November 2008 Archives

President-elect Obama's successful election campaign used every web tool available. His YouTube videos were watched for an estimated 14.5 million hours and he had almost 3.2 million Facebook friends. However, America is not the only country where the Internet has become central to the election process.

While a provincial election in British Columbia, Canada, is six months away, the campaign has already started in cyberspace.

One of the parties, the New Democrats, has unveiled its new website - www.bcndp.ca - with nifty tools to get people involved in campaigning with this party.

New Democratic strategist Jeff Fox, said in a recent interview, "The critical part is to develop multiple strategies to reach voters. The notion of reaching people by radio, print, TV, on the phone and knocking on doors are long gone."

There are new voters out there that gather information in very different ways and the new media are critical in reaching these voters.

People can now  very quickly access websites to make donations, sign petitions, send e-mails: all in real time.

For those with more time, sites provide in-depth references to party policies, how to reach members of the legislature, read news stories and hot blogs.

Bloggers can post their own stories and comments or receive the latest website dispatches via cell phones.

People could shot a clip of a political speech in a remote community on their cell phone and posy bit to the party site in minutes.

Interactivity is the key.

The governing party, the BC Liberals, launched their website www.bcliberals.com with an Open Platform feature. This allows people to have a voice in influencing party policies. The Liberals claim this is the first forum of its kind in Canada.

Open Platform users can select specific policy issues and make suggestions directly. This is an e-extension of traditional online forums and the old-fashioned town hall meetings of previous campaigns.

The incumbent government's Liberal leader launched his Twitter account to send messages to people on their cell phones.

Both party leaders have Facebook sites to connect with the social networking game.

One of the challenges the parties face is staying ahead of the web curve.

Things change so quickly, if they are not careful, they will be seen as out of touch with the savvy young voters they wish to attract,

Parties now have to offer the latest ways for people to interact with the candidates and each other, people don't to just receive information, they want to participate in a meaningful way.

Welcome to the world of Web 2.0 !

Photo by Ginny. Creative Commons License Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic

Here's some very exciting news about innovative ways to find out what Americans are concerned about.

With war, recession and elections on their minds, Americans may feel they need access to news information now more than ever.

The James L. Knight Foundation selected three cities in America to hold public forums to address these issues and get a snapshot of how people in certain areas of the country gather news.

 Missoula, MT made the final cut, as did Philadelphia, PA and Mountain View, CA., home of Google.

The University of Montana's School of Journalism and Dean Peggy Kuhr are hosting the Missoula forum.

Kuhr said the evolution of news technology through the Internet is parallel to the continued revenue crisis in the news industry.

Because more newspapers are accessible online for free, subscriptions nationwide have plummeted and newsroom staffs are getting laid off to make ends meet, she said, "There's a real strain on the traditional media to try and maintain their news share."

In addition to several panel discussions featuring prominent figures from around Montana, the commission depends on input from the public.

Comments from all guests will be kept on a record for the commission to consider. "We don't just want talking heads," Kuhr said, " the opinion of younger Montanans is especially crucial."

The university will compile results from the community involvement program and then will release a list of recommendations for changes in public policy, if needed, regarding news media access and coverage and how to use the new media to be more effective in communications.

The commission will release its findings in the spring of 2009.

Now here is an institution committed to determining whether or not young people feel the issues they care about are being covered in mainstream media. I am anxious to see what the results are.


Photo of Missoula, MT by Jason Lengstorf. Creative Commons License Attribution 2.0 Generic