 We're here at the Internet and Politics Conference at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University And I'm speaking to Dana Fisher from Columbia University. Thanks for talking with us Dana. No problem, Dan I was curious what your perspective was on the role of the Internet in the campaign this year Is has it fundamentally changed the way campaigns run? Is it fundamentally different from Anything else that's ever happened in history. There's no question that the Internet has made people be able to get involved with much less activation energy and Basically what that means is that anybody in their homes can get involved in the campaign It doesn't matter where they live and it doesn't matter if there's an office nearby, so it has changed politics in that way It's made it much more local in some ways, but at the same time It's also centralized politics because you can connect with the campaign directly not have to go through intermediate intermediary sites you know local or Regional offices so if you're saying that That the real change has been an ease of access ease of use perhaps if that's one of the major changes or the major change What are we seeing in ten years? Is it gonna be people can vote from home? Can they can everybody run? Are we gonna be doing everything by public site? Well, I have to say that I think also that resources have become much more diffuse But I still believe that the political structure of the United States won't change so we will continue to have A little an electoral system that is based to some degree on you know congressional districts Etc. And so forth so people are still gonna be locally grounded as much as I think a lot of people who come from the internet net perspective tend to think that Location matters less. I think it continues to matter very significantly and it will I predict for the next ten years For the next ten years, so as a what? Are we are we looking at trying to mold the internet to the way? You know politics work or how? What and people view the internet as a free, you know floating ethereal being that has a life of its own Like are we trying to constrain it within the constraints of our politics? Well, I think that's one perspective my perspective would be that the internet has to become a resource for people at at the real level in politics in the United States and politics are local and politics are based on congressional districts and they're based on Moving up through to Senate seat and into the presidential office, so I think that that's going to continue I I mean will that have an effect on the way the internet works I don't think so, but it will have an effect on the ways that people mobilize to be involved in politics through the internet so it There's a perspective that it's there's more than just mobilization around a candidate. So it's around issues. It's around You know what comes after the election? So the the conversation is going on right now with the Obama campaign and what are they going to do through change dot gov And what what what do you feel? Should be the direction that they choose. I think they need to understand that when the target changes as it has now That the candidate has become elected they need to change as well And I know that they're thinking about that But I think they need to be reflexive and recognize that for them to have an effect politically now They need to focus on the issues at hand and everybody who gets involved in the or got involved in the Obama campaign is not going to be interested in Campaign finance reform everybody's not going to be interested in the bailout Everybody's not going to be interested in climate change But there are people who will have those as their voting issues and be willing to take the time to get involved in those issues What they need to do is create an umbrella under which people who have issues that are important to them can be involved in politics because if they try to just Expect anybody who got involved with the campaign to be interested in anything the Obama is doing on a certain day It's not going to work there was talk for a little while that The the Obama supporters the all the people who were involved in the network should be You know brought over to other Democrat Democratic You know candidates and things like that is that it sounds like you don't think that necessarily is the best way to go Well, I think that plugging people into the next step and the next the next election which in most cases is going to be the midterm election That's feasible But you can't just drop everything for the next two years and then resume at the midterm election time So people who are engaged need to have sustained engagement if they don't have sustained engagement They'll find other things to do with their time like what bowling We are at Harvard, so I said bowling. I mean they could do they could have life I mean a lot of people who get involved in all types of movements do it Instead of doing other things taking time with their kids playing bridge bowling whatever it is that they could do and in this case I think that Many of the people have chosen to work for the campaign and be involved in the campaign over other things in their lives And they have to be given a compelling reason to continue doing that So I shouldn't pick up the Dungeons and Dragons Habit yet again. I should wait and see what what opportunities there might be for me not yet But maybe sometime in the near future. Okay. Well, thank you for your time