"I have a Scream"

New literacies affect every campaign, even if a candidate does not partake in using them directly. In 2004, politician and hopeful Presidential candidate Howard Dean broke ground in his use of the new literacies to gain better funding through smaller donations. Unfortunately, technology was not as widely known in general and especially in politics and Dean focused too much on new technology and did not include enough community, so he dropped out of the race (Schifferes, 1). Dean later paid for his mistaken usage of the internet— because he was one of the first to really incorporate the internet into his campaign, hundreds of spoofs were made of his campaign videos, including a video entitled “I Have a Scream” as well as one involving the Janet Jackson Superbowl mishap (Jenkins, 225). Obama learned from Dean’s mistakes and made sure to make community the center of his campaign. The availability and popularity of the new literacies changed dramatically between the 2004 and 2008 elections, such as YouTube’s jump in popularity and usage. By using YouTube, Obama was able to have free advertising and increase the amount of viewers (Miller, 1). This form of campaigning was extremely popular because people sought after it themselves rather than be forced to watch in during a television show. People also favor the internet over other forms of literacy for their information because they can copy and paste information from a text or a video into a conversation on a blog or website to argue a point or support a candidate they like. The online videos also allow the public to watch a debate as many times as they choose, providing them the opportunity to closely observe the candidates in a specific situation (Miller, 1). The only downside to these videos is that while people can observe the candidates strengths, they can also observe and expose every weakness. This is seen through an amazing amount of derogatory videos that have come out about every candidate. However, that is what the new literacies are all about—transparency and authenticity. Candidates can no longer deny saying something in a speech or change their wording later to sound more eloquent. The public is watching more closely now than ever.

Here's the "I have a Scream" speech on video--wait until the end, it's worth it: