Win or lose, 2008 will be remembered in American history as a watershed moment in politics because of Barack Obama. He is black, an extremely adept fundraiser, controversial, popular, and more specifically his campaign has effectively harnessed the power of the online media to broaden the long awaited participatory democracy envisioned by the framers of the Constitution.

As architects of the online culture, readers of adotas.com will recognize the value of taking a look back for a moment as we attempt to wisely plan for the future. Early on in the ‘Internet revolution’ the ability of dot.comers to ‘monetize’ online commerce posed a significant hurdle. But can you remember the exuberance of the mid to late nineties, before the proverbial bubble burst? The possibilities seemed endless and Internet start-ups pushed the limits of imagination and business into uncharted waters. Many of those ‘ships’ fell off the edge of the map and were swallowed up, not by mythical sea-monsters, but financial realities. Similarly, America as a nation finds itself in uncharted political waters.

A clear perspective and foresight require a combination of sober judgment and hopeful optimism. How can online culture transcend simple financial realities and serve the common good of civic discourse? Okay, before I get too fluffy- fact, internet porn revenue stands at $2.84 billion per year, yes $2,840,000,000. And 42.7% of adult, i.e. voting age, Internet users visit pornographic web sites. There is obviously plenty of sky in cyberspace for our less, how shall we say, angelic natures to soar. However, we are collectively not just horny devils, but also socially minded, well-meaning patriotic eagles, as evidenced by the fact that an estimated 5.1 million different Americans have contributed money to the two campaigns.

In summary, our democracy has been made stronger by the ease of communication provided by online social networking. Both candidates have utilized the Internet to raise money, publicize their positions, and organize their campaign volunteers. The ticket that seems to have more effectively harnessed the variety of online tools seems well poised for victory. Obama has been a game changer on many levels and his campaign’s employment of Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes demonstrates foresight. Forward thinking electioneers ought to study the lessons of the dot.com boom and bust, particularly in regards to targeted marketing and how the electorate makes political decisions. Ideally, representative and democratic government seeks to give a voice to every citizen, and the Internet provides the means by which the electorate can be heard.

Will the powers that be use this tool to listen thereby embodying the democratic ideal? Or will it be high-jacked while pandering to our reptile brains with low-blows, cheap-shots, and misrepresentations? Just as porn is a weak substitute for real intimacy, so is viewing the Internet as purely another device to hawk trinkets or broadcast overly simplified political gaffes. Rich media content means substance and detailed information and this applies to our political discourse as well.

As we continue to investigate the influence of online culture on the upcoming presidential election, a practical consideration of money leaps to the top of the list of ways in which the internet is shaping our civic discourse. As they say it Chicago politics “you must pay to play.” The 2008 presidential campaign has become known to many political scientist as the Internet election, primarily because the candidates have successfully built online communities and tapped into millions of dollars in donations.

“It’s very clear that Barack Obama has created the most robust online fund-raising machine ever seen in American politics,” said Andrew Rasiej, editor of the blog TechPresident, which tracks the 2008 candidates’ online campaigns.

In August, Barack Obama raised $66m, making it his best month in terms of election fundraising. Donations were lifted by half a million new donors signing up, an aide of the campaign told a BBC America reporter.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan, campaign-finance watchdog group in Washington, D.C., the current round of fundraising has already eclipsed previous records for presidential campaigns:

* $880.4 million by all candidates in 2004
* $528.9 million by all candidates in 2000

Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, the Democratic nominee, raised $454 million as of Sept. 21, 2008, according to the Center and Federal Election Commission records, making him the top fundraiser in the history of presidential elections. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican candidate, raised $230 million in that same period. All together more than $1 billion has been raised collectively. How has this come about, and more specifically what role has the Internet played?

Phil Tajitsu Nash, lawyer, writer, activist and longtime advocate of the Internet as a campaign tool, runs Campaign Advantage, which helps organizations develop and implement online fundraising strategies. He was interviewed for an article that appeared on America.gov.

In 2004, physician, and former Vermont Governor Howard Dean raised “a phenomenal amount of money and he showed that an insurgent could raise money effectively,” Nash said. Even though Dean did not win the nomination, he made political fundraising history. Since his campaign, political machines have adopted his techniques: appealing to average Americans on the Internet and bringing them together in Internet-generated “meet ups.”

“Obama is really Howard Dean 2.0 when it comes to online fundraising,” Nash said, adding that Obama’s grasp of the Internet’s value was evident in his 2004 U.S. Senate campaign, “but his operation really benefited from the people who were in the Howard Dean and [2004 Democratic presidential candidate] John Kerry operations.”

