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Copyright & Fair Use Blog
Social Media Changes the Face of Debate
Posted by Micael Bogar on Sep 26, 2008 at 8:49 AM
The presidential debates are coming! This year, they are sparking unprecedented forms of social media. Here at the CSM we’ve made a list of our top three social media debate initiatives. Check them out and get involved in one.
1. MYSPACE’s MYDEBATE: Just due to the sheer number of users (over 6,000 and counting) and beautiful design this takes the number one spot. This interactive program gets you prepped on the issues to be discussed, allows you to identify your favorite candidate and will have a live chat available during the debates for users to interact.
2. Debatepedia: This wiki, as part of the International Debate Education Association, gives users the chance to sharpen their debate skills in an interactive forum. You can search through different issues and contribute to the discussion in essay format. While this tool is not reserved only for the current presidential elections, some questions posed and open for discussion are: Which candidate has a better record of judgment? How important is “change” to the election?
3. Change the Debate: This website calls for an online national town hall. It requires a video webcam and a provocative question. This can best be explained as a push to rethink the way we set up debates. Rather than being televised and moderated with quick sound bytes, debates would be online, interactive and require lengthier question-and-answer sessions, with the public asking the questions and the answers coming from the candidates themselves. Their video goes into more detail.
While Moveon.org’s and Demandthedebate2008.com’s massive petitions calling for the debate to proceed as planned deserve recognition, they beg the question of how effective e-mail driven petitions are. With the kinds of resources available now and interactive forums gaining popularity, five years from now petitions may be a thing of the past…and so may televised debates!
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