Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

> The next time there's a national
> speech or a press conference,
> instead of waiting for the
> opposition party to nominate
> a single person to issue a
> response, let's vblog citizen
> responses.

There's only one problem with this: NO ONE CARES WHAT SOME RANDOM CITIZEN THINKS. We "wait for the opposition party to respond" because, you know, their response matters and because they have the power to make a difference. No random citizen-blogger has any power whatsoever. Why should I care anything at all about what he thinks?

You bloggers take yourselves far too seriously. The funny thing is, you actually think you have some kind of power.

The folks at the Institute for the Future of the Book are creating one way to do this -- they've published online editions of the Iraq Study Group Report and the text of Bush's 1/10 speech, in a form that allows comments. They're doing this in partnership with Lewis Lapham and Lapham's Quarterly. They describe it as "a journalistic experiment and a gesture toward a new way of handling public documents in a networked democracy." For more, see http://www.futureofthebook.org/blog/archives/2007/01/bushs_iraq_speech.html

Kevin,

You may well be right. I suspect that most of the replies would be rarely viewed. But some might emerge that are actually interesting, and less full of tempered BS than the official responses tend to be.

Only one way to find out...

Kevin,
Some people do care what bloggers have to say. Some people subscribe to bloggers to hear what they say. Some people view bloggers as trusted sources. Some people trust bloggers more than politicians.

You say no one cares. I care.
--Steve

The way that citizens have power is if their views are collected into coherent form.

If citizens/bloggers currently speak independently then their voices are only amplified by their audiences (if any), and otherwise dissolve into a general hubbub.

However, it is possible to create technology that enables citizens to speak collectively and even more powerfully than politicians.

Remember, even politicians are supposed to represent the people or their constituency.

Someone will create online referendum tools that can be utilised very easily - without centralised coordination and laborious planning/administration.

People will be interested in the people's opinion when it can be heard.