Missed anniversary. Missed opportunity.

Okay, okay. Look I’m a man. It’s not my fault I don’t remember birthdays and the like.

I had completely forgotten Áine Brady T.D.’s anniversary when I got a pamphlet from her in the post, but by then it was too late.

Áine Brady’s blogiversary was April 14. On that day in 2007, in the run up to the elections, she published her first post.

In it, she wrote of meeting hundreds of people every week on the doorstep and being struck by the numbers of people, young and old, who [told her] that they regularly log on to the web and expressed her delight at being able to engage with the on-line community.

Those who read it were delighted too and did indeed engage. Áine took the commenters’ feedback, good and not so good, on board and made use of it in her follow up post. In essence, that post was a set of replies to that feedback.

More feedback. Much more feedback this time. Questions. Complaints. Commenters querying her policies. Querying her abilities. The honeymoon was beginning to end.

Martha Schuhart’s 1st comment: … You’ve really just slapped up a lengthy release that has presumably been supplied to all candidates in the Dublin/Mid East region …

Martha Schuhart’s 2nd comment: … Apologies on conducting this discussion via blog comments …

Martha Schuhart’s 3rd comment: Fine, but have you actually attempted to contact Platform 11?

Martha Schuhart’s 4th comment: Thanks again for your reply …

The post proper was being updated to reply to comments. Not the standard method in blogs, but at least there was two-way communication. Though it made one side of the conversation very difficult to follow.

Comments from there on were directed at fellow commenters. Áine wasn’t in the loop.

The next post thanked a commenter for providing the opportunity to summarise the reasons why people in North Kildare would decide to vote for her in the General Election. Much less feedback this time except for one commenter expressing doubts about her being committed to public service given the fact she had never been a member of the county council or any town council in County Kildare.

All comments were being moderated so one would wonder how many went unpublished.

Whether that was the case or not it was clear Áine was tiring of this blog-business for the final post on May 17 was entitled Is the Web fuelling a crisis in politics. It was an article copied and pasted from the BBC website with a foreword by Áine:

The report suggests that Blogs [sic] tend to generate hostile comment against politicians whereas what is required to address the largely ‘quality of life’ challenges faced by society today is a richer and more constructive engagement between the citizen and the politician. I would hope that my Blog [sic] and others will help to bring about a balanced and broadly-based dialogue between citizens and politicians in Ireland. I would be interested to get your comments on the role of the internet [sic] in this regard.

As a voter in her constituency I had great interest in what she had to say and monitored her online election poster blog closely over its short lifetime. She got elected. Without the assistance of my vote I might add. Why would I vote for someone so out of touch with reality that they were struck by the numbers of people who use the Internet? Why would I vote for someone who declares they wish to engage with the online community, but fails to do so? Anyway, why would I vote for someone who sees the online community as an separate entity from the community?

Or was she involved in the blog project at all? In comments on the final post Suzy Byrne wrote that many FF candidates … have some campaigners or other people who don’t really understand the way in which new social media works doing a bit of work on blogs and websites - candidates should do their research themselves so that they don’t end up posting comments like that above and showing how little they know about what is going on.

I trust she is involved in the glossy newsletter that came through my letterbox - the A4 pamphlet (with the € symbol displayed as Ð) delivered at the taxpayers’ expense - in a C4 Oireachtas envelope to add to the expense. I can read it. I can respond by email, fax, phone or in person at one of her clinics. But no other citizen will hear what I have to say and respond in turn - the last thing we want is to do is fuel a crisis in politics after all.

Would her erstwhile blog not have been an excellent mode of publishing her newsletter? If only as a complement to the gloss-dross distributed by post? What better way to engage with your constituents - cheaper, faster. Sadly the blog died young and Áine Brady missed a golden opportunity. She should take Suzy Byrne’s advice and instead of talking about the knowledge economy use the tools it is based on. They are not to be feared.

Anyway, a belated happy anniversary on the birth and belated commiserations on the death of your blog, Áine. Right so. I’m off over to Margot Wallström’s now. She’s not afraid to engage with me.

9 Comments so far (Add 1 more)

I’d have thought a blog where people can comment freely would be an excellent way to find out what people really think. There’s a lot of bullying on the internet, that’s for sure, but any politician worth her salt should know how to handle bullies, being as how they often make such fine ones themselves.

I reckon she’s thrown away a golden opportunity to have her constituents feel they have access to her, to voice their concerns or support; and for her to present her platform using her own language as opposed to party language - provide a little more depth and reasoning for the policies.

It would certainly be refreshing if more politicians paid attention to people outside of trying to get their votes at election times.

