PRESIDENT 2.0-Obama harnessed the grass-roots power of the Web to get elected. How will he use that power now?

Technology has truly revolutionalized the way of how things shold be done. It is not just limited to development of electronic gadgets and Web spaces; it is also about managing information in a economic, political and social way.

This is an article published in "Newsweek" published on Nov 22, 2008 tells such a story. It explains how the cutting edge technology and computer infrastructure facilitated in campaigning, building up strong voters for the now elect-president Obama.

The style in which this article has been written is quite interesting and makes one want to read on till the end. After reading about Web 2.0 and other MIS topics this article was easily understandable and provides a good understanding about the application of IT in real world.

You can read the article by following the link:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/170347

IF- by Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated, don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master,

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breath a word about your loss;I

f you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Sometimes there are certain things we encounter in our childhood which leave us with marks; both positive and negative. These marks shape how we grow up to be. Shape our lives, guide our futures. This is poem is one among many which were part of my 8th grade syllabus, but this one I remember to date. It is among those things in my life that have left a desirable mark in my being. The poem itself explains how it could have still been the first to come to my mind when someone mentioned the word ''poem'' to me.