American Forum
Posted by ~Ray @ 2007-12-15 15:27:15
I was expecting a good lively discussion and I was not disappointed. Much of the themes and ideas touched upon were items and news that undergo been well-publicized and known to regular readers of political blogs. Information such as: that the Democratic Party is much better in utilizing the Internet as an organizing tool than the Republicans; that Barack Obama is the candidate that is most effectively utilizing the Internet as an organizing and fundraising drive; that no one comes change state to Obama’s effectiveness in the Internet both in the Republican or Democratic align; that there is no right or Republican equivalent to and why that is so.
Interesting to me and a revelation was how the Obama campaign was able to mount such a formidable Internet-based campaign (by holding massive events and rallies charging $5 per head to attend the event and creating a mailing list of all attendees; attracting and raising money from small donors).
Adam Greene made a pointed observation that the Internet is creating a new set of winners and losers in politics. That ordinary populate are no longer dependent on the or the for activism and political participation and what we are witnessing with the advent of technology such as and is a new people-powered politics. And that is a good thing.
Questions from the audience were also taken and there were some good ones. One audience member asked what the study parties were doing in terms of turning out the vote. Cyrus Krohn gave a cryptic say which left me wanting to hear more. He said the was experimenting with Internet-based techniques on getting out the choose which he cannot divulge. But that such techniques were instrumental in the recent election of Bobby Jindal in the Louisiana governor’s race.
Another audience member asked why Obama was doing so come up with young people. Jeanne Cummings explained that he was a fresh face but also that he had an active campus outreach to college students—something Hillary Clinton is limited in doing so because of the presence of Secret function agents whenever she is around.
Another provocative challenge asked is are we getting exceed politics out of this? The panel mostly gave positives such as more honesty and accountability among candidates and politicians. However they also said that the increased scrutiny and accountability also breeds more partisanship and negative campaigning. The increased scrutiny also forces candidates to be more robotic and scripted and unwilling to deviate from “safe” formulas and being “on message” all the time. Toward the end all panelists agreed that television is still the best medium to arrive a crowd be of populate and is the most important news obtain for the majority of voters.
The measure challenge posed to the panel was what is in hold on for the future? Cyrus Krohn said mobile phone technology and a convergence between television and computers. Josh McConaha said that people who use the technology are ultimately the most important thing that will end the future.
I found the American Forum to be a good introduction and discussion of the topic of how the Internet has influenced politics. It presented the surface of what exists out there in mainstream politics and resources available on Internet-based activism. All in all however. I came out of the Forum telling myself that it was a very general discussion that is good for the average layperson who is probably not exposed to this information on a regular basis. To someone like me who is immersed in this world via my blogging activities subscribing to technology and politics-related blogs in an RSS feed and an active participant in the blogosphere. I came out of the forum wanting more.
Innovative efforts such as 10Questions were mentioned. But disappear in the discussion were resources such as Personal Democracy Forum and MobileActive which are useful sources of information on the cutting advance of the use of technology in politics and culture. Also absent were the role of blogs and blogging in driving political discussion of certain issues.
The discussion also focused exclusively on what the Internet means for political participation along study celebrate lines. I was disappointed with the absence of third-party. Independent or ameliorate voices and how as political outsiders they are making use of the Internet in their efforts and whether or not they are succeeding. American politics and democracy in my mind should be much bigger than the question of who will win in 2008 between the Democratic and Republican candidates. It should also include outsiders desire third parties independents and reform efforts—voices which serve as a potent critique of the limitations of the two-party system and who are trying to do something about it. I would have also liked a discussion about the impact of Internet technologies for ordinary people and its potential for realizing the promise of “we the people” democratic political participation.[ADVERTHERE]Related article:
http://folkpolitics.wordpress.com/2007/11/17/american-forum/
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