Sunday, February 10, 2008
Photoshop for Democracy
I'm using the example that we discussed in class about Howard Dean and the 2004 elections. I remember following the primaries and although I didn't actively participate in Dean's online community, I think that was by far the best way to get votes. The video showing Dean getting excited about the primaries got twisted around to make him look crazy and mad. In reality, Dean actually had many followers because of his connection to voters through online activities. Having that strong of a connection to voters really would have given him the majority vote. I think it is saddening that his personal connection to voters wasn't as strong. He was stronger in the online community connection as opposed to personal and in the end, he didn't prevail. I agree with this article in the sense that online communities bring people closer but I think its attacking the personal connection. If he would have had that same strong connection in his personal connection then things would have been different.
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2 comments:
Kelly, Although I wasn't involved the 2004 Elections I am heavily involved in the 2008 Election. Seeing that Dean was already forming an online community in order to get his name out there and obtain votes I find this strategy to be brilliant. And therefore I agree, it was the best way for him to obtain votes in order to compete with Bush and others running for president. It is obvious that media and the world wide web as an incredible impact on our generation but what you said is true, by showing one video that one person may believe to be sending out the message that they are in the race for the long run, another person can interpret this video as something completely different. From this, I can relate because I blogged about the YouTube Effect, and in the articles a lot of concern was discussed in the trust of what is posted on Youtube. In class we discuss over and over again the craze of wikipedia and that a weakness of the website is validity and it is interesting the role that internet plays in our lives even with the lack of validity it has on some major websites such as wikipedia and youtube. From this gray area, many believe everythign they read and watch which could attract a whole new group of people to support a certain topic, in this case Howard Dean. It is easy to show through media a one sided eddect of the candidate of topic. There is a lot to be worked on when it comes to the internet, but as for now I find Howard Dean's idea to use online activities as brilliant whether it was beneficial to his campaign or not. Either way it was the beginning of something that could become even bigger than the internet craze is now.
I also agree with you. I wasn't involved in the 2004 elections nearly as much as I am now but I remember hearing about how blogging was revolutionizing Howard Dean's campaign. I believe the article also mentioned something about John Kerry trying to do the same thing. However, I don't really know too much about it because I wasn't old enough to vote yet nor did I really have interest in any of those candidates. It was really interesting to learn more about Dean's campagin. I agree with Maverick when she says that the blogging strategy is brilliant. It really is. I think it is even more effective now. I believe candidates this year are really trying to appeal more to the people on a personal level and blogs definitely help do that.
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