EricaAmerica's posterous

Today is going to be jam packed with projections, analysis and lots of new realizations of new political careers and the closure for so many others. I'm going to be a fly on the wall, sharing the best content, links and ideas coming from the team of reporters, analysts and political scientists.

I've been at CBS News for less than a year but it certainly feels longer. Looking around at the storied history of the network and reading books about the birth of broadcasting is the least I can do, I figure, to pay homage to those pioneers before me. The greatest in radio (Edward Murrow) TV (Walter Cronkite) and hopefully next up, CBS will be a place for the next generation of journalists who gravitate to the multi medium beat with a focus on web and mobile first.

Today on election day it's my simple goal to do this: be an intelligent filter of news and information for you. One that doesn't inundate and overwhelm but instead takes time to listen, hear what you find valuable (text, audio, video? Polls, analysis, chatter?) and funnel it to you so they in some way, you feel more informed about the political process.

So with that I'm off to do my first set of check ins with the news team. The coverage will be led by Katie Couric (@katiecouric on Twitter), our CBSNewsOnline YouTube channel (wall-to-wall livestreaming of our broadcasts) and our blog, Political Hotsheet.

So what are you waiting for? Jump in. These days only come every two years!

I decided it was an experience I needed to have: rent a UHAUL, drive to Manhattan and unload it all into my new place. But it was a group of strangers that made the experience and helped me feel connected to this country I call home - a place I work to understand on a deeper level every day.

First there was Pierre, a UHAUL representative who finalized my reservation over the phone when I hit a wall with the website. Regardless of his friendly disposition, Pierre ended up misleading me to believe I could dump the UHAUL at any of the after hour locations in NYC. (There are none, and like other big companies with thousands of employees and a seemingly disorganized call center, I later got the run around when I really just needed help). But that was really, the only unpleasant experience. Because next, there was Greg.

Greg was a 20-something-year-old. Toothpick thin but strong beyond belief, he met me at my new place to unload the truck. Greg was one of the 35 men who answered my Craigslist ad, (all within minutes), to unload my truck. I say look no further for evidence of how bad the economy is than the volume of people hawking the 'Gigs Offered' vertical of CL, offering time for dirt cheap. I only answered the people who offered resumes and/or references, and Greg, a guy my age who had to take a break from college, which I assume was financial-related, was my first choice.

And while Pierre and Greg were the bookends of the trip, the constant that got me through was Liz, a friend of a friend who just so happened to also be in route from DC to NYC the same day. She didn't miss a beat when I asked her to tag along and acted as a voice of confidence and support as I navigated the wily interstates of the east coast with a cargo van full of items I love.

So now here I am, on a crowded subway heading from the Bronx to midtown west to get my fourth week at CBS News started. I had to drop the van off at the Bronx locale, which amazingly, was no problem at all. Who knows what the next days and months will hold in my new city. But one thing is for sure, there are many new people like Greg I can't wait to meet to learn a little more about it.

Onward and upward...and a DIY move, while a great experience, I hope never again! :)

Erica Anderson
Sent from my iPhone

Thanks to Nick @Nite, I spent the 1990's watching classic American sitcoms. From I Love Lucy to Bewitched, I loved meeting my family after a sun-filled summer day around that television. But as the years went on, it was the lure of a new screen in the room - the computer - that pulled me away from the connectivity of those nights and into the future.  

Clay Shirky reminded me of those memories when I watched his 2008 Web 2.0 Expo talk about the "cognitive surplus."

Here is the back-story.

In 2008, Shirky credited the television sitcom (summary here: Gin, Television and Social Surplus) as the most critical technology of the last few decades. He says, and I paraphrase - that as the country came into the five-day workweek around the start of the second World War, society experienced something new: free time. Problem was, people, like my grandparents, didn’t know how to handle it. So they "panicked" - and flocked to TV that acted as the “social lubricant” to our patchwork society. For decades, it linked us all together. It was present media. And with the onset of the Internet, web 2.0 and the long tail of choice, the sitcom and well, TV, has been challenged by choice.

If you follow Shirky's perspective, he goes on to say that society is just now waking up from a collective bender, a bender that has exposed a cognitive surplus. Massive amounts of time that people choose to spend in different ways – from updating Wikipedia page to creating video content to building a personal brand.

