Obama Online

Yesterday marked in a first-of-its-kind event - an online townhall meeting where the President of the United States sought, accepted and answered through the internet, questions on the economy from members of the public.

The event, dubbed "Open for Questions," was streamed live on WhiteHouse.gov, and included an array of hand-picked questions submitted through video or text on the Internet. Nearly 93,000 people submitted about 104,000 questions, 3.6 million votes were cast either for or against questions submitted by others.



Imagine the role of the KZN film industry in creating such a platform for democracy in South Africa? The film sector providing video boothes operated by trained and in-training operators, the ICT sector providing the platform..... Obama, who relied heavily on the Internet during his campaign, called the experiment "an exciting opportunity for me to look at a computer and get a snapshot of what Americans across the country care about." South Africans care too; this could be an interesting way to express it.