How can bloggers participate more effectively in the 2010

elections?

Janette Toral

Goal

• Discuss issues of importance that will assist voters in deciding on who to vote for by 2010.

• Get in-depth 2010 election coverage on both national and local level

• Discuss, compare party platform and go beyond motherhood statements.

Why do it?

• Resources are available.– Numerous election monitoring groups that

have personnel and volunteers capable to blog.

• Have websites and recognize its use but were late in setting up to maximize it.

• Get more citizens involved worldwide.

Target audience

• Election monitoring groups• Independent / volunteer citizen bloggers

– Formerly the “audience”

Proposed role of UP-ISP

• Training resource– Organize forums from 2008 to 2010 that shall

ramp up participation of bloggers in 2010 elections

• Aggregator– Create a blog site that shall receive feeds

from bloggers who have joined or volunteered.

– Tap “wisdom of the crowd”

Execution• Blog site (2007-2010)

– Set-up blog site– Call for nationwide participation

• You don’t have to be with the “in” group to be able to join.• Bloggers Forum (5 training events from 2008 to

2010)• Election Coverage 101

– journalistic guidance: research, fact-checking– Bloggers Handbook

• Politicians, Platform, Parties• 2010 Election critical issues• Technologies / Tools for Election Coverage• Country case studies (lessons learned)

Execution

• Explore recognition of bloggers for election coverage and gain access to materials.– COMELEC– Political Conventions

Blog site• Add Philippines election content to mapping

applications such as Google Maps. – Find electorate– Read Congressional seat profile– Polling booth– Explore marginal seats– View candidates (wiki)

• Follow candidates• Financial info

• Election videos / podcast by party – Request short videos that shall reflect concrete stand

on issues.

Execution• Blog site

– Issues monitor• What candidates have said on critical issues? Where do they

stand? Where does their party stand? What do they intend to do?

– Comparative analysis of solutions and financial data.• Broad-idea based subjects (technology, financial aid,

democracy, ethics, etc.)– Election-related news

• Follow candidates– Organize live chat sessions with candidates

independent and working with media networks.

Execution

• Blog site– Polling

• Share your polling experience

Benefits

• Transparency– See full raw report– Balance (hopefully)

• Inspire discussion• Commitment to facts, to public consideration, and

to independence from faction (Tom Rosenthiel)

Benefits• Distributed journalism

– According to Dan Gillmor, it is analogous to any project or problem that can be broken up into little pieces, where lots of people can work in parallel on small parts of the bigger question and collectively -- and relatively quickly -- bring to bear lots of individual knowledge and/or energy to the matter.

• The important thing is the parallel activity by large numbers of people, in service of something that would be difficult if not impossible for any one or small group of them to do alone, at least in a timely way.

– http://dangillmor.typepad.com/dan_gillmor_on_grassroots/2005/01/distributed_jou.html

Thank you

• Let’s all contribute for a clean elections!