Voting in the Sphere

Citizen media concerns a network of communication that is produced for and by ordinary citizens reporting on things that are of concern to them. When reading this past week’s edition of The Cord, I found an interesting example of this type of media. On the bottom corner of one of the pages was a small advertisement that promoted an online streaming of the presidential debate for the upcoming WLUSU elections this coming. The Wilfrid Laurier University Student Union’s (WLUSU) election is an election in which every WLU student has the opportunity to have their voice and opinions heard by casting a vote for their preferred presidential and board of director candidate to represent the student body. The advertisement placed in The Cord was advertising a new initiative in streaming an all new presidential debate online so that every student may have the opportunity to listen to the debate to make an informed decision in the upcoming election.

During the live, real-time screening of the presidential debate, there was a chat feature right beside the screen airing the debate, so that individuals on the online community may share opinions and discuss the debate simultaneously as it airs. This interactive feature certainly adds a new element to citizen involvement with media, and it is interesting how that medium serves as an informal forum for people to gather and critique issues at hand. Further there is also a blog dedicated to the 2010 WLUSU elections outlining everything pertaining to the election, as well as providing another type of citizen media to reach the student public in an attempt to raise awareness and spread information.

As a WLU student and an election day volunteer, I’m very pleased with the introduction of several different types of citizen journalism and media in an attempt to better reach the student body. In past years there has been quite a low voter turn-out and what seems to be an overall lack of concern with the student union elections. I hope that with this shift of citizen media into the larger public sphere of the internet, more people will take the opportunity to get informed about their voting choices. With that information, hopefully the voter turnout with greatly increase this year, and with a larger public/online forum opening up, students will want to engage, critique and care about the student union that is ultimately formed to represent their issues and overall well-being.

So go out and vote on Feb 4th!

Citizen Media and the Earthquake in Haiti

It has been a few days now since the devastating earthquake in Haiti, that has destroyed many miles of land and has taken tens of thousands of lives. The horrifying news spread quickly on Tuesday afternoon following the largest earthquake to hit Haiti in 200 years, but what spread just as quickly, or perhaps quicker, were the posts and thoughts by concerned citizens and corporations looking to provide critical relief to the victims.

It is absolutely amazing and heartwarming to me to see how so many individual citizens, concerned school/work/community groups, non-profit organizations and state governments have quickly taken action..not to mention the ways they have used citizen media, specifically online resources to spread their concerns and cries for help within the public sphere.

There are countless websites and online donation sites established where people can learn more about the situation, learn how they can help, donate money to relief organizations, etc. etc. There are so many of the websites! A few that I have found particularly interesting and prominent include: Save the Children, World Vision, the BBC and the Canadian Government who is matching personal donations up to $50 million to the Haiti relief fund. There are also numerous online communities, internet-based companies, and even individuals on Facebook and other social networking sites that are creating groups and events such as clothing/food/shoe drives and calling for donations and medical supplies to be sent to Haiti.

The use of the internet as a citizen medium, spreading knowledge and awareness in the public sphere is truly a utopic view on how new technologies, and individual citizens can use their voice as a means of positive change and goodwill in the world. It will be interesting to see the result of these efforts, or perhaps the extension of this use of citizen media as the aftermath of the earthquake unfolds.