1. problemchildbride on June 11th, 2008 at 1:17 am
I am a bit torn about this, on one hand I think that a blog written by a politician would be a good opportunity to mingle with his/her constituents… On the other hand I think it would be further waste of time and the very same constituents tax moneys. If the traffic on a site as you mention Primal is heavy as I imagine it to be, reading the comments let alone trying to reply to them would require a full time blogger and the politician who is already failing to do a good job in producing solutions to issues, will simply live in front of the computer and do nothing else.
If I were a politician who really wanted to do something that made sense as far as blogsphere is concerned, I would subscribe to the well-written political blogs, and well-voiced opinion blog posts and read read read.
Internet is a terrible medium of communication as it can get too convoluted, loud, noisy and out of control to establish a healthy online politician - constituent blog affair.
My 0.01 cents.
G
PS: Using firefox and Edit Comment works wonderfully.

2. gaye on June 11th, 2008 at 6:22 am
Sam ~ A blog, or similar, would indeed provide excellent real-time feedback. Trolls are easier handle than a heckler at a political rally.

What I like about the idea of political blogs is that citizens can hear what other citizens have to say. (I am jumping into Gayé’s comment now, but) isn’t that cost effective? If one citizen poses a question 100 others wish to ask the politician offers one answer - rather that than responding 101 times by phone, email or letter.

Let me give you a non-blog example of cost effective communication:

Kildare County Council host a forum and issues raised on it are, where relevant (i.e. of concern to many) are replied to by the Council PR. They also provide an online feedback form.

The Council PR also fields the forum and form issues during his weekly stint on local radio. Naturally more issues come in then via text, phone and email.

Mr. Talbot is also brilliant at handling trolls. He recently replied to a caller to the show who complained his question submitted on the feedback form was not acknowledged by asking which of the 200 or so you sent last week are you referring to, or is it one of the 200 from the previous week?

Gayé ~ Cost/time issue covered in reply to Sam.

The traffic was not heavy. When I said much more feedback it was in the context of 10 comments being much more than 4.

Heavy traffic is a non-issue anyway. When comments become excessive they are not answered individually. They don’t need to be. One response can cover a multitude. (See Bock, Twenty etc.)

The Internet can get convoluted, loud, noisy and out of control for sure. So too can political rallies, hustings, public meetings etc.

What really galled me in this case is what Maman Poulet remarked on in comments on that blog: An election candidate telling us how she would use the medium to engage with constituents; expressing delight at the prospect; yet not understanding it in the slightest; then running away crying when it turned out not to be what she thought; and blaming everything and everyone else for her failure to learn how blogging works and the benefit it can bring.

3. Primal Sneeze on June 11th, 2008 at 7:17 am
Primal, that last paragraph explained it all, I see what you mean. I suppose she jumped into it thinking everyone will just roll over and let her rub their bellies just because she was enthusiastic in the beginning. Oh well, parachute jumping is not for you if you fail the first time…

4. gaye on June 11th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
thanks for reminding me of the blogiversary… I have Aine’s RSS feed subscribed to but it didn’t budge…and she was not alone in that regard in the past year. IN fact it might be time for an Irish Election review of politicians blogs and the state of them…

5. Suzy Byrne on June 11th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Gayé ~ Yes, jumped in, or perhaps was pushed in. Either way not knowing what she was getting into.

It only lasted through the election. Once elected it was simply ignored - at least her posters on the telephone poles were taken down.

Suzy ~ I’d dearly love to read that!

6. Primal Sneeze on June 12th, 2008 at 5:23 am
The opportunities that new media offers politicians are amazing: a chance to present your own case without some reporter misquoting you; a way to get fresh ideas from people who live with the results of your work; a chance to show you can handle yourself when challenged; a chance to hear about things you never even realised were problems; a chance to show they are truly invested in what they do; a chance to really be a representative.

There are downsides for sure, but the pros far outweigh the cons in my opinion. Politicians should embrace the internet as the powerful tool it is, not shy away from it.

7. problemchildbride on June 12th, 2008 at 5:54 am
Hey there Primal Sneeze and how you doin. On a technical note if Aine sent you a glossy A4 containing election material it’s unlikely to be a taxpayer expense - the current system sees candidates foot most their own costs which breeds inequity in democracy and in my view should be reviewed but that’s another days work.. Back on the blogs, in fairness to Aine at least she gave it a go which is a lot more than can be said for most other politicians inside the lilywhite lines. We can’t all be ‘Best Political Blog at the Irish Blog Awards’ nominees (cough ) and blog regularly about the political landscape and what we get up to here in the Naas/Sallins/Kill beltway.. (double cough )..jameslawless.ie.. Feel free to stop by!

8. James Lawless on July 3rd, 2008 at 11:28 pm
@James Lawless - Technical notes:

1. No mention of glossy A4 … election material here. Reread the third last paragraph again, with particular reference to cost centre.
2. … Aine at least she gave it a go … Nearly never bulled a cow.
3. ‘Best Political Blog at the Irish Blog Awards’ nominee. Were you? I hadn’t noticed. Then I am not a big fan of these awards.
4. … the political landscape and what we get up to here in the Naas/Sallins/Kill beltway. You mean the Fianna Fáil landscape surely?
5. Get something for that cough. I wouldn’t like to see you end up on a trolley.

9. Primal Sneeze on July 4th, 2008 at 3:44 am