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| On Blogging, Paul Martin and Changing the Wo |
March 10, 2004 |
By Mara Gulens
Before being sworn in as the 21st Prime Minister of Canada, Paul Martin was a blogger. That is, he kept a frequently updated online journal that gave anyone access to more than just the man in the news. “I’m going to keep doing this, periodically scratching out my thoughts and observations while this leadership race unfolds. Sometimes I’ll write about politics. Sometimes I’ll write about what I’m up to. I’ll try my best to keep it interesting. But no guarantees,” wrote Martin, or whoever blogged for him, in the “Why am I keeping a blog?” section of paulmartintimes.ca.
At time of writing, the Paul Martin blog documented almost a year leading up to his coronation, and then ended abruptly. Will Martin blog again? When reached for comment, the PM’s press office said no decisions about the future of the blog have been made. But whether Martin continues to blog will say oodles about his willingness to participate in a phenomenon that is having a profound impact on the Internet and the world in general.
As one Canuck blogger said recently: “What I would really like to see is a Paul Martin Web log after the election (regardless of the outcome).”
THE BLOG PHENOMENON
Blogs, or Web logs, have been around for several years. At last count there were, oh, millions, and there are blogs on every topic imaginable.
If that sounds far-fetched, type “blog” into Google and select from one of 23 million hits. As blogs become mainstream they are being picked up by the media, institutions, schools, newspapers and yes, governments, as vehicles for communicating and sharing information.
Much more than simple online rants, Web logs actually fulfill the primary role of the Internet, claimed Mark Federman, chief strategist at the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology at the University of Toronto, and the co-author of the recently published McLuhan for Managers — New Tools for New Thinking.
“Blogs are doing for the Internet what the Kennedy-Nixon debate did for television,” he said. Prior to that famous face-off, broadcast had everything to do with voice on the radio. After that it was just as much about what you saw.
Unlike Web pages, which are basically an extension of a book with hyperlinks, blogs express an individual voice that is entirely conversational. Each post in a blog is individually linkable and addressable, readers are invited to leave posts, and posts can and do link to one another.
The effects are myriad. Most importantly, Federman said blogging allows for distributed conversation and connected thoughts among a geographically dispersed population, from which emerges new ideas and knowledge. “What happens over there affects us here because there is not there, everywhere is here,” he said. Moreover, “everywhen is now.” That’s a complex statement but it illustrates the complexity of discourse on an international scale. Blogs are an example of the new reflexive response to globalization. Connected individuals respond to what they see and make their views known. At times they even organize themselves into instant masses of people, sometimes with powerful effects. Last year, for instance, the mass media all but ignored a racist comment by U.S. senator Trent Lott. That utterance was picked up by blogs, spread through the blogging community and eventually led to Lott’s downfall.Federman said the acceleration of voice and engagement are partly responsible for some of the success achieved by former Vermont senator Howard Dean. His site, Blogforamerica.com, gave individuals the feeling they can be heard — if not individually, then by connecting with thousands of others.
BLOGGING FOR VOTES
Federman’s inner cynic thinks the Canadian PM’s blog may have been inspired by Dean’s formidable success. Indeed, Paul Martin told CBC News Online that his favourite Web site was his own. (“Folks, go there!” he essentially said.)John Gray, author of Paul Martin: The Politics of Ambition, considers Martin’s comment nothing but a political answer.
Martin’s blog is “fairly inefficient,” Gray was quoted as saying. “I don’t think they had a good enough person doing it and as for his blogs, they’re as boring as hell.” Federman, too, is critical of Martin’s writing style, which he said reads too much like an essay and lacks the spontaneity typical of blogs. Nonetheless, blogs are an example of “the type of openness that Canadians would like to see from their government,” Federman said. Proof of this is http://www.paulmartintime.ca, an almost-identical site that spoofs the official http://www.paulmartintimes.ca. The “parody of our recently unelected Prime Minister” pokes This Hour Has 22 Minutes-style fun at everything ever written or said by and about Martin. The Martin parody site also has a feel similar to blogscanada.ca, a “definitely NOT the Government of Canada” Web site which duplicates the official federal government site. “This ploy is just a cheap trick which we are hoping will get us some free press,” claims the site. “After all, a free press is what blogging is all about, isn’t it?”In the case of Howard Dean, blogging was a cheap way to reach all kinds of people and raise money, said Jennifer Smith, chair of the department of political science at Dalhousie University. “In the case of Mr. Martin...my speculation would be that [money is] not the critical factor at all.”She said figuring out the effectiveness of Martin’s blog is mere guesswork, and indeed she is unsure if future politicians will feel the need to express themselves this way. “This (blogging) may or may not be another thing that elected politicians or candidates think they need to do.” It’s also important to take into account the particulars of the Canadian political party system, where politicians are not focused on fundraising. “The impact of a blog here couldn’t be the same, because the context is so different,” she said.Nonetheless, Federman said blogging is about so much more than public relations. “Wherever you have people who are knowledgeable to whatever degree, opinionated, who want to engage, the Web log is a nice way to do it asynchronously, without having to gather people together and without knowing beforehand who in the world is also interested in what you’re interested in.”
Web logs
Paul Martin http://www.paulmartintimes.ca
Martin spoof site http://www.paulmartintime.ca
Blogs Canada http://www.blogscanada.ca
Howard Dean http://www.blogforamerica.com
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