keep tabs on the President, whitehouse.gov has been overhauled for the 21^st century.

Prominently displayed on the home page is a link to the Office of Public Liaison & Intergovernmental Affairs (OPL-IGA), “the front door to the White House through which everyone can participate and inform the work of the President.” When you reach the Public Liaison page, you’re invited to email your thoughts and ideas to the White House. When was the last time 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue asked you for anything? Other than taxes?

It’s a new day indeed. Check out whitehouse.gov.

BlogSpine

Learn More About the Inauguration

Gosh, the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Obama has been a major topic of conversation everywhere — in my office, at home, on line in my local Stop & Shop. Seriously.

So why not jump on the Inauguration learning curve with me and research both this Inauguration and the history of U.S. Inauguration ceremonies? Thanks to the Web, you can learn more than imaginable. Here’s a list that’s by no means exhaustive, but might help in your quest for lifelong learning. It’s also a great list for teachers yearning to make this landmark event a teachable moment.

1. The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies: This is the official site for information related to the inauguration. The Joint Congressional site features slideshows of previous inaugurals, a look at all the inauguration day events (morning worship service, swearing in, parade, etc), and inauguration t rivia. You can also watch the progress on construction of the platform for the inaugural ceremony.

2. The Smithsonian Presidential Inaugural Photographs website provides you with online photo portfolios of previous Presidential Inaugurals.

3. Check out the Obama/Biden Inauguration website, which provides loads of great information, including an Inaugural Schedule, a timeline of the day’s activities for the new president; an Inaugural blog, updates and news, and a live video of the Neighborhood Ball event.

4. Steep yourself in inauguration history at PBS’s Inauguration website, which focuses on the history of the Presidential Inauguration. You can learn about past Presidents and notable Inauguration events from the Library of Congress, read the Inaugural Addresses of our past Presidents, look at Presidential portraits, and more.

5. Take a look at the Presidential Inauguration Committee’s photostream on Flickr. This is a great resource for anyone wanting to know how things are progressing in D.C. and can’t make the real event. That would be me, folks!

6. If you’re a sucker for memorabilia, try visiting the Official Inauguration Store website, where you can scoop up buttons, T-shirts, artwork, clothing, kids’ items and more. Then again, if you do a search on eBay for “inauguration,” more than 2,300 items will turn up. Happy hunting!

Enjoy the Inauguration, even from afar.

Touched by the Better Angels of Our Nature…

In the aftermath of the Presidential elections, those of us who supported Barack Obama are basking in the glow of victory. But my friends and relatives who supported John McCain ought to know that we are well aware of the challenges that lie ahead. There really is no time to gloat. And since both candidates took the high road on Election Night, why shouldn’t we?

In the interest of healing, then, there’s no better time than today to extend an olive branch across the aisle and roll up our shirtsleeves to start working on the future.

A nice little blog out in the sphere is attempting to do just that, with an ingenious idea that’s catching on. Zefrank.com has launched a visual way that readers can send photos in to express their hope that when the celebrations have died down, we can reach out to one another and embrace, at least through the Web. The site is called From 52 to 48 With Love, and you can submit your photos directly to Zefrank. Naturally, the photos sent in have to be vetted first, since Zefrank has noted that some submissions haven’t been nice. But check out just a few he has displayed on From 52 to 48:

My favorite, though, is the following photo, which quotes a wise man on the subject of unity. You may have heard of this guy:

In case you can’t read it, here’s what the sign says:

Dear 48:

To quote a great American: “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” — Abraham Lincoln.

We’re all in this together…

Love and respect, 52

This post, incidentally, is dedicated to my husband, the McCain supporter.

Post-Election Bliss

Rev. Santino endorses Barack Obama for Preside...

Image by Rev. Santino via Flickr

I’ve neglected this spot for the past few days, busy at work and stressing out about the 2008 Presidential elections. The outcome — this country’s resounding support for the most inspirational leader I’ve seen in many years — was more than my cynical little heart could have dreamed. An African-American man elected by more than 72 million people to the highest office in this land, and my faith in our country instantaneously restored.

For months, I have figuratively held my breath and yet have been buffeted by the highs and lows of the polls. I have made the mistake of briefly bringing up politics with the wrong people, quickly regretting my decision to do so and then questioning my own conscience and choices. It was so personal and emotional. I was so repulsed by Gov. Palin that I could barely see straight, and so went looking for individuals who felt the same way, both in my everyday life and online. I developed an insatiable appetite for details about the campaigns so I could defend my decision against even the most well-read challengers.

