0
Voter education and social networking
16 September 2010
I was reading an interesting piece on the Municipal Information Network this morning. Today, the City of Markham will unveil its "innovative 2010 elections Voter Awareness Campaign."
Markham offers residents the choice of voting online or in person. As you may recall, this council would not consider alternate voting methods, or a ward system - no public input was called for in either debate, and my request for a referendum question on ward systems was voted down (recall Councillor McNabb worried our voters weren't smart enough to understand what wards are about).
Not only is Markham offering a dual voting system, but the city is engaging in an active voter education process, the "Your Vote Counts" campaign. The city is directing residents to both the markhamvotes.ca website and to Markham's presence on social media platforms - Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
Imagine that. Collingwood actually blocks social media on its internal network. Markham is embracing it.
Markham is also using YouTube video which are linked on www.markhamvotes.ca and www.facebook.com/DIYmarkham. The first two videos to be released are about the city's fire service, and one about and parks and recreation. Other videos will be released over the next three weeks.
Collingwood can do this. We have a superb tech team who are both savvy and highly competent. We have the skills and the hardware to have a much more significant online presence and to use the Internet for communication.
The problem is that the decision makers seem unaware of the changes in social media and social networking. I've asked about streaming our council, meetings on the Web - seems to me a simple enhancement - but have not had any enthusiasm about using the Web for anything more than email this term. I hope next term I can bring the issue forward and Collingwood can move to the innovative front lines with its own social networking presence, no slog along in the old Web 1.0 crowd.
We really should be creating our own local voter education campaign, but that idea is probably too late for this election.
Markham offers residents the choice of voting online or in person. As you may recall, this council would not consider alternate voting methods, or a ward system - no public input was called for in either debate, and my request for a referendum question on ward systems was voted down (recall Councillor McNabb worried our voters weren't smart enough to understand what wards are about).
Not only is Markham offering a dual voting system, but the city is engaging in an active voter education process, the "Your Vote Counts" campaign. The city is directing residents to both the markhamvotes.ca website and to Markham's presence on social media platforms - Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
Imagine that. Collingwood actually blocks social media on its internal network. Markham is embracing it.
Quote
"Markham has had good success and shown leadership in the use of social media to provide a forum for municipal engagement," said Kimberley Kitteringham, Town Clerk and Returning Officer. "Social media are where the conversations are occurring. We want to reach out to voters where they live, create a connection with them through humour, and discuss with them why voting in their municipal election is so important."
To start the conversation, Markham is using its social media presence themed "Do it Yourself Markham," or DIY Markham, to convey the importance of effective and efficient municipal services by asking residents to imagine what it might be like if they needed to do this themselves. The DIY Markham campaign is intended to increase the awareness of municipal services and help residents understand the importance of their vote and the election process.
To start the conversation, Markham is using its social media presence themed "Do it Yourself Markham," or DIY Markham, to convey the importance of effective and efficient municipal services by asking residents to imagine what it might be like if they needed to do this themselves. The DIY Markham campaign is intended to increase the awareness of municipal services and help residents understand the importance of their vote and the election process.
Markham is also using YouTube video which are linked on www.markhamvotes.ca and www.facebook.com/DIYmarkham. The first two videos to be released are about the city's fire service, and one about and parks and recreation. Other videos will be released over the next three weeks.
Quote
"In addition to furthering Markham's leadership in digital citizen engagement, the voter awareness campaign is supportive of Markham's diversity and accessibility plans," said Ms. Kitteringham. "We believe we can prove to make our campaign slogan – Your Vote Counts – meaningful to everyone by helping Markham's more than 184,000 eligible voters, a significant percentage of which have a mother tongue other than English or French, learn more about the role of municipal government and by understanding when, where and how to vote on October 25."
Collingwood can do this. We have a superb tech team who are both savvy and highly competent. We have the skills and the hardware to have a much more significant online presence and to use the Internet for communication.
The problem is that the decision makers seem unaware of the changes in social media and social networking. I've asked about streaming our council, meetings on the Web - seems to me a simple enhancement - but have not had any enthusiasm about using the Web for anything more than email this term. I hope next term I can bring the issue forward and Collingwood can move to the innovative front lines with its own social networking presence, no slog along in the old Web 1.0 crowd.
We really should be creating our own local voter education campaign, but that idea is probably too late for this election.
Streaming council meetings on the web is a no brainer. I don't use Rogers cable and I'm not alone.