From ballot papers to blogging

While my parents are in the thick of printing thousands of ballot papers for the local municipal elections in their area, my attention was directed to an initiative conceptualised and developed by the Mail & Guardian Online and New Media Lab. They got together and convinced party leaders Patricia De Lille, Ziba Jiyane, Bantu Holomisa, Tony Leon and Pieter Mulder to blog the last few days of the elections and their campaigning. Check out the site here.

I am interested to see what comes out of this. I think it is more of an experiment than anything else, a means of seeing how far blogging can go. The comments are unmoderated, and I would be interested to see if the party leaders pay any attention to what is said, if any relevant issues are brought up. If the bloggers responding are intelligent enough it could be interesting, it could also turn into a mudslinging and electioneering festival which I would imagine is the more likely outcome.

Reading the blogs I have not learned much about the parties or their leaders that would make it easier for me as a citizen to make the right mark on a ballot paper. I now know how tiring election campaigning can be, and what Patricia snacks on to keep her energy up, but not much else. I think it's a cool experiment, but what about building a group blog that enables voters to talk to each other and build their own knowledge. Maybe a pipe dream... but SA could use this kind of technology to build awareness and knowledge about making the right voter decisions.

Oh and where is the ANC in all of this? And what the hell does Mr Buthelezi think he is doing by getting his PR dude to post for him? Does he get the point?

posted by Cat Murray @ 03:09 0 comments

I am still alive and definitely kicking... ass!

I realised it's been a while since I posted here, you lose track of time here a bit when life revolves around powder days and not much else! I only have about 2 months left in Aspen, maybe even less if I decide to travel a bit in the USA. Time feels like it's running very short. I have been out on the slopes almost everyday for the last two weeks trying to improve my riding technique and push myself onto new challenges. I am loving snowboarding more and more each time I get out there and will be very sad to have to leave when I do.

The last few weeks since the X Games haven't been too eventful. I came down with the flu which set me back about 5 days lying in bed. It was largely the result of boarding in very cold snowy conditions, which were amazing at the time, riding through dead silent, knee deep powder, but came back to bite later! I also managed to see P.O.D. live here in Aspen, a concert to celebrate the Aspen Open where all the riders who didn't make it to the Winter Olympics compete on the X Games parks and pipes. The concert was very good, they are an incredible live band to see.

Things here mostly just carry on as normal, not much changes or happens. The lifestyle is so chilled out, each day just merges into the next and before you know it months have passed. It was President's Day yesterday, a whole day of American Patriotism which I tried to avoid as much as possible as I didn't think there was much to celebrate. People here have lost track of what it even means now.

posted by Cat Murray @ 00:11 0 comments