When my aunt and uncle-in-law emailed me on November 6th, asking for some advice on what they can do to help Barack Obama "address the great challenges that he and our country face moving forward," I was embarrassingly stumped. Err, there were plans in the works, I knew, to ramp up Americorps and even start some new -corps, like one for inner city teachers. Frankly, though, my relatives aren't looking to devote their lives to Obama. They just wanted to help the country along a bit in their spare time.

Luckily, I remembered something that might just be perfect. During the campaign, Barack Obama had promised to inaugurate just such a part-time volunteerism system, an idea the campaign catchily called "a Craigslist for service."

The Obama campaign, such as it still is, is asking supporters to help figure out where the enormous volunteer network built by the campaign should go next. And the questions they have hinge upon whether a grassroots organization is still viable with its namesake firmly ensconced in the White House.

A new survey hosted on MyBarackObama.com is asking supporters to "help shape this movement" -- possibly a suggestive choice of words when the decision has yet to be made over whether or not to keep the network the campaign built outside the political establishment.

It featured minimal graphics, no sound effects, and deeply flawed gameplay. Yet one of the most important game titles of 2008 was played by thousands and helped change the face of American politics. That game was My.BarackObama.com.

The Los Angeles Times' Peter Wallsten and Tom Hamburger have a look inside the debate happening over what should happen to the robust online network built by the Obama campaign; NextGov's Allan Holmes looks at some of the contenders to be the nation's first Chief Technology Officer and concludes that "honchos from Silicon Valley are not that suitable for this position;" Slate's Christopher Beam asks if the sort of transparency promised by the Obama campaign is unequivocally good; and a good deal more.

The online arm of President-elect Barack Obama's transition is filling out with some familiar faces; Sure, even the bold-faced names in Obamaland from Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to possible Attorney General Janet Napolitano seems to have a Facebook profile, as the New York Observer's Gillian Reagan reports. But, details the New York Times' Jackie Calmes, applicants for every one of the thousands of available executive-branch jobs must be open to having their online lives thoroughly vetted; So, what is the campaign-turned-transition to do with all those volunteers who powered their victory? Campaign field director Jon Carson told NPR's Mara Liasson that "We've run sort of a giant experiment here in volunteer management, and we want to take a look at the lessons learned from that." But some of those volunteers aren't waiting for instruction; and more.

"Yes we can," as an election slogan, implies a relatively simple mission: get more people to cast a ballot for your candidate than for the other one. But as Barack Obama’s creed pivots from a battle cry to a governing philosophy, what, exactly, “we can” becomes a much larger and more complex matter. So, too, is the potential role technology can play in an Obama administration.

In this series of essays I’ll look at how Obama’s new CTO might transform American democracy in three areas: civic engagement, administrative transparency, and legislative advocacy.

Micah Sifry checks back in on the wave of protest that has greeted Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's $700 billion bailout plan; You don't have to follow polls that closely to know of the fears that cell phones threaten to kick the leg out of modern surveying. A new Pew Research Center study finds that while among all voters, modeling off of land lines to capture the leanings of the mobile-only crowd is a satisfactory approximate. But, there's a "but;" Does MyBarackObama.com break down at the point where volunteers might otherwise turn into self-organizing surrogates? MyDD's Shai Sachs has thinks it just might; and much, much more.

Carlo Scannella is a graduate student in the media studies department at The New School in New York City and one of the organizers of the Get FISA Right movement. We're happy to have him here. -- Nancy

The story of the Get FISA Right group has already been covered heavily in the press. Here's the 30 second version: A group protesting Barack Obama's decision to support the current FISA legislation appeared on his campaign website, and as tens of thousands of individuals joined, it became not only the largest group on his site, but a movement strong enough to force Obama to take notice. His response to the Get FISA Right group was a moment of validation; this became something real.

Maybe a bit too real, as I found myself on Fourth of July weekend sitting alone in a room on a conference call with 10 or so people I had never met before in my life, logged into my email, editing a wiki, organizing a political movement at breakneck speed -- all while my family ate barbecue without me.

With it's last-ditch Night of Facebook Action, the anti-FISA group that was organized to protest Barack Obama's stance on the bill is turning into a case study in "worth a try" activism; Carly Fiorina is on the trail and defending John McCain's tech cred; we take a look at a dust-up over congressional rules on third-party web tools; a Daily Kos diarist pushes back against calls for millenials to take their activism to meat space; and much, much more.

As Barack Obama responds to protests of his FISA stance, we consider how an online action's success might be judged; NPR focuses on Hispanic voters and how candidates are working to get their messages delivered to them; a new quiz tests your political smarts; we've got new video up from PdF '08; and much, much more.