iObama

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Barack Obama is without doubt one of the most influential men of this time, and the iPhone is one of the most influential gadgets. Put them together, and you get a bomb blast. Yes, volunteers decided to take technology to Obama's side, creating a new application for the iPhone which allowed users to see their friends and family based on battleground states in the then upcoming elections. In the article Obama uses iPhone to win support, Shiels (2008) writes at how the gadget is being turned into a political recruiting tool.

Using the mobile phone is a way to get to the grassroots, the people who matter the most in the election, explained one of the volunteers who helped develop this application. Features include notes on which friends have been called, who they are supporting and if they need a reminder on election day. It indeed became a very handy-dandy tool for Obama, because look who won the election.

Talking about this in terms of Publishing Issues, the audience, purpose and context come into play (Norman, 1990)

Audience
The audience were the Americans - people who could vote in the elections and actually affect the way the election would turn out. According to Schriver (1997), the audience's impressions and perceptions are key to them being convinced of its effectiveness, so the application had to be well-presented and persuadable of political success.

Purpose
Having a purpose to get votes was a primary reason for its success, as it had a specific goal and could turn all its efforts to achieving it.

Context
There are two kinds of contexts - situational and culture. For Obama, it was being in the States, which is technologically advanced and living in a tech-savvy culture that made this move a very wise political decision.

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Using technology was a smart move, because people are already comfortable with technology and what it can offer. People are getting used to the idea that technology can do many things, and when previous knowledge can be used and applied when seeing something new, it becomes more effective (Walsh, 2006).

Personally, I think Obama's supporters were plain smart.

References

Norman, D 1990, The Design of Everyday Things, Doubleday Business, Missouri.

Schriver, KA 1997, 'Chapter 6' in Dynamics in Document Design, Hoboken, New Jersey.

Sheils, M 2008, 'Obama uses iPhone to win support', BBC Online, accessed 15 June 2009, http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/7649753.stm .

Walsh, M. 2006, "‘Textual shift’: Examining the reading process with print, visual and multimodal texts," Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, vol.29, no.1, p.24-37.