In 2007, the co-founder of incredibly successful Facebook, Chris Hughes left the company to join Obama’s campaign. He helped develop Obama’s campaign Web site, where people connect with neighborhood groups, volunteer, donate money and read the latest news from the Obama campaign.

Both candidates are still raising money, ensuring an even higher record level by Election Day on Nov. 4, 2008. And if current polls hold and Obama wins, a strong argument could be made that he will owe his success to his ability to directly translate his populist political persona into an effective Internet fundraiser.

In the tradition of all great, emotionally complicated artists, musician Thom York captures the frustrations many have experienced in our communication age of not being able to effectively communicate via emoticons, keyboards, and txt hieroglyphics. Granted, the song lyric above is a bit on the morose side, but the idea that there is a fundamental breakdown as we attempt to interact with each other through the machines that have become such important aspects of our modern experience, resonates.

If communication between friends in cyberspace is limited by the awkwardness of the screen, keyboard, mouse, and cell phone, then surely communication between companies and consumers is just as impeded.

From a bird’s eye view the shift from traditional advertising media to online media seems to be occurring because modern society is waking from the initial hypnotic effects of television, and demanding a more lively and interactive form of information dissemination and entertainment. Like-wise advertisers are continually seeking to engage their audience more meaningfully.

As the world of advertising moves from the traditional to the interactive and online, the demand for creative software that enables content makers to provide truly interactive experiences will explode.

Adobe has lit the fuse for the impending big bang of immersive technological experience. According to an article in the technology section of the New York Times, Adobe will unveil an interactive wall of projected animation in lower Manhattan’s Union Square.

As pedestrians walk past the wall, infrared sensors will “see” the person closest to the wall, which will then be able to control a projected slider button at the bottom of the wall.

As the selected pedestrian continues walking and moves the slider along, the wall will start displaying colorful animation and playing music, effects that will grow or recede at the pace that the person advances or retreats. When each selected pedestrian reaches the end of the wall, his or her design will be in full blossom, above the campaign’s message: “Creative license: take as much as you want.”

The wall is 7 feet high and 15 feet wide and will be recreated in London in early August, at the Piccadilly Circus Virgin Megastore. Each will be there for a month.

With the unleashing of more sophisticated means of interacting with our gadgets, like the multi-touch iPhone and the forth coming “Surface” computer from Microsoft, the need for software capable of harnessing the interactive hardware’s capabilities becomes very real.

When advertisements become entertaining and a creative exploration, they will be more effective as campaigns.  The latest offering from Adobe represents a real advancement in creative capabilities for all those who use it.

Perhaps Thom York won’t have as much to be tormented about. Perhaps we have become more aware of the need for technology in general to have more of an element of human warmth. Perhaps this machine will communicate.

No offer has been made, but the negotiations are part of the Bancroft family’s concerns about editorial integrity of their well respected news organization. The family controls 64%of the companies votes and has been divided amongst themselves. The committee is made up of three independent directors, the family’s lead trustee and Dow Jones Chief Executive Richard F. Zannino.

Mr. Burkle is thought to be exploring a structure for Dow Jones that would incorporate an employee stock ownership plan, according to people close to him. All this comes during a week long process of due diligence between Dow Jones and News Corps.

Susan Pulliam of the Wall Street Journal writes, “One issue in the negotiations between News Corp. and Dow Jones has been Dow Jones’s contract with General Electric Co.’s CNBC business-news channel. Dow Jones has a contract to provide CNBC with content in the U.S. through 2012 — a commitment that could prove a stumbling block to News Corp.’s plans to use the Journal brand in its plans for a new, rival business channel. People close to News Corp. said the terms of the CNBC contract are more onerous than they anticipated, but people close to Dow Jones said evolving technologies, such as online video, make the terms of the contract open-ended, and leave some wiggle room in its interpretation.”

If Dow Jones is going to give-up control of their company for the proposed $5 billion, at least they are going to do so with a revering nod to the passing ideal of journalistic integrity.

The Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act requires companies proposing to merge to allow U.S. regulators up to 30 days to scrutinize the deal. Microsoft said the 30-day period has expired without a request by regulators for further information.

“We’re pleased the 30-day review period concluded without a second request,” said Microsoft spokesman Guy Esnouf. “We now think the transaction will be concluded by the end of the year if not considerably sooner.”

aQuantive has grown in the last decade into three main brands: Atlas, which makes the Media Console advertising platform; DRIVEpm, which provides ad services that match advertiser campaigns with publisher inventory; and Avenue A | Razorfish, which is one of the largest online ad agencies in the world and provides advertisers digital marketing consultation along with media planning and buying.

