Back in 1999 President Bill Clinton held an “ cyberspace town hall ” hosted by a companionship called Excite@Home . Clinton answered questions submitted from the 50,000 citizenry watching along . And despite the fact that Clinton allow he was “ technologically impaired , ” it was fundamentally the first presidential enquire Me Anything ( AMA ) .
On November 8 , 1999 Clinton sat at George Washington University , field real - time questions for an 60 minutes and a half from anyone with a web web internet browser . So what kind of questions did Bill Clinton get ? A November 9 , 1999 clause from theLos Angeles Timesgives us a wind :
When “ Cynthia in Arizona ” call for whether Clinton planned to have a food stash on hand because of job that may rise from the Y2 K information processing system bug , the president answer : “ The result is no , ” add up that only “ some of our small businesses ” seem not to be prepare for the change .
Questions came from Canada and England as well as from throughout the United States .
One inquirer need Clinton about his post - White House plans , another about what Clinton believes will be his legacy . There was no quotation of Clinton ’s impeachment .
Some people complained that the questions , which were all screened by moderators , were too easy on the President . There were no interrogation about Monica Lewinsky , of path .
From theNew York Times :
Many of the questions were softballs on health charge , ordnance control and other issues that Mr. Clinton has answered many times before . He mix serious policy answers with chortle at occasional proficient glitches and some of the e - ring armor names of the querier — monikers like T Love and Sissy Bill .
So I opine nothing really changes . Barack Obama ’s Reddit AMA back inAugust of 2012faced similar criticisms and similar joke about Reddit handles .
The result included spate of politician , but also technical school famous person of the time likeMarc Andreessen , co - laminitis of Netscape , and current better half at the venture working capital firm Andreeseen Horowitz . I asked Andreessen about his experience with the first presidential “ internet town Granville Stanley Hall . ”
“ I was on it by video conference from @Home ’s campus in Redwood City , I guess . On a degree in front of a few hundred people there — it was such a fresh affair , ” Andreessen recalls . “ The President called me after — vertiginous with excitation at what has become potential for political employment . ”
“ @Home went bankrupt shortly after , ” Andreessen adds .
In 2005 the historic Clinton webchat was made a part of theClinton Presidential Library . The program was preserve and is now part of its permanent collection .
“ This was a major production ; you have to realize this was the first time a President had settle to communicate with the general public using a very former technology in Holy Order to do so , television over the Internet , ” Marc Scarpa , the producer and director of the Clinton event , would sayyears by and by .
“ In summation , there were several remotes ( video feeds ) to manage in concurrence with the primary locale at George Washington University , which was loaded with Secret Service , his aide , a live studio apartment interview and the world watch – all attain for a very tense real - time effect . ”
Of course , 1999 was n’t Clinton ’s first brushing with electronic computer . We have picture of him forge away at laptops year originally . There ’s this photograph from October 25 , 1996 where he ’s spell an “ electronic message on a portable computer ” for the first day of remembrance of something calledNetDay — a day when volunteers help set up shoal in California with access to the net .
By the end of 1999 , Clinton was on a laptop in the White House , reportedly Christmas shopping .
It should in all probability be take note that Hillary , as First Lady , appears to have answered a interrogative from the net even before Bill . The photo below was taken on February 11 , 1998 during the first White House Millennium Evening — a series of events to celebrate the coming class 2000 .
And Bill ’s 1999 town hall would n’t be his last , as this photograph from May 4 , 2000 show Clinton participating in a “ cyberchat ” as Getty Images puts it .
I do n’t require to channelize out that pretty much all of these paradigm are just begging to be meme - ified .
Or let out an exasperated suspiration . Whichever I feel I ’ve got the energy for .
Bill ClintonComputersInternet
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