‘New Media’ get major assist at DNC from UNC Charlotte alum

Friday, September 14, 2012

With UNC Charlotte alumnus Justin Ruckman playing a key role, independent bloggers took on a larger profile during the presidential nominating convention in Charlotte. Ruckman is cofounder of a grassroots organization called the PPL, which offered workspace and support to hundreds of bloggers.

“It's absolutely what I wanted,” he said about the initiative. “I’m happy that the bloggers have as much access that the traditional media does.”

Political conventions typically bring in as many as 15,000 mainstream media representatives, including technicians and support forces. While that number has remained stable in recent conventions, the number of “new media” representatives has risen dramatically.

Packard Place, a vintage auto showroom located a few blocks from Time Warner Arena, served as the center of operations for the PPL. The organization’s other directors are Desiree Kane and Matthew Tyndall.

Ruckman said the PPL served more than 500 bloggers in the work space they provided, and they serviced around 10,000 people with online blogging and live streaming services.

He said Packard Place was designed to serve bloggers and other new media better than the work stations in the convention center. The organizers listened to the ideas presented by bloggers to put together the plan.

“If not us, there are plenty of other people who can do this,” he said. “This idea has been done before. I think we've done it better this time.”

Featuring representatives from Facebook, Twitter and other online media, PPL panels focused on the future of combining politics and technology. The PPL operation was visited by senators, congressmen and former Vermont governor, Howard Dean.