Microsoft has said since May that they planned to use the aQuantive assets to create next-generation advertising systems. Those systems include cross media planning, video-on-demand and IPTV. aQuantive will continue to operate from its Seattle headquarters as part of Microsoft’s Online Services Business.

Postini started out with a service to identify and eliminate spam, and it expanded to offer other services, such as the monitoring of communication for brokerage firms to insure regulatory compliance. Postini has messages routed through its own servers, which filter the spam, and then send them off to its client companies.

The concept of software as a service, of course, is one of the hottest fads in technology.

Eric Schmidt, Google’s chief executive, said, “with this transaction, we’re reinforcing our commitment to delivering compelling hosted applications to businesses of all sizes.”

Google has already taken several steps in this direction. Many have commented that the highly publicized acquisition of DoubleClick is another move in the direction of offering software to clients. In the case of DoubleClick, their software essentially services online publishers and advertising agencies.

Google claims 100,000 business customers for what it calls Google Apps. These services are offered in free versions that have advertising, and paid versions that come with extra features.

So Google’s entry into the corporate software business promises to shake up an industry that was already in turmoil due to a shift from selling software to software as a service. Google can offer software for free or at very low cost in order to insert advertising.

The implications are far reaching to be sure. But Google has always operated as a company aiming at paradigm shift not just variations on a theme.

This has been an effort of more than eight years in the making. The company says it is completing the delivery of its product to several Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Research in Motion’s co-chief executive, James L. Balsillie, speaking last week on a conference call with analysts, said the company planned to serve corporate customers and had already received 5,000 advance orders.

A manager in R.I.M.’s Beijing office was quoted Wednesday in The Globe and Mail newspaper as saying R.I.M. expected to start selling its 8700g handset in Chinese shops at the end of next month and had already received 5,000 advance orders.

Mr. Balsillie said the company planned to increase BlackBerry awareness in China. The BlackBerry already sells in the other large Asian markets of India and Japan.

R.I.M., based in Waterloo, Ontario, said BlackBerry subscriber accounts grew 1.2 million during the first quarter for a total of 9.2 million- a 73% increase on the previous quarter.

It remains to be seen if the CrackBerry syndrome that has spread across the major financial centers of North America, will cross the Pacific Ocean along with the device.

Susan Decker, the current EVP and Head of the Advertiser and Publisher Group, and up until recently was also the company’s chief financial officer, was named president.

These changes at the top of Yahoo! are being made while the company has undergone persistent internal and external criticism for their new search project, dubbed Panama. Panama has failed to boost results for the company. Yahoo reported disappointing results for the first quarter in April and issued weaker-than-expected guidance for the remainder of 2007.

Semel said in a statement, “The Board and I have long talked about the importance of ensuring a smooth succession in Yahoo!’s senior leadership — and more recently, about the need for a leadership team committed to carrying Yahoo through its multi-year transformation. As we discussed my future goals and plans, I was clear in telling the Board of my desire to take a step back sooner rather than later.”

While there was no public company comment on the relationship to the recent loss of market position to Google, industry analysts speculate that the Board was extremely unhappy with the latest Yahoo stock and market performance. Market speculators have made a lot of noise recently about how Yahoo has been trumped by Google with the latest round of strategic acquisitions. Google hascompletedseveral strategic acquisitions includingDoubleClick and a collection of other top tier companies while Yahoo has lost out. The recent acquisition of Right Media demonstrates one of the first significant efforts by Yahoo to gain ground. Unfortunately for Mr. Semel it appears too little too late to make a difference.

TNS Media Intelligence President-CEO Steven Fredericks says demand from U.S. advertisers “has moved onto a slower track than we thought possible just six months ago.” But he added, “We expect the overall pace of activity will pick up slightly in the second half of the year.”

Regardless, Fredericks noted that U.S. marketers continue to fuel growth in digital media spending – particularly online – at the expense of traditional media. Online ad spending is projected to rise 16% this year.

That means the spending for online advertising is expected to increase 2.7 times more than the next most robust advertising industry- cable network TV growing at 5.9%. These forecast are bolstering a world wide trend of shifting advertising dollars into the online arena.

This is a trend that seems to be gaining stregth as those in the industry who plan marketing campaigns seek to reach their target audiences through a richer diversity of media. In most aspects it is the degree of interactivity that determines our possitive response to any form of advertisement.

Apparently, in the brave new world we live in, markets will be determined less and less by the push of marketers and advertisers, and more and more by the pull of consumers. In other words, companies can now use the interactive nature of the internet to listen to their customers wants as opposed to telling customers about faux-needs.