We're big fans of catchy titles around here. And nothing seems to inspire the catchy-cutesy sides of our brains like anything related to the World Wide Web. Especially when it's about the upcoming election. Election 2.0! The YouTube Prez! Democrawiki! (That sounds like a really cute speech impediment, no?) Attaching a 2.0 onto these topics isn't just for the (slightly outdated) cool-factor, it's a measure of how much the culture of the blogosphere (incidentally, I heard someone refer to it as the "biosphere" which is sort of correct -- if hilarious. Discuss.) and social media has infiltrated every aspect of the election. CNN's YouTube Democratic debate (and check out this catchy title) is the most recent example of this, but not everybody thinks that it's entirely democratic. So ... what do you think? Is Web 2.0 making the election more or less democratic?
Blog of the Nation
As a 22 year old college student, the Internet vital to me. This is no different when it comes to politics. So far, I have done all of my research about the Presidential candidates online and have interpreted for myself. Online there tends to be less of a bias. I think this makes Democracy more accessible to the masses. Not all people are home to watch the news or see the debates on tv, but they can look everything up online at anytime of the day.
I ran for mayor of Louisville in 1998 and was the only candidate in the race with a web site. Now I am running for a seat in the Kentucky State Senate in the 2008 election and I'm finding that the internet has matured a lot in the nine years since.
The internet has made getting my message out and fundraising immensely more available. It makes me more available to people in my district and makes people in my district more available to me.
It's coincidental that they asked if this was a "revolution" in the opening tag, as my site is BallotRevolution.org. I really think the internet gives smaller candidates a lot more power to reach out to the masses.
Scott Ritcher
I put together a web site (robovoter.com) to try and level the playing field for all candidates. The site asks visitors a series of questions and then matches their views up with the candidates.
Interestingly, thus far the candidates dubbed the 'leading candidates' by the media have not fared as well as lesser known candidates.
The internet can only help deocratize the process, but the major media and political parties still run the show.
There are still places in America where the Internet has yet to reach ... usually places that don't have much pull in politics already ... It was 2003 before landline telephone penetration surpassed 50% in Native American homes on reservations. How about they have a counterpart to each one of these interactive debates and hold a town hall meeting in a rural town where there is no Internet access or just dial-tone Internet access. It seems, instead of focusing on the 2 (poor and rich) Americas, we are hearing more about the 2.0 America.
I sent in a question to you tube about something I care about (endangered animals, #319). I wouldn't have noticed the debate if it wasn't on you tube. I thought it would be fun to try it out.
The big media--i.e. NPR--threaten to make it LESS democratic because they rely almost exclusively on major Internet sites for their information. That is equivalent to covering an event by using only the New York Times or interviewing only senior officials.
You might spend some time on the backroads of the Internet and explore some published works about the current political crisis that do not make the best-seller lists. You would be surprised at what you find.
Those of us who write for smaller publishers used to think of NPR as our only friend, but now you ignore us just like the NY Times.
I'm with Trish. I'm a 22 year old video game designer and I get almost all my news through the internet (plus NPR and BBC). The best part is that I have become a participant. The internet has made this possible and that's a big win for democracy. I joined my local Ron Paul meetup group and have become politically active even though my candidate is barely noticed by mainstream media.
Thanks YouTube, CNN and NPR.
I get alot of my information on or through the internet but some of the information users post online is false.
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