User-Generated Content: Threat or Opportunity?
Who's afraid of a little web video? More people than you think. Does UGC pose an opportunity for political campaigns or will the threat of being under constant surveillance make political candidates even more inhibited?
Chair: Heather Greenfield - Media Relations Director, Computer and Communications Industry Association
Greenfield is director of media relations at the Computer and Communications Industry Association. She was a senior writer at the National Journal's Technology Daily until the publication closed in January. There she wrote
about the political activities of bloggers and how candidates were using new media to get elected along with technology policy issues on Capitol Hill.
She was a reporter for Associated Press in Washington DC for 12 years working both for newspaper and radio affiliates. During this time she also wrote a Washington column for TechWeek magazine, trained broadcast reporters in Ethiopia on U.S. investigative reporting techniques, and spent several months in Germany writing for die Tageszeitung in East Berlin as part of a journalist exchange program. Greenfield used to be a television reporter and anchor and came to Washington in 1991 as part of the Joan Shorenstein Barone Congressional Fellowship program in which she worked as a press assistant for the Senate Finance Committee under Chairman Lloyd Bensen of Texas. She has a master's degree in news media studies from American University, a graduate
certificate in Asian studies from the University of Hawaii and an honors degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin.
Phil de Vellis - Vice President, Murphy Putnam Media.
A senior associate and VP of New Media for MURPHY PUTNAM MEDIA, Philip de Vellis has a wide range of professional experience in commercial post-production, politics, and Internet communications.
Philip is best known as the creator of the "Vote Different" ad, which he posted online under the pseudonym ParkRidge47. At Murphy Putnam Media, Philip produces broadcast television spots and Internet video for issue advocacy groups and candidates at the local, state, and national level. His political experience includes serving as the Internet communications director for Sherrod Brown's successful Senate campaign, deputy Internet communications director for Wal-Mart Watch, and as a field organizer for the 2004 Ohio coordinated campaign. Prior to his full-time work in politics, Philip was a freelance video editor and motion graphics designer in Los Angeles.
Mindy Finn - Romney for President.
Mindy Finn is well known in grassroots politics for her work in leveraging technology to promote democracy at the legislative, campaign and political committee level. Most recently, she serves as the Director of “e”Strategy for the Mitt Romney for President campaign.
Finn was selected by Campaigns & Elections as a Rising Star in American politics in 2007 and was recently profiled in a cover story for the Washington Post as part of its Political Operatives series. She has appeared on Hardball, PBS’ the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, NPR, BBC Radio, among others speaking about the use of the role of new media and technology in the political process.
In her role on the Romney campaign, she directed the effort to maximize technology and the web to best communicate the candidate’s message, raise money and mobilize a strong base of support. Tactics included web video, social networking, blog outreach, user-generated content gathering, email list building and online advertising. Through her team’s efforts, the campaign was recognized for such innovative efforts as Sign Up America!, MittTV, mini-Mitt, the Create Your Own Ad contest, and the Five Brothers’ Blog.
In 2006, Finn served as Director of New Media & Technology for U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, where her job also included guiding the campaign’s use of microtargeting to contact and turn out key voters.
Her team helped Senator Santorum recruit over 50,000 active volunteers, provide outreach vehicles to more than 20 affinity groups and raise more than $1.2 million over the Internet, more than any other candidate in cycle. Finn was recognized by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for being the Republican’s best cyber campaigner in the nation and recognized by PoliticsPA for being one of Pennsylvania’s most accomplished political operatives 26 and under.
Prior to serving Santorum, Finn served as Deputy Director of the Republican National Committee’s eCampaign and Deputy Webmaster for Bush-Cheney ’04. Both entities won the Golden Dots for their superior websites.
Finn resides in Washington, D.C. and Boston, MA and originally hails from Houston, Texas. She has a B.S. in Journalism from Boston University and is pursuing an M.S. in Political Management from George Washington University.
Also with:
Justin Germany - McCain 2008
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