I was re-reading a post about Twitter on Ingram 2.0, Mathew Ingram's blog about media and the Internet on globeandmail.com, which directed me to a site called Mashable, All That's News on the Web , and a post about Barack Obama's inaugural address on Joost , so I clicked only to find out the video I wanted wasn't available in my region. Okay. Back to Mashable where I also read hulu had an excellent collection of inaugural addresses so I clicked. Denied again, this time because I'm not in the U.S. I'm sure they are great however.
Anyway, back to Twitter and to Mathew and most importantly, Barack Obama's inauguration as U.S. president next week.
Mr. Obama is a web darling for a whole lot of reasons (Obama was listed as the most popular search word in the U.S. on google.com in the post 2008 Year-End Google Zeitgeist ) and inauguration week promises to be a huge online event.
However, some of us are better than others at finding the best content on the Internet or at least knowing where to search for the answers. In The Globe and Mail newsroom the smart person turns to Mathew Ingram for direction on such matters, which is why I asked him to join me Thursday to discuss the Obama inauguration and how we can experience it online.
Mr. Ingram will be live to take your questions for an hour starting at 1 p.m. ET Thursday. Send your questions now and read the answers below. We'd also love to know how you will use the Internet to experience this historic event. Are you going to Washington, blogging the event, watching it all online, sending your comments via Twitter, or setting up a Facebook group?
Mathew Ingram has been writing about business and technology for The Globe since 1991, and has been a blogger and columnist for globeandmail.com since the site launched in 2000. He was recently named the Communities Editor for The Globe.
Editor's Note: globeandmail.com editors will read and allow or reject each question/comment. Comments/questions may be edited for length or clarity. HTML is not allowed. We will not publish questions/comments that include personal attacks on participants in these discussions, that make false or unsubstantiated allegations, that purport to quote people or reports where the purported quote or fact cannot be easily verified, or questions/comments that include vulgar language or libellous statements. Preference will be given to readers who submit questions/comments using their full name and home town, rather than a pseudonym.
Christine Diemert, globeandmail.com: Hello Mathew and thanks for taking some time out to talk about we can experience the inauguration of Barack Obama online. I've got a lot of questions but I'll start by referring to my introduction and the dead ends I hit as I followed links to what I hoped would be live streaming and the archived speeches. And I'll add this question from Eric Bierman of Ottawa.
"I normally live in Ottawa, but am currently in Mexico escaping the -30 weather in Ottawa. I just tried the Joost link and also got the 'not available in my region' comment too, so I am looking forward to Mathew Ingram's tips on how to watch the inauguration on-line. I hope his comments are as valid for Mexico as they will undoubtedly be for Canada."
So, for both Mr. Bierman and me, why the dead ends?
Mathew Ingram: Great question, Chris -- and Eric. That's definitely one of the first things people in Canada, or anywhere outside the United States, tend to notice when they try to watch streaming video of something, whether it's through Hulu or Joost or many other services -- there's a message saying "This content is not available in your geographic location" or something along those lines.
