Click on the Video Below and Sample a Session from a previous Digital Hollywood event. For Additional Video Sessions, Click Here Adverting 2.0 New York 2008 Wednesday, June 4th 2:15 PM - 3:30 PM SuperSession B: No Limits: How New Technology and Accessibility to Online Video is Framing the 2008 Presidential Election Web video has played a vital role in shaping this election cycle, and has had a tremendous impact on the roles played by the media, the candidates and the voters. Advancements in technology have made video more accessible than ever, and the Internet has made it easy to watch and share them over and over again, quickly making video one of the most pervasive forms of political communication. Clips of “Obama Girl,” will.i.am’s “Yes We Can” music video and Phil de Vellis’ “Vote Different” are recognizable examples of voters using Web video as a platform to support their candidates, but they have also used video to raise important issues and criticize candidates. On-demand and around-the-clock video coverage have caught candidate gaffes and inconsistencies in their message. Candidates have used video to send their message directly to consumers on the Internet, bypassing more expensive forms of communication and lifting their dependence on traditional media coverage. News sites, video blogs and other forms of traditional and emerging media are driving the conversation, but in which direction? This panel will discuss the mass adoption of video and what it means for consumers, candidates and the media alike. Hosted by Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive Chet Rhodes, Assistant Managing Editor, News Video, washingtonpost.com Steve Grove, Head of News and Politics, YouTube Sarah Bernard, President, 236.com Bill Smee, Executive Producer, Slate V Andrew Rasiej, Founder, Personal Democracy Forum; Cofounder, TechPresident Tammy Haddad, President, Haddad Media, Moderator Chet Rhodes, Assistant Managing Editor, News Video, washingtonpost.com: Chet Rhodes is Assistant Managing Editor, News Video for washingtonpost.com. He oversees the editing of daily news video for the web site. In addition to his day to day responsibilities, Rhodes developed and is currently spearheading washingtonpost.com’s live video coverage of the 2008 Presidential Election. Rhodes’ goal in launching this live streaming coverage is to bring washingtonpost.com users up-to-the-minute news and analysis of the election. Rhodes is the architect of the ongoing training program that has taught over 180 Washington Post print journalists and 7 photographers to shoot video for washingtonpost.com using handheld camcorders. Prior to developing this program, Rhodes designed and installed a television studio for the company as well as video editing and production facilities. Before joining washingtonpost.com Rhodes taught for 10 years as an instructor of Broadcast Journalism at the University of Maryland's College of Journalism. He also worked as a radio news director in local radio and as an editor and chief engineer with the UPI radio network. Rhodes resides in University Park, MD with his lovely wife Beth and four amazing children. Bill Smee, Executive Producer, Slate V: Bill Smee is the Executive Producer of Slate V. He joined Slate after 20 years in television news and documentary, having garnered multiple Emmys as a producer and network executive at CNN and the Discovery Times Channel. He is a graduate of Yale University and lives in Washington, DC. Steve Grove, Head of News and Politics, YouTube: Steve Grove is Head of News and Politics at YouTube, where he directs all news and political programming. As the director of the You Choose '08 platform, Steve works with presidential campaigns, media partners, and YouTube’s vast user community to embrace the online platform as their ‘townhall’ for political discussion. In addition to his role bringing the 2008 presidential election to YouTube users worldwide, Steve has expanded YouTube's political programming down the ballot to Senate and House campaigns, and even to local elections domestically and internationally. Steve started and manages YouTube's Citizentube, the site's highly popular political vlog. He also oversees YouTube’s nonprofit program, which empowers 501c3 organizations to spread their messages to donors and volunteers on YouTube. In December of 2007, Newsweek named Steve one of its "12 people to watch" in 2008. Originally from Northfield, Minnesota, Steve has worked as a journalist at the Boston Globe and as a reporter for ABC News. He received a BA in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics from Claremont McKenna College and a Master's in Public Policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Sarah Bernard, President, 23/6: Sarah Bernard is the President of 23/6 (236.com), a new comedic news co-production from IAC and The Huffington Post. In this role, she is responsible for the development, operations and management of the company. Previously, she served as General Manager for HuffingtonPost.com since its launch in May of 2005. From 2000 to 2005, Ms. Bernard held various roles at AOL, Inc., most recently as Vice President of Program Strategy & Promotion charged with audience growth for AOL’s media business. Before that position, she served as Vice President & General Manager of AOL for Small Business, overseeing the launch and ongoing business strategy, programming and product development for AOL’s first line extension. Ms. Bernard was first recruited to AOL for advertising sales development, where she led technology and consumer electronics sales strategies across Time Warner’s