Tomorrow, Saturday July 11th, starting at 8am EST, President Barack Obama will be giving a historic address from Ghana. For the first time in a US presidential address, you can participate in a global conversation with other people from around the world using SMS text messaging, Twitter (using the hashtag "obamaghana"), and from with the virtual worlds of Metaplace and Second Life. Second Life and Metaplace residents will be able to watch a live video stream of President Obama's address, as well as converse with other participants. Talk about a multi-modal communications strategy!
After President Obama's address, you can join in a public discussion with musician and activist D.N.A. (Derrick Ashong), Ambassador Kenton Keith and African historian Professor Tim Burke from within Second Life and Metaplace.
More from the official announcement:
President Obama will speak to a live audience in Ghana, Africa. His speech will recognize Ghana’s stable democracy and leadership in the region. It is expected that Africans from all over the continent will converge for this momentous speech. The White House is using a Twitter feed which will enable individuals from around the world to participate in the conversation and share their thoughts with President Obama.
This event provides a public sphere for people to come together as citizens sharing independent views which in turn shape the political institutions of society. These conversations, literally hosted in a virtual physical space, are essential for the marketplace of ideas in our globalizing society. Following the event will be music from D.N.A. Please join us for this historic event.
Links:
- Annenberg Island in Second Life, SLURL: http://tinyurl.com/SLobamaghana
- Interval in Metaplace, URL: http://metaplace.com/Interval
- The live twitter conversation at this link.
