GOP convention will be a highly wired act

Tag : wiring boxes

Bloggers have a cost advantage over the traditional media becausetheir needs typically are minimal, convention officials said.Convention center work space outside the Xcel arena is free fornews organizations such as the Star Tribune, but they must pay forelectricity, Internet and telephone connections and for furniture.Because bloggers typically don't require workspaces outside thearena (they often rely on the chair, desk and electricity providedin the arena's press stand for all reporters and use PCs withcellular connections) they aren't charged anything for attending,convention officials said.
Testing the waters
Other convention multi- media efforts are being tried for the firsttime.
For the average person who wants to send photos or video of theconvention to family or friends, Microsoft is offering a workingdemonstration of its "Surface" technology, atouch-sensitive video screen that can sense things placed on top ofit, such as a digital camera. It will be able to upload picturesfrom the camera to an e-mail system. Surface also will provideinteractive guides to the convention center and surrounding area.
The convention also is experimenting with a presence on the socialnetworking sites Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, and the ubiquitousvideo site YouTube. However, for security reasons, the GOP materialon those services is being kept on the convention's own tightlycontrolled website -- which allows convention personnel to editcomments for profanity and makes it difficult for unfriendlyoutsiders to deface the Web pages. People using the social networksites should search for "Republican National Convention"(nicknames such as GOP convention don't work).
"We want to try to drive traffic to our main Web page andpresent a single face to the public," Everett said.
Some things are deliberately not being done. For example, therewill be no Wi-Fi allowed in the main part of the Xcel auditoriumbecause it has the potential to interfere with wireless microphonesand cameras using similar radio frequencies, he said.
Conventional telecommunications providers say they're ready for theconvention.
"Based what we've seen at previous large venues -- the FinalFour, the World Series, the [Barack] Obama rally in St. Paul -- andwhat we expect to see at the upcoming Neil Diamond concert, we'reconfident of what we've planned for at the RepublicanConvention," said Dave Fine, AT&T Wireless regional vicepresident and general manager.