interactive properties. Prior to joining AOL, Ms. Bernard was a Director at Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, where she was responsible for guiding business and product development for washingtonpost.com’s recruitment classifieds property, washingtonjobs.com. Ms. Bernard began her career in advertising, where she held account management roles at both TBWA/Chiat/Day and Ketchum Advertising agencies. Ms. Bernard sits on the board of Page73 Productions, and holds a BA in English from UCLA and an MBA from The Leonard N. Stern School of Business at NYU. Andrew Rasiej, Founder, Personal Democracy Forum, Cofounder, TechPresident; Andrew Rasiej is the Founder of Personal Democracy Forum , an annual conference and community website about the intersection of politics and technology. He is also the co-founder of techPresident, an award winning group blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the web, and how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign. He has served as an advisor to Senators and Congressman and political candidates on the use of Information Technology for campaign and policy purposes since 1999. Among those he has worked with are Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Tom Daschle, Congressman Dick Gephardt, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In 2001, he addressed the United States Senate Democratic Caucus in the US Capital Building on the "Digital Divides Facing Democratic Party" and has been actively involved in the campaigns of many Senators and Congressmen. For the 2004 Presidential race he served as Chairman of the Howard Dean Technology Advisory Council. He recently ran a highly visible campaign for Public Advocate of New York City, running in the Democratic primary on a platform to bring low cost wireless access to all New Yorkers. In the aftermath of the September 11th tragedy, Mr. Rasiej helped organize hundreds of local technology professionals to provide relief and recovery to small businesses and schools in lower Manhattan. From this experience, he proposed the creation of a National Tech Corps that would act similarly to the National Guard and provide emergency technical, communication, and database support in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist strike. This idea, now called NetGuard, was approved in a bill by the US Senate by a vote of 97 to 0 within four weeks from inception and was integrated into the Homeland Security Act and is currently being built by the US Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Rasiej also maintains the position of senior technology adviser for the Sunlight Foundation, a Washington D.C. based organization that focuses on using technology to expose corruption in Congress and facilitates citizen engagement and oversite. Mr. Rasiej is the founder of MOUSE (Making Opportunities for Upgrading Schools and Education), an educational non-profit organization started in 1997 focused on providing technology support to public schools. Originally a volunteer organization MOUSE currently runs a program called MOUSE Squad which trains students to run their school's computer systems and thereby helping them not only to learn lifelong skills but also empowering them to expanding their schools capacity in the use of technology for education. Mouse is active in 100 public schools in New York City and over 90 percent of the students in its programs graduate and go to college. Mouse has also expanded to over 20 countries around the world. Mr. Rasiej has served on the 2001 New York City Board of Education's task force on technology and has spearheaded several other innovative projects that support efforts to bridge the "Digital Divide" in public education. In addition to work in bringing technology innovation to public schools, Mr. Rasiej is a co-founder of www.mideastwire.com, which is a Beirut based news service which translates opinion pieces from newspapers in all 22 Arab countries, Iran, and the Arab media Diaspora and makes them available to English speaking governments, corporations, media, and educational institutions. Mr. Rasiej is the former chairman, CEO, and co-founder of the Digital Club Network (DCN) which created the internet's largest live music archive, which is now part of eMusic. In 1996, concurrent with his involvement in music and technology, Mr. Rasiej co-founded the world's best known annual digital music conference, "Plug In," which was attended by executives from major record labels and technology companies. In 1990 Mr. Rasiej founded Irving Plaza, an internationally known concert venue located in New York City and produced concerts by well-known artists such as Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, and Dave Matthews Band. Mr. Rasiej was also the Founder and President Emeritus of the New York Nightlife Association, a business trade group representing major New York City nightclubs and bars. NYNA works to create strong neighborhood relationships through community oriented programs and outreach. Previous to his work in technology and the music industry, Mr. Rasiej had a successful career working in the real estate development working on several high profile projects in New York City including World Financial Center and South Street Seaport. Mr. Rasiej also provided real estate consulting services to various not for profit organizations. Mr. Rasiej is a member of the Board of Directors of Pop!Tech. He is also a graduate of the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and past recipient of the prestigious David Rockefeller Fellowship administered by the New York City Partnership.