2013-06-20T04:47:17-04:00 Dr. Satwant Kaur http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/index.php?author=dr-satwant-kaur Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Dr. Satwant Kaur Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2117950 2012-11-12T13:51:46-05:00 2013-01-12T05:12:01-05:00

Dr. Satwant Kaur http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-satwant-kaur/
Online communication has increased by orders of magnitude since the last election cycle. Internet users have doubled. Facebook users have increased ten times. Tweets have increased 1000 times.

Obama used emerging technology to humanize himself and stay in tune with the people. His campaign advertised his achievements and drew sharp contrasts with his opponent. And he responded to events at the speed of light. This influenced voters throughout the election process.

Not content with just TV or billboard ads, Democrats made entire websites that went viral. For example, if you Google "Romney tax plan," the first hit takes you to a site that looks like you will find details of Romney's tax plan. But that is a trick. It is actually an ad by Obama campaign and tells you there is no details to the Romney Tax plan at all.

Technology exaggerated what people saw in the debates. In first presidential debate, not everyone thought Obama lost. But the constant messaging by media on how bad the first debate was reinforced that perception in people's mind. And that perception became the reality, at least in short term. Similarly after the VP debate, most people probably would not have noticed how much water Paul Ryan drank if it were not for the SNL skit on YouTube.

When Hurricane Sandy hit, the people actually saw their government preparing and recovering from the disaster. Instead of the horrific images they saw of Katrina under Bush, people saw Governor Chris Christie and Mayor Michael Bloomberg gushing over Obama. Obama was portrayed as being bipartisan and pragmatic. Once again, Romney was nowhere to be seen. He was hiding from his previous statement that he would abolish FEMA.

Ohio voters saw real-time Obama touting the results of the bailout, and Chrysler calling out lies in Romney's advertisements.

By contrast, Mitt Romney was not even able to keep up with major developments happening around him and let others control the message. His fellow Republicans were declaring that a pregnancy from rape was a "gift from god," and explaining nuances of "legitimate rape" vs. "actual rape" to the electorate. Romney had no response, no damage control. It was Tina Fey who was connecting with the American people by saying, "If I have to listen to one more grave-faced man with a two dollar haircut explain to me what rape is, I'm going to lose my mind." Romney stood by as his party waged a so-called "War on Women."

Obama's excellent communication was enabled by data analysis technologies. This kind of data driven decision making allowed Obama to focus on the states and the issues that mattered the most. Meanwhile, Romney's campaign was relying on Karl Rove's fantasy-filled electoral map, non-existent Republican momentum, and decade-old voter turnout models. But ignoring the facts only led to eventual disappointment for the Romney Campaign.

People on the right, like Karl Rove and Dick Morris, were blissfully wrong about elections. But Nate Silver with his statistic-based, algorithmic, data-driven deductive approach was the right guide, once again, in this election process. This was a win not just for Obama, but also for fact based analytical reasoning.

This edge in communication and analysis allowed Obama to win a whopping 332 electoral votes (more than 61 percent) even though he got just 51 percent of the popular vote. Obama had a focused targeted message that won him the swing states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and Florida.

In the next few years, I expect to see more and more of candidate-specific apps and even political issues based apps. I see more of mobile apps that track and predict elections. I see apps that engage with the politicians. I see more and more of the election process being data driven.

In summary, under layers and layers of technology we reached out to that human being who looked different than any other American president in our history of America.

We wanted him. We got him to lead us through the next four years.

We Americans are amazing.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1954174 2012-10-10T10:04:21-04:00 2012-12-10T05:12:02-05:00

Dr. Satwant Kaur http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-satwant-kaur/
Yes, it is indeed true that technology will continue to make or break the president's win in these last few weeks!

Regardless of what has happened so far, innovative use of emerging technologies still has the ability to turn the winds, even at such a late stage in the game.

Wireless Capabilities and Interaction With Candidates

Let us first see how wireless capabilities will affect the candidates when interacting with voters.

Increase in popularity of mobile communication enables candidates to connect directly with voters, via apps, mobile content publishing, and mobile social networking.

Direct connection through wireless is enabling voters to directly see the character and convictions of the candidates with no hiding behind on campaign managers and media experts to do the interpretations and messaging for them.

Wireless is also enabling mobile announcement of political events that will influence the voter choice; as well as mobile announcements of polls which will increase the voter turnout. Other associated enabling technologies are:

• Campaign advertising is being done with mobile ad technologies on voters' mobile devices
• Mobile TV technology is enabling political ads and announcements on TV
• Mobile content publishing is enhancing political issues coverage on wireless devices

Political Election Apps and Voter Turnout

So, let us now talk about how political election apps can increase voter turnout.

Political election apps enable candidates and their teams to keep voters engaged in the ongoing election, encouraging their presence at the polls in November.

In the last few weeks it is especially critical, that there be many special political election apps on mobile devices to win over various pockets of voters and increase targeted turnout of specific groups at the polls. This needs to happen in real time. Real-time election results apps and news aggregator apps will keep voters engaged and increase turnout.

Real-time Information Exchange Influence on Voter Participation and Choices

Let us see how real-time information exchange will influence not only voter participation, but also, their choices.

With real-time election coverage, voters are able to see bids on polls, poll results as they change, and stay updated on the entire race, which could affect who they ultimately vote for.

Undecided voters especially will be easily wooed and motivated by real-time Information.

Exchange between candidates, voters and news networks will influence undecided voter participation and choices:

• Real-time mobile ability to see bids on race will influence choice
• Real-time mobile ability to see poll results will influence choice
• Real-time election coverage by special news network with mobile apps on mobile devices

Technology Advances That Can Affect the Voters in the Last Weeks

Let us look at some technological advances that can affect the voters, the candidates, and the election in the last few weeks.

With social networks spreading information at a rapid-fire pace, targeted real-time location, QR bar codes, and other means of utilizing the mass with mobile media, will affect the different aspects of the election.

Here are some of the ways by which technology can be used to sway the voters I the final weeks, and to win the election:

• Candidate-specific apps will help send again and again the campaign messages, opposite party follies in video bites, candidate accomplishments, economic reports and war on terror achievements. This can also include mobile video apps of debates and other television appearances.

• Social networks can be used for responding to other party's attacks and spreading of own party ideas like a jungle fire. Mobile campaigns will help manage perceptions. And blogs for political commentary and fundraising will refine opinions. Mobile social networking is enabling instant sharing of political pictures, video and sound bites about candidates and voter reactions.

• Real-time Twitter can serve as real-time newswire for influencers and the masses. Young demographics can be won over through YouTube testimonials, messages and ads.

• Targeted, real-time, location-based advertising to reach out to potential voters will be a special asset in battleground states. This can be done by targeting younger demographics and getting them involved through mobile devices with targeted SMS.

• Real-time big data analytics will help convert streams of diverse data from social and mobile sources into campaign invaluable information such as profiling and behavioral information. This information can be leveraged by candidates and give advantage over their opponent in battleground states and undecided voters.

• Internet campaign explosion can be created. Exposing sensitive information about candidates on the Internet can give rise to activism and turn explosive, and make or break a candidate's chances of winning.

• QR bar code technology is another mechanism that can sway voters. Today everybody carried a bar code reader in their pockets in form of mobile device. QR bar codes can be used to send campaign messages and accept prompt donations, endorsements, and carry out other campaign organizational work actions.

I truly believe that for a race this close, candidates' ability to project themselves through use of technology will make or break their chances of success.]]>