Topics | Spring 2007 Roundtable
1. Personal experiences in graduate school
2. Origins of studying interests
3. Influential people for graduate work
4. Most memorable conference experience(s)
5. Biggest challenges and rewards in graduate school
6. Teaching elementary and high school students about the Web
7. Politicians doing smart things on the Web
8. Brainstorming a "web use" seminar for politicians
9. The future for studying the social dynamics of technology
THREAD #8
Paul DiPerna:
Let's pretend we are going to hold a 90 minute workshop for freshmen/first-year legislators entering U.S. Congress or other another country's Parliament... Within the scope of the Internet (particularly Web 2.0), what topics would be your priority to teach them, and why?
Fred Stutzman:
Hot media vs. Cold media.
I've seen a number of postmodernist critiques of web 2.0 (Trebor Scholz wrote a good one) but I haven't really seen anyone explore the hot/cold dichotomy that exists in web 2.0. For a political candidate, the power of a youtube video is absolutely astounding.
Sure, a blog post will get people fired up and maybe some columnist will run with it, but you need to be connected to be filtered up the chain. But you can be Jane or Joe Anyone with a camera and catch a politician doing or saying something...the power is incredible.
But maybe that's not that interesting. Or maybe I'm jaded. The topologies of networks that emerge in social media lend themselves to the appearance of democracy, but as we all know the blogosphere is not truly democratic. I think the tools that best cut across the hierarchies of networks are the most exciting.
Miia Akkinen:
I would perhaps warn them about the Internet publicity. We had recently parliament election here in Finland and one of the candidates was filmed in a candid camera. He thought he was discussing privately with a voter, and very openly told rasistic opinions about some immigrants in Finland. The voter was a reporter, and the video of this situation ended up in YouTube. This may be common in United States, but in Finland this is a new phenomenom and attracted a lot of attention.
If companies are investing huge sums of money in researching consumer behaviour, the politicians should also know how their potential voters think. Thus they have to be made aware of the ways people, especially young people, are communicating on the Internet today.
Paul Lawton:
I would teach them about social networking. I think that, as my generation (and younger) starts moving into politics, this will be a no-brainer, but for the current crop of legislators going in (mid 40's at the young end?), there would be a lesson on the sheer potential that something as inane as "Friending" someone would have as far as opening up direct lines of communication with the unwashed masses.
I think the other one would be on establishing an online identity. So often (as I noted in the first question) I see politician blogs and you can tell, somehow, that they aren't writing it, or are importing material that might work in other media (but doesn't "play" online in the same way); a lesson in establishing an online identity - the style of writing that works best (etc) would be huge for a new politician.
Sarita Yardi:
My advisor jokes that in 20 years no one will be eligible to be president. Everybody will have some digital trail that follows them wherever they go. It seems not only pointless, but also futile, to try to avoid this. I think they should take a course on the art of self-presentation online. In the same way that they are taught public speaking skills, they could be taught public online "speaking" skills. There would be basic skills, like having a web presence through a website, and offering user engagement and feedback through chats and discussions and such.
There are lot more subtle and challenging skills though, like how to convey a unique personality, or how to customize identity based on who is viewing the campaign. Viewers in rural Kansas might be exposed to a very different campaign image than viewers in Berkeley. Of course, this is a technical challenge as much as it is a skill in perception management. Wired recently had an article about the "See-Through CEO" who blogged personal challenges and ups and downs instead of just a polished front. I'm curious how the same approach in the political world would influence voters.
Paul DiPerna:
Ok, thanks for all of your comments on this last question thread...
I think we see that (1) politicians in general are still not utilizing the interactive and community-building power of the web; and (2) the popular media may need to do a better job of research before reporting, as well as asking better questions, about what is /is not a particular form of online participation.
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