Personal Democracy Forum 2008

I’ll be at Personal Democracy Forum 2008 in New York next week, both for Why Tuesday? as a participant in the Idea Market, and in my role as vlogger for NPR Sunday Soapbox. I’ll be there alongside Weekend Edition Sunday Senior Supervisory Producer Davar Ardalan to bring you the best of the conference, including, perhaps, some interviews with web, political and other bigshots.

PDF2007

Photo of Personal Democracy Forum 2007 via Ed Falk on Flickr.

Citizen Journalism and the 2008 Race

I attended the annual Webby Awards this past week. This week on NPR, I spoke with Weekend Edition Sunday host Host Liane Hansen about the hot topic of conversation there: citizen journalists and bloggers and the role they are playing in the presidential campaign.

Webby Awards

Webby Awards

Last night, for NPR Sunday Soapbox, I spoke to fellow Webby nominees and notables on the red carpet in New York City about what’s hot in politics online, and it’s not just Obama Girl.

Front page of NPR.org — epic, right?

Front page of NPR.org — epic, right?

My new NPR mini-mic keychain courtesy of WESUN Senior Supervisory Producer Davar Iran Ardalan. I took this week off from Sunday Soapbox, but will be back next week.

My new NPR mini-mic keychain courtesy of WESUN Senior Supervisory Producer Davar Iran Ardalan. I took this week off from Sunday Soapbox, but will be back next week.

This week for NPR

HBO Films’ RECOUNT debuts tonight. Last week I was in Washington, D.C. and stopped by National Public Radio to tape a simultaneous vlog and radio interview with Ari Shapiro, this week’s host of Weekend Edition Sunday. We taked about how the film — like our work at Why Tuesday? — is raising questions about the state of America’s voting system.

Soboroff Shapiro

I also shot some other behind-the-scenes footage at NPR with Political Editor Ken Rudin and White House Correspondent David Greene.

Jacob Soboroff

I spent the day today at NPR in Washington, D.C. working on a couple of pieces for Sunday Soapbox. I also had a chance to step out for an iced tea with Andy Carvin, online genius for NPR, who streamed part of our chat live online with his QIK cam. Pretty awesome.

Vote-by-mail

On Tuesday, Oregonians’ choice for president will become known, but they’ve already been voting for weeks. That’s because Oregon is the only state in the Union that votes entirely by mail. This week for Why Tuesday? and NPR Sunday Soapbox I met with United States Postal Service Communications Program Specialist Larry H. Dozier to learn more about voting-by-mail. Check it out.

Un-Super Delegates?

My vlog this week for NPR Sunday Soapbox focuses on how superdelegates, Democratic party leaders and elected officials with votes in the nominating process not tied to any popular voting whatsoever, have unintentionally shifted the debate about election reform from the nuts-and-bolts of America’s voting systems, to our party system.

Examining Pitfalls of Indiana's Voter ID Law

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that an Indiana law requiring voters to show photo ID is constitutional. For NPR Sunday Soapbox I explored the issue, visiting an election law expert and hopping on a bus to time how long it takes to get a photo ID if you don’t already have one.