Breakout session - Embracing voter-generated content
Wee! Breakout session time. Being from Utah, I’m pretty stoked that Steve Urquhart from St. George, UT (My hometown!) Rock it out!
Introductions - Joshua Marshall - Talking Points Memo
Eli Pariser - MoveOn.org
Moderator - Bill Allison - Sunlight Foundation
Steve Urquhart - House of Representatives from Utah
Jeff Berman - MySpace
Introductions are just about out of the way, so lets get started!
Steve - It was impossible to understand who voted on what issue, because “people would misunderstand the data.”
Currently, the extremes dominate the process, and the core in the middle is rotting. Why can the extremes dominate? Rockstar adulation, money and power to name a few. Since the extremes are controlling everything, it’s at odds with democracy. The bulk of americans can’t decide, since they’re not being pitched to. Since the fringes are the appeals, the bulk of americans are discouraged and disgusted with the current system. People with good will enter the system and are eaten by the system. Within two years, people at the PDF conference would be doing the same thing the people are doing now. Steve Urquhart started a blog, but it was to profesorial. Now, it’s an issues based wiki. Anyone can put up topics, and anyone can change what’s on there. It did help on there.
The conversation on the fringes doesn’t help. He wants to socially network in politicopia. How do we get the bulk in the middle participating?
Jeff Berman - MySpace
MySpace wasn’t started on politics, but in the same way it’s helped the Arctic Monkeys, Dane Cook, etc etc. could help people. There is a danger in relying on people outside your system, and apparently there’s some controversy between Barak Obama and some overzealous dude.
We get how myspace works. he’s demoing it, but lame.
Eli Pariser - MoveOn
We’ve got to get through the “gotcha” politics of macacaca and things like that. MoveOn tried to do an ad contest.. a “gotcha ad” contest… but admitadely the winner wasn’t too gotcha. Laughs in the room. Concern? People assuming that because user generated content appears on a site is controlled by them, and taking it out of context. Uses the phrase “new town hall.”
Running out of juice! BBL!