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A Geeky New President

Posted on January 21, 2009 By Tom No Comments on A Geeky New President
General Technology, Geocaching and Maps

There were ample opportunities for someone like me to really get their Geek on while watching the inauguration.  First there was the Hive Mind experience of sharing the inauguration in real time with friends (and strangers) separated by thousands of miles on Twitter and Facebook.  Then there was the ability to get multiple perspectives from online resources in addition to traditional news media.  Even the TV outlets were making use of SmartBoards and other technology in their presentations.

Two things, however, really jumped out for me.  First was the imagery from the GeoEye satellite, which flew over the location about 45 minutes before the swearing in, and took the image you see below:

The image shows the swarms of people on the mall awaiting the ceremony. It’s interesting to see the empty spaces on the mall. I’m guessing these were the areas without a clear view of the Jumbotrons that were positioned along the mall. Google has created a special image overlay (KML file) of the image for Google Earth.

The other thing that I loved was CNN’s collective experince photograph.  CNN encouraged people to snap photos at the moment Obama took the oath of office, then submit them for inclusion in this project.  Using the Microsoft Photosynth system, the images were combined into a huge collection, shifting with each camera persective.

Of course, any geek like me really appreciates the new Whitehouse.gov with its interactive features.  I guess this is what you get when you have a candidate-now-President who understands the power of social media and how to use it effectively.  Maybe we should let Obama keep his Blackberry.  I can just see his Twitterfeed now..

OMG, Lybia just bombed Israel!

Jeez, gotta go to a state dinner with that Pakistani dude.  So much for my appetite.

..but on second though, maybe there is such a thing as too much transparency.

Tags: Google Earth inauguration Obama Photosynth social media

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