[Notes, not a transcript]
Audio of interview available for download at
http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/56769
1. So, what "on-line activities" did you track during the elections this year?
All the candidates Twitter and Facebook accounts
in both the federal and territorial elections
as well as their (if they had 'em) their blogs and websites…
I wanted to see what new media communication the candidates would bring to bear on the runs… how they would handle the voters.. if they would dialogue with the voters or just spew the standard press releases…
As of December 30th, 2011
Seniors Forum Live stream video had 122 video views http://mediamentor-circumpolar.blogspot.com/2011/09/seniors-all-yzf-candidates-for.html
Chamber of Commerce forum videos http://storify.com/northern_clips/yellowknife-chamber-of-commerce-election-forum-201 had 977 video views
NWT Election form now NWT Politics & Society https://www.facebook.com/groups/NWT.elec.17/
had 180 members during during the elections and now has172 with over 2000 posts on many different issues of concern to the citizens of the NWT
The Election time, NWT style article on http://rabble.ca/news/2011/09/election-time-nwt-style had 1200 readers and the live stream videos of the Northwest Territories, Status of Women Council of the NWTs held an All Yellowknife Candidates Forum on September 26, 7 p.m., at Northern United Place had 839 viewers. http://rabble.ca/rabbletv/program-guide/2011/09/features/nwt-all-candidates-debate
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2. From your perspective, what stands out for you about this year's elections?
Well two things…
The first being that there was so many candidates using social media..
In the federal race… all candidates had Facebook and twitter accounts…
some with new accounts set up for the election… and others with established pages… same with webpages or blogs….
Same in the territorial race… except in that race.. some candidates did not have an on-line presence at all… that's to be understood.. some communities lack the connectivity and surfers to make it worthwhile …
Second surprise in both races was number of candidates using new media who did not seem to get the would idea that its a two way street and its the give and take that's the key…
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3. How does that change things?
We're a big territory.. that's not news…
What may be news to some is that for the first time in our electoral process Twitter and Facebook let the voters of the NWT personally participate in the debate … air the issues… and start the building of a territory wide consensus on those issues…
and those voters..
like students at university and others living down south
or those out of their communities and at Aurora College in Ft Smith or Inuvik
were also able to participate… hear the issues and think about their votes…
using Hashtags #NWTpoli #NWTleg #NWTelec17
4. During the territorial election, you started the NWT ELECTIONS FOR THE 17th assembly Facebook group.
What were some of the issues that people wanted to talk about?
Now called NWT Politics & Society Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/groups/NWT.elec.17/ the group has about 180 members during during over 2000 posts on many different issues of concern to the citizens of the NWT
During the
Direct election of the premier… or at least a change in the way its done now..
Poverty, housing.. the road to Tuk..
The Hache / Hawkins issue
The Turner / Daryl Dolynny issue
pretty much the same topics that you might have see on CBCNorth or in the newspaper… the major difference being that this was the voter talking.. not the pundits… not the journalists.. it allowed the people to voice their opinions on topics of their own choosing
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FOLLOWUP : Who would you point to for both 'active' and 'inactive' on-line campaigns?
in Yellowknife Centre, Hawkins and Hache have both been on Twitter since 2009… but the differences are amazing… with Hache the scoop and depth of her posts gave and still give us an insight into her character, concerns and interest… Mr Hawkins just touted his campaign and its minutia with little if any opinion or sense of his character
Bea Lepine - Candidate for Hay River North MLA still has 244 members of her Facebook group… and had more during the election…. she did an excellent job of dialoguing with those voters and also continued in traditional campaign methods… in her personal account she has 424 friends.. she lost...
But her main opponent Robert Bouchard's personal page (all he had during the election) lists 434 friends… he won.. wit little on line interaction…
But I think the best examples are from the Federal campaign…
Our former Health Minister, Conservative Sandy Lee, had a very professionally run Facebook and Twitter accounts… but it was evident that's all they were… press photo after press release and little or no interaction with the voters… In fact after asking a simple question about why Ms Lee had not answered the NWT Status of Women's questionnaire on he Facebook page…. one of her staffers from Inuvik banned me from the page telling me "That page is there for Sandy's supporters" only… and the same question asked via Twitter never received a reply.. Of all her Facebook postings I seem to remember only two or three that were not posted by her staff…
On the other hand..
The Green Party's Eli Purchase, the Liberal's Joe Handley and the NDP's Dennis Bevington were all… very much more open and forthcoming… with many postings from not only supporters by others who asked questions… and got answers…
It was refreshing to see that Eli Purchase was doing his Facebook, Twitter and YouTube videos himself… and there was the feeling of hearing his personal opinions and stances on the issues…
So to for Handley and Bevington….
So what I am saying is the Facebook and Twitter are excellent ways for a voter to test the waters… to find out about a candidate's interests and character during an election… and afterwards… if they are well used by the politician… they let the voter keep track and keep in touch with them during their mandate...
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5. So, what does all this tell you about how connected (as in our on-line presence) we are as a territory and where we are going?
Well … our connectivity will improve… there is no doubt about that…
both to the internet and to our politicians… both the federal and territorial election campaigns have, I think, firmly established that social media are important tools of communication in our democratic society… and are here to stay..and in a region of the size in the NWT… the most important thing is that they give the voter back the power (if we ever had it) to build and establish the oft talked about consensus and then to mandate our politicians to carry out the consensus of the people's will...
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