So who will be the game changers that create the new sitcom - the new social lubricant? Will there be one or many? And who will find the avenues to construct the new model of business, news and entertainment around it?

I can't wait to dig into Shirky's new book - fittingly named The Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age.

I'm sitting at a Cafe, transcribing more of the Helen Thomas tapes. When I met Helen in 2007, I asked her if it would be OK to film some of our conversations about life, journalism, politics and the intersection of each. Now it's 2010, and it's time for me to sit down and transcribe them all, show her what I've got, and see what step is next. Why? I suppose I feel the conversations and lessons that came out of our talks shouldn't be kept just between us. So many people are passionate about reconstructing fact-first journalism. 

She told me during one of our first meetings this was the most difficult time she has ever seen for a young person to enter journalism. Really? I was skeptical. Even during WWII, when she got her start? Even when women weren't anything but coffee brewers and secretaries in newsrooms? Now? Yes, she told me. In a moment of self defeat, I told her about the advice of some Washington media who told me: if I wanted to get in, I should leave, work at a small news outlet in some small town, and try to make my way back. I loathed such advice. Why would I do that? Even in 2007, I felt a rising tide of change that I wanted to be around for. Helen agreed. "Start at the top. Stay in Washington," she told me on a park bench outside the White House. And I did. Stay in Washington, that is. And in the years that followed, I would find my own way for education and experience, talking to Helen Thomas about it along the way.

Over the years our poignant conversations produced moments of intensity and real time lessons for me. It has been a remarkable privilege to have these talks with Helen. But truth be told, this isn't about us. It's about a significant shift in American journalism - and how two bookends of the industry viewed it. Analyzed it. Consoled each other over it. Found hope from each other in it. Learned from the others experiences with it. And at the end of the day, ended on a note that left each of us feeling optimistic about it.

Here is one quote from this batch, filmed in her cubicle on February 19, 2009:

EA: Two columns ago, you wrote about the stimulus, and about how Obama was courting (Republican) votes. And it didn't work. Only three Republican Senators voted for the package. What is it really going to take to change the way Washington works, which is what he says he wants to do.

HT: I don't think he's going to change the way Washington works. That is, he ought to do what is right for the American people. And if he does, he'll win. 

I guess this is part of the stimulus ripple effect? People are working, goods are being exchanged and the businesses around stand to also benefit. What D.C. neighborhood will be next? My hope is somewhere in the Ward 8, Anacostia region. It is by far the poorest population in D.C. A stark contrast to these city blocks below.

Erica Anderson
Sent from my iPhone

And for the record, he wasn't at the building to see me. :)

Erica Anderson
Sent from my iPhone

In 1925, Coolidge was the first President to give an inaugural address on radio. In 2008...Obama? YouTube.

For more facts on American Presidents, check out the Smothsonian's National Portrait Gallery! Geek on!!

Erica Anderson
Sent from my iPhone

I had a great time last night at the Quinn Gillespie & Associates (QGA) and FD official White House Correspondents Dinner "toast" to the Press Corps last night. On my way, I did a quick Wikipedia search to find out the history of the WHCD, as it is a pretty big deal in Washington. Turns out, the WHCD began in 1920 just six years after the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) organized to protect journalists covering the White House. Today, the WHCD has become a sort of "Prom" for D.C., an annual event where some of the most prominent members of the media come out and mingle.

Thanks so much to the wonderful Pat McMurray of QGA for inviting me to the event. While my main WH squeeze (well..my friend and mentor) Helen Thomas, wasn't there, I felt right at home in the company of talented media professionals like Tim Burger, Matt Dornic, Chris Brown and Brendan Kownacki. 

Check out the write up from the Scene Bisnow here and Kiki Ryan's post at Politico Click here.   

Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton (affectionately known as HRC for short) announced today a new @StateDept initiative called the International Fund for Women and Girls. To summarize, the mission is to help the State Department get "high impact" grants to NGOs faster - NGOs that help advance the rights of women and girls across the globe. HRC (referred to as #SecClinton on Twitter) has made it a priority to support private/public partnerships to see this happen.

Check out the Fund's topic areas here:

• Climate Change
• Combating Violence
• Economic Empowerment
• Education
• Political Participation
• Health