Tonight we watched the CNN/YouTube democratic debate. I thought it was a great way for major issues to be addressed on a more personal level. A problem with that type of questioning is that while the people who submitted questions had time to prepare their questions and videos, the candidates did not have that same time to formulate their answers (although I am sure they spent much time preparing answers to possible questions). However, I think that one of the points of the debate is for the candidates to show that they are able to think quickly and come up with satisfactory answers under pressure while presenting themselves as a proficient public speaker, since public speaking is a necessary component of the presidential job description. I feel that sending in questions via YouTube is an eye-opener for people who have not before considered how much the internet is an important part of our lives. Before I took this class, I never really appreciated how things like blogs, YouTube, RSS feeds, or sites like del.icio.us were important in everyday life; I really only used them when I was playing around on the internet or sending videos & links to friends. Now, most websites have RSS feeds, del.icio.us tags, and links to include the articles/videos/pictures into blogs, myspace, facebook, etc. This presidential debate on CNN tonight integrated YouTube, which I think is a major turning point for people who have not yet or fully understood how significant web 2.0 is becoming in our lives today.