MIT Technology Review’s current issue looks at Blue State Digital, the Cambridge based start-up responsible for Obama’s social networking strategy (originally conceived and executed for Howard Dean’s campaign).  The key to MyBO’s success: Disintermediation

“Supporters had considerable discretion to use MyBO to organize on their own; the campaign did not micromanage but struck a balance between top-down control and anarchy. In short, Obama, the former Chicago community organizer, created the ultimate online political machine.”

[for full article including interview with 29 year-old CTO Jascha Franklin- Hodge, click here]

Can a platform like MyBO be built solely around reading? An authentic space where authors can communicate directly with their fans? Or does it make more sense for conversation about books to live within the context of a broader social network like Facebook? (And please don’t say Shelfari)

As an aside, whoever came up with this “Great Schlep” video is GENIUS:

The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.
credit (chart above): MIT Technology Review

Julia

The New York Times reports that Martin Rynja’s home in North London, which also serves as the headquarters of Gibson Publishers, was set on fire early yesterday morning. Gibson recently announced it would publish Jewel of Medina, the highly controversial novel about the life of A’isha by Sherry Jones [NYT]. Random House canceled Jewel at the end of the summer for fear it could provoke terrorist attacks.

In an interview with a German newspaper Jones said recently  “To claim that Muslims will answer my book with violence is pure nonsense.” [the independent]

Julia

I can’t stop myself from pummeling financial reporter Anna Bernasek (whose book I’m editing) with questions about the bailout. I’ve read everything I can get my hands on – including Barry Ritholtz’s excellent blog The Big Picture – but so many unanswered questions remain.

Me: Which aspects of the bailout – if any – are not being discussed in the mainstream media?

Bernasek: There are so few details that it’s clear there are many things still left to be discussed. What I find remarkable is that there has never been an adequate explanation for why Lehman was allowed to fail and other institutions were not that would enable investors and the public to be confident in the judgment of the officials involved.Then there are key questions that are have not been adequately addressed such as whether this action will be sufficient and what it’s true cost will be. More fundamentally, there is no articulated vision for an improved regulatory structure that would underpin the confidence of the public. Also, we need to know who is going to bare the losses? And who is going to gain from the new system?

Me: What will happen to the Hedge Funds?

Bernasek: This is a vital question. They may be the source of more problems than the banks. Maybe the other shoe to drop?

Me: Who will profit from this disaster?

May be more interesting to think through who will ultimately bear the financial losses. That question has not been answered.

Marcy Kaptur’s rant on the subject is truly worth watching:

I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that my second thought after hearing McCain’s choice for VP (after WHO???) was, “I wonder if she has a book deal.” (I have a one track mind.) As far as I know, Sarah Palin hasn’t started shopping the rights to her autobiography (yet), but there is a new-ish biography available that is sure to make a killing for its small publisher.

Epicenter Press couldn’t have known Sarah Palin was on her way to the highest rankings of political stardom when they signed up this biography. Just like the editor who signed up Dreams from My Father in 1995 couldn’t have possibly foreseen Obama’s prescient keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and his subsequent path to the current presidential race.

And yet, these books were published anyway, on their own merits, probably not intending to make millions. They were publishing leaps of faith – unlike Bill Clinton’s bestselling autobiography “My Life”, which made millions, but also cost millions to make.

While I have yet to read the Sarah Palin biography, I’m starting to wonder if we should be looking at other young Governors, Mayors, and upstart politicians to be the next big poli-celeb…and bestselling author. After all, the next president, whether it’s Obama or McCain, can’t last longer than 8 years…if he can even last that long.

Sarah