newsonaut
Turning inner space into outer space
Thursday, April 7, 2011
How to keep kids in the election news loop
For those of us who have been around the block a few times, elections seem like old hat. But to children, they can be baffling. In fact, they may wonder why they should even pay attention.
It’s important that they become informed, because they will the be voters of tomorrow. Or at least we hope they will vote. Luckily, there is a website that explains the federal election campaign — along with a slew of other news — in a way that is easy for children to understand.
It’s called Teaching Kids the News, and you can find it here.
Check out this sampling from the site’s political primer for the election:
“There will be a federal election in Canada on May 2.
“Every Canadian who is 18 years or older and is registered to vote — even people in prison or who are out of the country — may vote.
“Although there are many people who are up for election, there are five main ones — one of whom will win.
“Each person who is up for election is a member of a different ‘political party.’
“A ‘political party’ is a group of people who all think the same way about things. They think the same way about how a country should be run, how it should spend its money and what is most important.”
Hmm. I think I know a few adults who could do with this primer . . . But seriously, this site really does a great job of setting children on the path to becoming informed citizens — people who actively take part in the affairs of our country rather than merely being passive consumers.
Know any kids? Let them know about Teaching Kids the News.
More posts in the Campaign 2011 category
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Putting the election on a graph
I’ve added another page for those of you who can’t get enough election data. This one tracks Google searches day by day on a graph for the federal parties and their leaders.
It’s not exactly the same thing as a poll, but Campaign Trends does give some indication of what people are interested in. Among the leaders, Stephen Harper is ahead as might be expected for the incumbent prime minister. But for the parties, it’s a lot closer. The NDP has been ahead much of the time and the Liberals have had a recent spike.
What does it all mean? I’ll let you decide.
Meanwhile, over at the Follow the Candidates page, I’ve noticed that some of the candidates are starting to respond to questions on Twitter. It’s nice to see some give and take, because all too often Twitter and Facebook are used simply to make pronouncements.
It’s particularly heartening to see responses to Westsyde secondary school students who set up a special Twitter account to ask questions — what a great way to get young people engaged. They were roundly ignored by party leaders, but local candidates stepped up to the plate, thankfully.
Speaking of election data, I also noticed that Donovan Cavers has taken the lead in the “like” department. As of this writing, he has 224 Facebook likes, compared with 124 for Michael Crawford and 69 for Cathy McLeod. Is Cavers really three times more likable than McLeod? Once again, I’ll let you decide.
More posts in the Campaign 2011 category
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
This Tory gets it
I mentioned yesterday that some candidates seem to understand the power of social media better than others. Tory hopeful Cathy McLeod has been doing a great job with Twitter and regularly updates her Facebook page, although I’d like to see something more than boring announcements.
Now she’s posted the first of what she says will be a series of videos on her YouTube channel, where she talks about Conservative policies. The first one is amateurish, but at least she’s making an effort and it can only get better.
McLeod likely already had this election in the bag, but with her social media efforts she just might wind up steamrolling her opponents.
Update: Now Donovan Cavers has a YouTube channel as well. He won’t win, but he certainly get points for creativity — and getting his Green Party message out.
More posts in the Campaign 2011 category
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Some candidates get it, some don't
Our latest project here at newsonaut is keeping tabs on the candidates through social media. I’ve set up a special page called Follow the Candidates that carries Twitter feeds, Facebook feeds and Google keyword searches for the five people in the running to be our member of Parliament.
As I was setting up the page, I was struck by how far ahead Tory Cathy McLeod is when it comes to Twitter. She already has hundreds of followers and hundreds of tweets. As the sitting member of Parliament, it could be that she has paid staff to help, but still — it’s not that hard to set up a Twitter account and pound out a tweet now and then. It’s especially inexcusable for Michael Crawford, who has run for the NDP twice before and has been, in a sense, campaigning for years. He could have used that time to build up a solid base of followers and create a public Facebook page.
While Twitter gets a lot of attention, Facebook is probably more important when it comes to social media. It has far more members, and it does a better job of networking. It also makes it easier for people to engage in conversation or debate. In the U.S., some politicians have encouraged discussion with voters on their Facebook pages, and have found it to be a good way to bring some civility to the give-and-take of politics.
Donovan Cavers of the Green Party and McLeod are the only two candidates with public Facebook pages. Crawford has one, but you have to “friend” him to get access. Cavers has been doing a great job on Facebook with his carbon challenge to the other candidates and embedding a video. He’s also made Facebook and Twitter work together — pointing out the Facebook challenge from Twitter, then getting into a round of tweet talk with McLeod about it. McLeod’s Facebook page is a bit of a disappointment, with just a few announcements on it. She could do much better.
Murray Todd has only been a Liberal candidate for a couple of months, and it looks like he’s still getting the hang of Twitter. You’d think that party advisers might help him get more on the ball.
I’m not sure what to say about Chris Kemling of the Christian Heritage Party. He’s nowhere to be found on Twitter or Facebook. He might be a long shot at getting elected, but he could at least use the campaign as an opportunity to put forth his ideas and perhaps sway public opinion on the issues that are important to him.
More posts in the Campaign 2011 category
Monday, March 28, 2011
Voting is a waste of time if that's all you do
Every election we hear laments about how fewer people are bothering to vote. It’s seen as a sign of apathy, the fall of democracy, and possibly the end of Western civilization as we know it.
But the more I think about it, the more I’m forced to agree — to some extent — with those who say voting is a waste of time.
Let’s take Kamloops, for instance. Unless there is a major upset, the outcome is a foregone conclusion. The Conservative candidate, Cathy McLeod, will be re-elected. She will be re-elected regardless of whether the voter turnout is 20 per cent or 100 per cent. Unless you live in a swing riding, there is a lot of validity in saying that voting is a waste of time.
The problem with elections is that most of us believe our civic duty consists of reading the news, griping about what a bad lot we have to choose from, then grudgingly casting a ballot — knowing full well that it will make little difference in the grand scheme of things.
What we need to wake up to is what those in power, and those who seek it, already know: If you want to make a difference, you have to do a lot more than vote. Take fundraising, for example.
According to Wikipedia, election expenditures by Kamloops candidates have been fairly modest. The most ever spent was in 2008 by Cathy McLeod with $82,161. The second highest was John O’Fee when he ran for the Liberals in 2004 with $78,065.
For one person, that might seem like a lot of money. But a few fundraisers could quickly close the gap, especially for candidates whose ideas would truly upset the status quo. And there are a lot of people in Kamloops who are very good at fundraising — they just shy away from doing it at election time.
Of course, you could also volunteer for a campaign or simply make a donation.
The point is that if you sit back and wait for election day, your chance to be truly influential will have passed. The die will have been cast, because others will already have done what most of us can’t be bothered with — the hard work of influencing public opinion.
More posts in the Campaign 2011 category
