Blogs are good for peers to flesh out a story together...? I am not so sure...
In the recent Canadian Federal election, a band of bloggers dared to go where no bloggers went before... To campaign against a certain candidate who abused her privileges while she could... and that campaign produced concrete results! She lost her seat - her main rival was elected instead into the House of Commons (so named because... it is made for, paid for and appalled by commoners? Not quite but this is not the point here...)I am sure that the old adage "there's strength in numbers" is totally true - however, here, I do not think it had much of a direct incidence upon the vote's turnout. The "winds of change" were sweeping throughout the land (though moderately so, to be honest) - all the "perceived to be corrupt" candidates were getting the axe no matter if bloggers had lambasted them or not.
I decry so many injustices myself, on TLB Prime (pictured here) - the original blog in this network and main one still - and I see no indication that I am changing the world with that! A few (proud few, aye...!) readers applaud my initiative there but I remain essentially the voice that cries in the desert - a cyberland desert version though! (Version 2.0?) And it suits me fine too... I admire John The Baptist! ;)
posted by Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™ at
3:04 PM
2 Comments:
Bloggers take some credit for defeat of Liberal who pushed copyright reform
24/01/2006 4:56:00 PM
TORONTO (CP) - Bloggers are claiming victory and taking some credit for mobilizing voters to oust a former Liberal MP who was known for trying to overhaul copyright laws and was accused of taking campaign contributions from the entertainment industry.
Sarmite Bulte, former MP and parliamentary secretary to the minister of Canadian heritage, was the subject of intense scrutiny by an online community of bloggers who posted an unofficial campaign to have her defeated.
It may have worked.
In 2004, the NDP's Peggy Nash got 34.5 per cent of the vote in the Parkdale-High Park riding and fell 3,526 ballots short of Liberal incumbent Bulte. This time, Nash captured 40 per cent support and won over Bulte by 2,201 votes.
While bloggers are stopping short of saying they're the reason for Nash's 5,700 vote turnaround, they credit the Internet community with being a major contributing force and influencing the decision.
"I think it's premature for anybody with a blog right now to start saying, 'OK, now that I've got a blog I am a kingmaker,"' said Joey deVilla, a resident in the riding and author of the blog, The Adventures of Accordion Guy in the 21st Century.
"But I believe (the online campaign) did help. It stirred some discussion online and at the candidates' meetings, it got the attention of the media, and it became a story."
A blog by University of Ottawa Prof. Michael Geist propelled much of the case against Bulte.
For years he had followed her push for Bill C-60, which he called "the most one-sided prescription for copyright reform that we've ever seen in Canada."
But it was postings about a $250-a-plate fundraising dinner in her honour that really drove the bloggers to campaign against Bulte and got the attention of several different sites, including the popular website Boing Boing, which gets an estimated 1.7 million visits a day.
The dinner event was organized by film, book, software and music leaders who were lobbying the government to tighten copyright rules and curb downloading and CD burning.
Geist said the fundraiser wasn't illegal but it appeared to be highly unethical considering it came just days before the election
"Prior to that many people had the perception that Ms. Bulte was closely aligned with those groups but (to have the fundraising done) and to do it in such a brazen fashion I thought sent a terrible message to all stakeholders in the copyright process," Geist said.
"As I dug further I think it became increasingly clear that the connection between Ms. Bulte and these lobby groups extended well beyond just the fundraiser - she'd in fact accepted campaign contributions from them," he said.
"And I thought again, there's nothing unlawful about it but it sent a really bad message. And I think it's pretty clear a lot of people in Parkdale-High Park agreed."
By
Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™, at 5:39 PM
One of the editors of Boing Boing is author Cory Doctorow, who lived in the Parkdale-High Park riding until about five years ago. He became interested in the stories Geist was posting and linked to his website.
"When I watched this lawmaker engage in the worst element of American politicking - which is taking money in exchange for making laws - and bring in the worst kind of American copyright laws that led to disaster after disaster after disaster, it seemed to me we needed to talk about it more," Doctorow said.
He hoped the blog attention contributed to Nash's victory but said at the very least, it helped educate voters on their decision.
"What blogs seem to be good at is helping people connect with each other and campaign and inform one another. Blogs are a really good way for peers to help each other flesh out a story," he said.
By
Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™, at 5:39 PM
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