by Michelle Lentz
The Inauguration is historic in a multitude of ways, not the least of which is the sheer amount of new media coverage and access. Here’s our guide to some ways to interact with the Inaugural festivities. The fun begins around 11:30 am EST.
Follow the feeds for inauguration or Obama.
Use #inaug09 to show up on the NPR Inauguration Report 2009.
Follow the US Government or the Inauguration Committee.
Current and Twitter are joining forces again, as they did successfully during the Presidential Debates. According to Current, “We will broadcast as many of your inauguration tweets as possible over the ceremony, in real time. We’ll also be streaming the event live right here.” The hashtag to be picked up by Current is #current.
Streaming Video
Stuck at the office and not near a television? It’s alright. The Web will take care of that for you.
As mentioned previously, Current will be streaming the Inauguration, with tweets interspersed.
Hulu.com will be streaming the event, courtesy of Fox.
Joost.com will be streaming live and currently offers an Everything Obama channel, in case you need an early fix.
Ustream is streaming live with their trademark conversation surrounding the stream. They’re also offering streaming to your iPhone – Inauguration on the go.
The ever-reliable C-SPAN will offer four different live feeds.
CNN.com is live streaming, with Facebook status updates. As far as I can tell, it’s sort of like Twitter and Current. RSVP via the Facebook event.
Traditional Media
Of course, all of the traditional network stations, as well as the 24/7 news channels are broadcasting the event. But there are some interesting additions.
Nickelodeon will be broadcasting from the event so that your kids can learn about the event in a fun way.
The coverage will show up during commercial breaks and, most prominently, during the periods between regular shows in prime-time. Nick will offer a retrospective of past presidents taking the oath of office and interviews with young people about Obama’s election and his inaugural address.
NPR: NPR will be broadcasting live all day, but has also fully embraced social media. All week they’ve been tracking normal, everyday people who are heading to DC for the Inauguration, just hoping to get a seat or having been lucky enough to score tickets. They are running the Inauguration Report, and its user-generated content. Tag tweets, YouTube videos, and Flickr with inaug09 or dctrip09. (For tweets, add a # in front of the tag, ie, #dctrip09.) You can also download their iPhone app from the social networking section of the iPhone app store. They also have an app for Android (search IR09). Finally, you can send a text message to 66937 with the required tags, including the #.
MSNBC is sending the Inauguration to a movie theatre near you. Well, maybe near you. The coverage will display in 27 theatres across the nation. Tickets are free, but you have to buy your own popcorn for the four hours you’re there.
Comedy Central still has Indecision 2008 up and running. They’ll be live-blogging all day tomorrow, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart will br broadcasting live tomorrow evening.
Flickr & YouTube
Not only does NPR track Flickr images, but others have groups/photos as well.
The Inauguration Committee, showing they are quite plugged in, has a Flickr account using Creative Commons licensing.
The Inauguration Committee also has a YouTube channel with everything from prep videos to Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.
Flickr has started an Inauguration 2009 group for everyone to share their inaugural images.
Blogs and Sites
Obviously, Change.gov is on top of things with every sort of social media available to them. He is the first Social Media president after all.
The Inauguration Committee has a fairly extensive site, mostly to help you with your visit to DC. But it also has a great blog with everything that’s happening behind the scenes.
Random Fun Things
Obamicon.me: From Paste Magazine, you can turn yourself into an icon, based on the art from Shepard Fairey’s iconic poster.
Atom.com brings us the Inauguration Speech Generator in the style of Mad Libs. Remember Mad Libs?
And we cannot forget to learn from the past, lest we be condemned to repeat it. Hulu and iCue bring you 23 separate Inaugural speeches from Presidents past, starting with McKinley.
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Contact Michelle on Twitter or via email at michelle [at] writetech [dot] net. Find her online at Write Technology or Wine-Girl.net.