As I'll note in my cover story this week, Rhode Island's 2010 gubernatorial race will probably be the state's first test of a post-Obama, technology driven politics. Sure, candidates for local and statewide office have posted web sites and made use of a little Facebook now and again. But no Rhode Island pol has truly harnessed the web as an organizing tool.

While keeping an open mind, I'm not yet sold on this form of new media.

But Clive Thompson had a great NYTM article on the subject a while back.

This is the paradox of ambient awareness. Each little update — each individual bit of social information — is insignificant on its own, even supremely mundane.

The small but growing IT-digital media sector centered around Providence has been one of the bright spots in the local economy. But to what extent can it help the Ocean State to overcome its perennial economic also-ran status?

Marion Davis takes on the topic in this week's Phoenix:

Sara Czyzewicz earned a computer science degree at Rhode Island College and a new-media certificate from imedia, proved her Web design skills at the Westin Providence and a local firm — and then promptly left the state, as have thousands of ambitious 20-somethings have before her.

Sara Streeter sends word:

WHO:
Christopher Penn, founder of PodCamp Boston
Nathan Hutnak, Executive Director of Free Geek Providence
Brian Alves, Vice President of AIGA
Michelle Riggen-Ransom, Communications Director of BatchBlue

WHAT:
technology conference for people new to technology

WHEN:
9am-2pm February 8, 2009 (Sunday)

Social-networking and other forms of new media played an important role in the Obama campaign. The NYT today looks at what might be ahead for the "Obama movement," or what it calls a YouTube presidency:

His aides — including his campaign manager — have created a group, Organizing for America, to redirect the campaign machinery in the service of broad changes in health care and environmental and fiscal policy.

Big quantities of red ink will remain the focus when the General Assembly resumes business this afternoon, but there's some good news to be found beyond the anticipated election of the first female Senate president, not to mention the first Asian-American leader of a Rhode Island community.

The folks at Advocacy Solutions sent this out this list as part of a recent holiday greeting:

The brightest minds in media have yet to figure out a way to sustain journalism deep into the Internet age.

With an op-ed in today's ProJo, Joel Brinkley offers this concept:

When the [newspaper Web] sites were considered technological curiosities, there was no thought of charging people to use them.

A few odds and ends . . .

-- Ed Fitzpatrick and yours truly write about the push in RI for the National Popular Vote.

During the Monday evening fundraiser, New Yorker writer Hendrik Hertzberg, a one-time speechwriter for Jimmy Carter, described the Electoral College approach as highly flawed, since it divides the 50 states into "battlegrounds" and "spectators" during presidential elections.

Newspapers, a bulwark of democracy, may be seriously imperiled, but there's a boom market in excrement.

From KillerStartups:

Nature calls when least expected, and it is always handy to have a resource like this one at hand. Generally speaking, this online service will let you know about restrooms in your close vicinity by displaying such information either on your web browser or your mobile device.

Some speculate that Saul Kaplan was asked to give up his job as executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation. As we know, Governor Carcieri said via a statement that Kaplan plans to return to the private sector. At minimum, the timing is striking, given the state's very serious economic problems.

I hope to have a more thoughtful post today or later this week on Twitter.

In the interim . . .

Breakkup.com, a newish Web site, allows you, the American public (or at least those with too much time on their hands), to cast votes on whether the love-lorn should stay together or split.

Meanwhile, sending one's nude picture via cell phone is becoming all the rage among teens and twenty-somethings, the Boston Globe reports:

Whether you see Rhode Island's glass as half-full (like Tom Sgouros) or approaching empty (like Ed Achorn), the folks at RI Nexus have a cool upcoming event:

Making it through the Downturn and Emerging Stronger than Ever

Where: RIEDC, 315 Iron Horse Way (ALCO), Suite 101, Providence. Google Map

From today's NYT:

PALO ALTO, Calif. — Facebook, the Internet’s largest social network, wants to let you take your friends with you as you travel the Web. But having been burned by privacy concerns in the last year, it plans to keep close tabs on those outings.

Facebook Connect, as the company’s new feature is called, allows its members to log onto other Web sites using their Facebook identification and see their friends’ activities on those sites.

AS220 is the spot, from 5:30-9.

After October’s special event with Jason Fried, Providence Geeks returns next week to our regularly scheduled program. The November Geek Dinner will feature DandyID – a promising startup recently transplanted to our fair city from Boulder, CO. DandyID is a web service and team of social-web enthusiasts dedicating efforts towards simplifying users’ experiences amongst multiple online destinations.

We know about the bad news on the RI economy. But the RI EDC's Saul Kaplan, in a news release today, points to some good news:

Rhode Island was cited as a top performer in the 2008 State New Economy Index, a report published by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF).