Campaigning with Web 2.0
January 12, 2008 by mlower
Since I live only a few miles from the Iowa border, our local TV stations were filled with campaign ads and stories prior to the Iowa caucuses. That has all quieted down somewhat as the campaigning has moved on. But there have been many articles looking at how Web 2.0 is influencing the methods of running for office. In the TechLearning Blog recently, Scott McLeod posted an interesting article about how YouTube is being used in the process. In his posting, Internet Democracy, he looks at how online videos are being used and how teachers can use these to stimulate interest in the political process for their students. Our students are very in touch with the Web 2.0 technologies, so maybe we need to utilize those tools to encourage our students to become interested and involved in the political process.
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Maybe it is Web 2.0 or some other factors, but for some reason, I am much more interested in these primary races than ever before. The amount of information that I can find out about a potential candidate is amazing! In addition to the ones you mentioned, I check out the CNN Political ticker. Perhaps not a blog, but still a pretty neat way to keep up on the races.
I agree that it is easier to stay in touch with up to date information which is making the interest factor greater in this campaign.
As a teacher of high school students, I have seen an increase in student awareness and interest in the 2008 Political Campaign. I am not aware of all of the reasons why, but in polling some of my students, it DOES seem as though the web has something to do with it.
Many of my students credit MySpace and YouTube with their sudden interest and investment in the political scene. If Web 2.0 can accomplish the often difficult task of getting high school students interested in the polictical world, kudos, Web 2.0!
I agree that we need to use these tools to get kids more involved in the political process. Like Mike said, I am much more interested in these primaries than in previous elections. I do believe that is due in part to the wealth of information that is available through Web2.0. I plan to spend some classtime on the November elections, and I’m sure that I’ll tap into the web resources to get my students better involved in the process.
I have heard the students commenting recently about the YouTube videos that relate to the campaign. It is obvious that they are getting information in this manner when they might not have watched the same video clip if it were on TV. This makes me wonder how I can use these tools to affect my students.
I am highly in favor of using more Web 2.0 tools in our district schools. I spent an hour and a half today with our District Tech guy learning more about using the Wiki and Blog systems he set up on our District Blackboard. I am starting an interactive multimedia project with my students and these and other web tools will be very helpful as the students pair up and work together on their part of the project.
It is appearing that our students are more interested in the elections due to YouTube and other avenues. This provides one of those “teachable moments” where we can talk about how one must check for accuracy and truth in everything that we read and see on the internet.