Isn’t it strange how we name different parts of our cities — particularly when done so with cardinal directions.

• North Beach - one of San Francisco’s neighborhoods
• South Beach - one of Florida’s well known beaches
• Lower East Side - a common response for New Yorkers answering where they live
• South Park - the potty-mouth cartoon
• When I was attending Cal, we had
• South side and North side - representing areas in relation to campus
• West Side (Story) - the well known musical that’s a take on Romeo & Juliet

They do have a good ring to them.

At the same time, I never hear:

• East Beach
• West Beach
• West Park
• or East Park

although a quick Google search reveals that they do exist.

However, I do note that Google’s results are thus:

• North Side - 36,800,000
• East Side - 44,200,000
• South Side - 93,800,000
• West Side - 53,500,000

South Side seems to be more popular (or populous on the web), as is South Park.

Anyway, something maybe to bring up if you find yourself caught in an awkward silence over Thanksgiving.

(Northeast Side exists, too, but has barely 800,000 results - so clearly, nothing to write home about).

Photo by Leo Reynolds

The Role of the Web in our President-Elect

I must say that when I wrote my Locke and Demosthenes post, I would never have thought that Barack Obama was actually ahead of the curve — just shows how in touch I am, eh?

Here’s one of the recent articles on the use of Web 2.0 and the 2008 elections:

Social Networking used in the 2008 Presidential Campaign

The fact that the 2008 Presidential Election had one of the larger voter turnout in a while suggests:

• the state of the economy got people out of their seats to vote
• the majority of voters wanted change
• the Obama campaign made better use of Web 2.0 social networking tools

I also read that Obama made great use of Facebook, and used Twitter, and his campaign warchest was in no small part due to small, but numerous, donations made be everyday people.

Obama’s website

Obama even has his own Flickr photostream

Post Election

Witness, already one immediate result from the President-Elect:

www.change.gov - a website that allows us to see the transition from the Bush administration to the Obama administration

Apparently, Obama (along with Republican Tom Coburn) pushed for government transparency in its spending back in 2005, and the result is this:

www.usaspending.gov

There seems to be a lot of excitement in the air regarding our new President-Elect. While Obama was not the first politician to make use of the web, the general consensus is that he’s the first to make good use of it, to know how to take advantage of the new medium, similar to how JFK knew how to use network television to his advantage when he was campaigning against Richard Nixon.

Anyway, I do have hopes that Obama will affect positive changes. It will be interesting to see how things play out, and what kind of role the web will play in the new administration.

Is it me, or does there seem to be enthusiasm in the air — I’ve received more emails, seen more chatter online, etc., on this year’s ballot than I can ever recall.

Do your civic duty, and vote!