I embraced my two college-age children when they told me that I was on the moral high ground for supporting Barack Obama, and they joined me in that support. Which was a huge relief — because my husband was supporting McCain. He and I argued like children at times, until we finally decided to quietly retreat into our own corners. He, watching the Fox News Channel and Bill O’Reilly. Me, reading the Internet and volunteering to call battleground states for the Obama-Biden campaign. I wore campaign buttons.

I contributed money to the Obama campaign, something I haven’t done since I purchased tickets to a fundraising dinner for George McGovern in 1972. When people leapt to their feet after McGovern spoke at that dinner, I did, too, convinced that he was on his way to defeating Richard Nixon and pulling our troops out of Vietnam. But I was in college then, and so idealistic. And so wrong. Then Watergate happened, and I lost what little was left of my idealism.

Until last night.

During the lull between the announcement that Obama had been elected as our 44th president, and his speech at Chicago’s Grant Park, I checked my emails.

There, at the top, was a message from Obama:

Evelyn –

I’m about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.
We just made history.
And I don’t want you to forget how we did it.
You made history every single day during this campaign — every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it’s time for change.
I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign.
We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I’ll be in touch soon about what comes next.
But I want to be very clear about one thing…
All of this happened because of you.

Thank you,
Barack

George McGovern never thanked me.

And so, some 30 years after I thought I’d misplaced it forever, I feel college-student idealism coursing through my veins again.

Thinking of Not Voting? Google Says Think Again.

OK, so while I sift through the dozens of Obama emails I’ve received today asking for my help calling voters in one last push, Google has done another great video meant to encourage anyone out there who still might be apathetic about voting (could there be people like this?) to get out there and pull the lever in the most exciting landmark election I can remember.
Again, they’ve called on well-known faces (and some apparent help from Steven Spielberg) to make a fun, well-paced video that’s the sequel to the “Don’t Vote” video released earlier. Check out the latest installment here, and tell me that Sacha Baron Cohen doesn’t crack you up:

Happy voting. I hope to see you there on Tuesday.

Librarians are Cool

Image via Wikipedia

I know I’m dating myself here, but I don’t remember ever having a cool librarian as a kid. Instead, the librarians I knew had pursed lips, shushed people for a living, and slept with the Dewey Decimal System.

Not today. Librarians are Twittering, Facebooking, blogging, wiki-ing, and definitely not sleeping with the Dewey Decimal System.

If you want proof, take a look at the Library page of the Online Education Database, which currently contains reviews of 1,081 programs from 86 accredited online colleges. There, you’ll find tons of references written by and for librarians about using social media in libraries around the country.

Here’s what the Library page says about Twitter, for example:

Twitter is a free communication and social networking tool which allows you to convey short messages of up to 140 characters to your circle of friends via the Twitter website, SMS, email, IM, or other Twitter client. Messages appear not only within your profile on Twitter, but are sent to your community of followers who have signed up to receive your updates. Often referred to as microblogging, this new phenomenon has caught on with over 300,000 users on Twitter alone including Barack Obama and John Edwards. Twitter recently made the cut as one of Time’s Best 50 Websites of 2007. Librarians are using it to communicate at conferences and events and to keep up with developments in the field, and libraries have begun using it to promote their services.

Among their listings are librarian-only applications and networks like:

Shakespeare High Cafeteria: This online tribute to Shakespeare features active discussions about Shakespeare news, book clubs, a creative writing center, “staff lounge,” study help and teaching ideas.

Readers Read: Browse forum topics like publishing industry, general fiction, mystery/thriller, children’s books and nonfiction.

TeacherLibrarianNing: Educators and librarians get together on this network, where you can join groups, post photos, upload videos and more.

The Shifted Librarian: Librarians connect through this blog about library news, trends and of course, books.

Librarian Facebook Application: This Facebook app connects you to other librarians who can answer your search questions.

They also list a number of social media sites for librarians and book-lovers, including:

Shelfari: This blog about books and book collecting has a MySpace page and a Facebook application.

GoodReads: Keep track of what you and your friends are reading through this online networking site.

BookJetty: BookJetty lets users organize, rate and review books and even look up books in the site’s database of over 300 libraries around the world. Users also get a blog that lets them show off a “bookshelf” to friends.

MySpace Books: This ultimate social networking site has a page just for books, connecting readers, authors and those in the book industry.

Books iRead: Another Facebook app that lets you rate, review, and share books you’ve read.

You can also catch a number of 21st century posts on the site, including these:

50 Ways to Use the Wii In Your Library

100 Essential Firefox Add-Ons for Librarians

e-Learning Reloaded: Top 50 Web 2.0 Tools for Info Junkies, Researchers & Students

100 Ways to Use Your iPod to Learn and Study Better

Need any more proof that librarians are cool? I don’t think so. Now shush!