DoD New Media

Department of Defense (DoD) New Media is a United States Department of Defense directorate that utilizes new media to disseminate public information. The directorate was established in October 2006 by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs to research and adopt communication-delivery advancements as part of a wider mission to make DoD more forward-leaning in its approach to communicating in a 24/7 new media age. The DoD New Media directorate initiates programs and products that engage recent and emerging Internet technologies –Web 2.0 and beyond–to make information more transparent and accessible to worldwide audiences (U.S. military members, media, and private citizens) who increasingly use the Internet and mobile devices, such as cell phones, personal digital assistants, and MP3 players, to receive news and information.

DoD Live
The DoD New Media directorate has created the DoD Live brand, under which it is establishing its web presence. In the coming year, the directorate plans to launch a DoD Live website to serve as the web portal directing the public to all DoD new media programs and products.

Bloggers Roundtable
The Bloggers Roundtable is a series of conference calls where bloggers and online journalists dialog with DoD and military leaders. DoD New Media launched the program on February 2, 2007, to provide bloggers interested in defense issues, programs, and operations with verifiable information from DoD officials in the Pentagon, diplomats, and field commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan. Information from the roundtables is also multipurposed for the public on DoD’s official website, where visitors can access audio files, transcripts, American Forces Press Service articles, and related background and source material. The Bloggers Roundtables are also broadcast live on Blogtalkradio and podcast via the Pentagon Channel website and iTunes.

DoDvClips
DoDvClips is a website containing a collection of videos produced by DoD with footage from speeches, military field operations, Pentagon Channel news programs, America Supports You news stories, and public service announcements. The website has an embed tool enabling the HTML code for the videos to be copied and placed on other web pages (allowing users to display the videos on their own websites).

DoD.mil/mobile
DoD.mil/mobile is a web-based service that compiles and adapts the top news stories, press releases, and press advisories from DoD’s official website for display on personal digital assistant (PDA) devices, such as Blackberry.

Blogs
DoD New Media maintains blogs with commentary on Department of Defense programs. The DoD Live blog provides daily updates on DoD news and information, Bloggers Roundtable speakers and topics, Pentagon Channel programming, pertinent DoD coverage by mainstream media, and other DoD media. The ASY Live blog covers the America Supports You program with daily information on citizen troop-support efforts, DoD programs and services, and educational tips for U.S. military servicemembers. Additionally, DoD New Media used blogging during the 75th Joint Civilian Orientation Conference (JCOC), April 21–25, 2008, to enable JCOC participants to log real-time commentary as they toured major U.S. military installations in South America, such as the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

Text messaging
DoD New Media uses text messaging for campaigns that encourage private citizens to communicate support to U.S. military members. For example, a campaign executed in November 2007 by the America Supports You program asked citizens to text message words of support for military members unable to be home on the Thanksgiving holiday. The campaign resulted in more than 130,000 text messages received during the Thanksgiving week to be viewed online by military members (as reported by the American Forces Press Service in a November 26, 2007, article).

Social networking
DoD New Media contributes content to social network services that are popular in the United States, including MySpace, YouTube, and Blogtalkradio. MySpace is used to host a profile for the America Supports You program. YouTube is used to host channels for DoDvClips and America Supports You video content. And Blogtalkradio is used to broadcast the Bloggers Roundtables live and to host online talk radio shows about America Supports You and the Military Health System.

RSS feeds
RSS feed subscriber services, also known as really simple syndication, are used on the official DoD website and DoDvClips to automatically push news updates and video clips to users’ e-mail accounts.

Podcasts
DoD New Media repurposes audio from military news and information programs as podcasts, so the content can be downloaded on portable media players and personal computers for playback. The podcasts can be downloaded from the Pentagon Channel website and iTunes.

Pentagon Channel Live
Pentagon Channel Live is a simulcast (via streaming video) of Pentagon Channel programming on the Internet. The simulcast is found on the homepages of DoD’s official website and the Pentagon Channel website.