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 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.

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.

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.

As an anti-telecom immunity group takes the top slot on MyBarackObama.com, we ask if we're about to witness a case of 'meet the new boss, same as the old boss;' road trip! College Republicans hit the trail, driving cross-country without laying down tire tracks in Democratic districts; a congressional candidates XML-inspired t-shirt inspires a flurry of fundraising; and much, much more.

A group protesting Barack Obama's stand on warrantless surveillance has attracted more than 10,000 members in just a week, making it the largest user-created group on MyBarackObama.com; we spotlight a tech policy dust-up worth keeping an eye on: the conservative battle over broadband; a new experiment in governing out of the U.K. pairs government data stashes and a cash prize; and much, much more.

Do millennials need to start strengthening their collective action muscles?; the anti-telecom immunity group on MyBarackObama.com is on track to be the social-networking site's top group later this week; Wesley Clark makes use of his Facebook status line to stand his ground on comments regarding John McCain's national security chops; is Newt Gingrich's Drill Here, Drill Now group poised to become the conservative equivalent of Move On?; and much, much more.

While one high-profile blogger argues that the time has past for advocates and activists to shape the trajectory of their preferred general election candidates, others disagree and are self-organizing to show it; a consultant on the right argues that conservatives need to start thinking about the Internet as both play and work; and much, much more.