Mack’s got a great rundown on how important video content has become this election (which is a nice follow on Jill’s take on how important a good website can be).
YouTube is certainly a staple of a couple of campaigns. And with forums being streamed live, and school board trustee candidates substituting short videos for their forums, web video is where it’s at.
The video in this post is one of many interVivos Alberta has posted on its YouTube account.
People be talking about politics, am I right?! And they be doing it a lot.
I cannot tell a lie* – politics bores me to tears. I get that this makes me a lout, but a few years of technical school and community college aside, I’m completely uneducated. I know that I SHOULD care about the mayor, city council, school boards, etc. And I try to care.
But as soon as I endeavour to catch up on current affairs in the news, I quickly discover that there is this huge gap between what everyone else seems to THINK is “common knowledge” and what this commoner actually knows.
Which led me to wonder, “What would it take to get me to get interested?”
I have come to the conclusion, my little monkeys, that it would take someone explaining municipal politics to me as though I were a child, using the only framework I have to operate within: a monosyllabic vocabulary and a lot of pop culture references.
So I give you my two-part video series on Edmonton’s new-for-2010 12-Ward System. I hope you enjoy it.
Part 2: When? Why? can be found over here, on something the kids call YouTube.
*totally a lie
One of the worst-kept secrets in the Edmonton election — and in some ways simultaneously surprising and not-surprising — is that Edmonton Journal City Columnist Scott McKeen will announce his candidacy in Ward 7 this morning. This election, already pretty damned compelling after city council’s airport decision on Wednesday, is going to be a good one, I think.
If you’re Tony Caterina, and you didn’t see this coming — I’d like to say I did, but I’d be lying — you’ve got to be a little pissed off. McKeen spent the last three years criticizing Caterina (some recent examples for you here and here), and though they’re soft-ball blows, they clearly aren’t friendly to Caterina.
This makes for three candidates, that we know of, running in Ward 7, some of which covers the Highlands and Alberta Avenue areas. Caterina, McKeen, and Brendan Van Alstine will duke it out. A few ideas I’ve heard lobbed out there include:
- Van Alstine and McKeen will split the vote on one side, allowing Caterina to take the Ward — but probably by a small margin all the same.
- McKeen’s got name recognition, and despite some of his more silly articles in the Journal and his constant references to his scooter, he’s actually a sharp guy and will take the ward.
I like McKeen as a columnist. And as a columnist I believe he’s been able to watch and assess how city council’s done over the last little while. Hopefully he’s got some fresh ideas and insights he’d like to share now that he’s on hiatus from the Journal.
Now we just need to come up with a clever hashtag for McKeen… Any ideas?
Update: you can view McKeen’s election website here.
Earlier this week I joined Calgary blogger DJ Kelly on CBC Radio’s alberta@noon province-wide call-in show to talk about social media and the upcoming municipal elections. Over the course of the show we had a good discussion about how the Internet is changing how voters seek information about candidates and how social media tools are increasing the ability of candidates to communicate and engage with voters. As I have previously written, while social media tools are too important for a serious candidate to ignore, they do not replace the kind of human contact that is achieved through traditional campaigning, such as door-knocking.
DJ’s most recent blog post used Facebook followings to gauge the support for candidates in Calgary’s competitive Mayoral election. It might not be scientific but the analysis is curiously similar to a recently released poll. The race for Mayor of Edmonton has so far been a lot less exciting than the crowded field of 17 candidates in Calgary. On the Facebook front, Mayor Stephen Mandel is absent. Challengers Daryl Bonar‘s Facebook Page has 483 followers and Dan Dromarsky‘s page has attracted 349 (with a lofty goal of 75,000).
Looking at City Council races, Councillor Amarjeet Sohi appears to be leading the pack with 503 members in his Facebook group. Following Councillor Sohi’s lead are Ward 11 candidate Vishal Luthra‘s group with 503 members, Ward 7 candidate Brendan Van Alstine‘s group with 291 members, and Ward 11′s Kerry Diotte with 229 members.
Online and on the streets, the Public School Trustee elections are looking like they might be some of October’s most competitive races. The two leaders on the Facebook campaign appear to be Ward F candidate Michael Janz with 717 fans and Ward G candidate Sarah Hoffman‘s group with 769 members. If previous elections are an indicator, these numbers could signal an incredible jump in interest in the School Board elections. Links to more School Board candidates websites and Facebook Pages can be found on the ARTES website.
As the October 18 election day approaches, I will be following and writing more about how candidates are using social media in their campaigns.
This post was cross-posted at daveberta.ca.
By: Dave Cournoyer
- Mayoral candidate Daryl Bonar made sure to get people’s attention at last weekend’s Heritage Days Festival in Hawrelak Park. During the Saturday afternoon of the festival, a plane dragging a ‘Vote Daryl Bonar for Mayor’ sign circled above the Festival.
Reached by email, Mr. Bonar commented on the weekend stunt: “In terms of the airplane banner, it was an idea to get the most eyes on my candidacy possible. I have a background as a paratrooper and am well aware of how visible anything up above can be.”
“Moving forward, our campaign is going to really hit the ground running this month and take us right up to the election starting with some key announcements and press conferences.”
- Dropping in to the Mayoral race yesterday was local hotel owner Don Koziak. He ran unsuccessfully three times for City Council in Ward 2 (in 1995, 1998, and 2004) and placed a distant second to Mayor Stephen Mandel in the 2007 election. Watch the Shaw TV interview with Mr. Koziak from 2007.
- Meanwhile, Mayor Mandel has shot back at Envision Edmonton head honcho Charles Allard.