It's hard to believe that it was actually a year ago today that my petite affair with Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach became public. Though we may have had some rough bumps over the past year, I think we may have discovered how to make our relationship work in this great province we call Alberta.It's been a growing year for both the Premier and I. After the PCs won their first majority government under Stelmach, they finally decided to hire someone with more than a basic understanding of the interweb. Next week, the PCs caucus will be launching a new interactive website - mypcmla.ca. If successful, it may have the potential to push Alberta's political-class into joining the world of web 2.0.
I'm not sure how Stelmach will be celebrating the occasion, but I will celebrate by hopping on a bus to Saskatchewan. I will be speaking at the Canadian University Press annual conference in Saskatoon this weekend. I'm excited to be be delivering a session on politics, new media, and web 2.0 on Friday afternoon, and to be joining blogger Joey Coleman in a panel discussion on blogging on Saturday.
(For those of you interested in some legal followup to the incident, in November 2008 the Alberta Law Review published an article titled 'EdStelmach.ca and the Tort of Misappropriation of Personality,' which is quite interesting.)
Related Reading: premier stelmach threatens to sue alberta blogger over edstelmach.ca / day 2 / the daveberta conspiracy / day 3 / day 4 / day 10 / day 23
dave, any chance someone will be recording your talk. I miss CUP conferences, and would have loved to see you speak!
ReplyDeleteA lot of the credit goes to Troy Wason and some other recent caucus hires for pushing the PC's to embrace web technology. Troy was on the bus with Ed on the election campaign, and got Stelmach into using twitter, Flickr, and posting a daily entry in the election blog.
ReplyDeleteDespite your personal differences with him, Dave, Stelmach is much more appreciative of web technology than he is given credit for. Not that many people other than political types like us visit it, but the Premier's website has a number of video podcasts, audio recordings. I doubt very much the same effort would have been done by his predecessor.
P.S. I am not Troy nor any of the other caucus aides, but I am happy to give them public kudos.
How is it not a story? On one hand, you have politicians who might be most comfortable at backyard barbecues and doorsteps being dragged into the 21st century, where most people under 40 live. For months, pundits have been applauding Barack Obama's use of social media — isn't it our responsibility to find out whether our government AND opposition politicians have learned good lessons? In a province where, apparently, 60 per cent of on-the-books, eligible voters can't be bothered to cast a ballot, mightn't social media engage someone? Anyone?
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, if you're an opponent of the government of the day, here's a website to criticize, and to question. Or you could just Twitter/Facebook/e-mail your MLA.
Incorrect. The Premier has a supporter's page on Facebook. And he had a group page before that (although that one wasn't started by him). Anyone can join, so you get the typical cranks, along with (mostly) real supporters.
ReplyDeleteSwann has been blogging for awhile, when he was an Opposition backbencher. Even though I am more tech-friendly than the average guy, I daresay Swann will have less time on his hands for that sort of thing as Leader of the Opposition. I'm not saying it is a worthless endeavor, but his (Swann's) time is better spent re-energizing the party and fund-raising, than providing a Facebook update, in my opinion. I noticed he has a new Facebook supporter's page now also.
TPB said:
"All of these social media have been used, well and badly, for some time now.
The only thing different today is that the Tories have finally realized they need to catch up."
So they have, and they are, so what is the point? No one I know is going to pick their party affiliation based on who opened a Twitter account first.
To be fair to the MSM (as all blog comments invariably are) Kevin Taft's facebook activity actually got pretty good coverage. The Journal ran a bit in Capital Notebook when Taft first signed up, and CTV had Taft's facebook page as its facebook b-roll for quite awhile.
ReplyDeleteTiny Perfect Blog: There have been articles in the Journal in the past about politicians using Twitter, Blogs and Facebook to reach out, and the NDP and Liberals have been mentioned in them.
ReplyDeleteI certainly think this was worth a story in the Journal, as nobody else in the province has done a website with the features the new PC website is promising, at the scale that they will be doing it in this province before.
Trish, if you're looking for stories, why don't you do a story on the fact that Stelmach has not yet proclaimed the legislation to launch the Lobbyist Registry, more than a year after the legislation passed. Thus allowing PC lobbyists and cronies to rape the public interest at will, while the Journal writes nothing but puff pieces.
ReplyDeleteIn any other province, this would be a huge scandal. In Alberta, it is buried beneath tripe like the PC caucus' hip new website and rodeo becoming the official sport.
What are you scared of, Trish? Paul Stanway yelling at you? Are you angling for a job as Tom Olsen's valet when CanWest lays you off?
Hey Bastard, I ain't no big fan of the Journal, but you're out to lunch.
ReplyDeleteWhat is stopping you, Bastard, from posting all this fine upstanding journalism yourself?
Facts and named sources, maybe?
As to your attack on the journalist's courage or credibility, well, hell, you're just as credible and courageous as me, commenting "Anonymous," aren't you?
Trish Audette, Tom Olsen and Paul Stanway, even daveberta, all stand out here saying who they are and where they are. You? Well, you're a punk, like me. But at least I know it.
Totally agree with the Anon on the Bastard (not that I'm expecting anyone to agree with him).
ReplyDeleteAnd not to give the Journal too many props (people, Babiuk is an okay writer, he's Fitzsgerald or anything and he beats dead horses like no tomorrow in his blog. Oh, what hell is this that is the Megatunes sign!), but the Journal must be happy that they receive complaints about their political bias from both the Left and the Right. I've heard many PC MLAs complain about the Journal's slant, and it's great to see it coming from the other side here.
Oh my god! Retarded PC MLAs complaining about press coverage! Say it isn't so!
ReplyDeleteAll I know is that the Leg. Press Gallery is widely considered the biggest embarrassment in the country...by other journalists.
Just saying, is all. If Neil Waugh and Graham Thompson want to finally sprout a pair of balls and prove me wrong, I'd be thrilled.