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DNC Plans To Use Technology To Break Down Barriers

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Aug 1, 2008 12:08 pm US/Mountain

DNC Plans To Use Technology To Break Down Barriers

Written By Michael Choy, cbs4denver.com

Section: Democratic National Convention Section

DENVER (CBS4) ―

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Democratic National Convention Section

The Democratic National Convention Committee formed a special advisory council for the party's 2008 meeting in Denver to help create a strategic plan on technology. The Democrats hope to use the technology in an innovative way to provide continuous live and on demand content during the presidential nominating convention.

Convention planners said this is the first time the party will livestream the entire event gavel to gavel. Technology experts for the DNCC said this year was also the first time they brought together corporate leaders from top computer, software and Internet companies to collaborate on the technology plan. City of Denver and state of Colorado IT professionals also contributed.

DNCC Director of Technology Brook Colangelo said the goal was to use technology in the best and innovative way during the convention.

The advisory council met four times since the start of January. Many of the players were also the vendors providing communications and software solutions for the convention at Pepsi Center and now Invesco Field.

Colangelo said while many of the companies involved often compete, he was able to witness first hand what he called "cooper-itiion" among the technology leaders.

Colangelo said the experts will be using a connectivity pipe for the Pepsi Center that provides enough bandwith to serve 220,000 homes.

The DNCC will be using the new Microsoft application Silverlight to power its video application during the convention, Director of Online Communications Aaron Myers said. The interface will feature live video, archived video along with biographical and factual information about the speakers and groups featured.

Archived videos will be broken down in a variety of ways. Users interested in a specific topic or group can look for content about only that group or topic, said Obama campaign Senior Advisor Jenny Backus.

The Democrats also plan to have live Spanish language translation of all the live speeches.

Organizers said goal of the technology is break down barriers and bring the convention to people who aren't inside the Pepsi Center or in Denver.

"Using technology you can get your message directly to voters without other people's opinion or preconceptions," Backus said.

Additional Resources

• For complete coverage of the planning for the 2008 Democratic convention in Denver, as well as information about how to volunteer and for a list of helpful links, visit the Democratic National Convention section.