As the 2012 presidential race ramps up, campaigns are courting voters not only at the traditional county fairs and town hall meetings, but online---and generating, in the process, an enormous amount of data about who potential voters are and what they want. At CNN.com, Micah Sifry
---an expert on the intersection of technology and politics---delves in the Obama team's extensive efforts to mine and manage the data
in a way that could help them better interact with voters and home in on important issues. He writes:
Inside the Obama operation, his staff members are using a powerful social networking tool called NationalField, which enables everyone to share what they are working on. Modeled on Facebook, the tool connects all levels of staff to the information they are gathering as they work on tasks like signing up volunteers, knocking on doors, identifying likely voters and dealing with problems. Managers can set ...
