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Can you hear me now?

by: Mike Hoefer

Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 23:15:02 PM EDT
Shhhh.... Can you hear it? If you listen hard enough you can hear the sound of the most open and participatory communication medium yet invented crashing headlong into one of the smallest Legislative bodies in the world.

Yesterday we were live blogging proceedings from the NH Senate. Go back and read that again to let it sink in.

While the topic at hand (HB436) was the "primary" watershed event, I think another tipping point was reached yesterday as well: From this point forward elected officials at the state level will need to be a part of the online conversation if they are to be successful in promoting themselves and their agenda.

Walt Disney is credited with saying "Change is inevitable, growth is optional". At times it seems party insiders and our elected officials yearn for the time when it took days for the news travel from Concord to the corners of the state and lament the fact that the citizenry can organize and react in real time. "Don't worry your pretty little heads about that ITL committee vote, we've got it under control" Well, those days are past, and the bell can not be unrung.

I know it is not easy. I know how busy and long the days are for our Citizen Legislators and how intimidating it can be to communicate in a medium that can be instantly sent around the world. But if you regularly engage in dialog, people will come to know and trust you in a whole new way. That trust, used wisely, can extend your leverage and ability to promote a Democratic Agenda. The 2,500 visitors to Blue Hampshire this week are exactly the kind of "Influentials" you want on your side in a fight.

Leaders that embrace and work to understand the velocity and connectedness of the online world will reap it's rewards, those who do not will slowly be left behind.
Mike Hoefer :: Can you hear me now?
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Can you hear me now? | 11 comments
Not just BH (0.00 / 0)
And, this is not just about BlueHampshire. Look at the the twitter posts that were about HB436 not to mention all the links shared on Facebook, email, IM, etc.

My next post will pull together a "report card" of sort on the the use of internet technology by our elected officials.

Hope > Fear



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Live Stream (4.00 / 1)
Of course the fact that the House and Senate stream their proceedings is a very good thing and allowed the "live blog" to happen.

Hope > Fear



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[ Parent ]
being able to listen (0.00 / 0)
really requires a high speed connection

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does." Allen Ginsberg
[ Parent ]
Small note on numbers. (4.00 / 2)
Site meters aren't terribly accurate, but FWIW, the one I used showed that we had almost 3,000 unique visits (and 14,000 page views) on the HB436 day alone, not the week.

And what Mike said.

With opportunity comes obligation. (4.00 / 1)
Now that more citizens are aware how difficult and time-consuming it is to represent the interests of the people of New Hampshire, more should recognize their duty to pull their share.  Citizenship is a block of obligations (to vote, to hold office, to legislate, to serve on juries, to provide support, to enforce the law).  While we don't extract them, they are still there and voting and paying taxes aren't quite enough, if good citizens is what we are to be.
Split those infinitives (4.00 / 1)
I don't know if this adds anything here, but I can see a difficulty developing with the desire for openness, publicity, transparency, webness, if you will, and the time spent on doing the research and people contact that would seem to be required of conscientious state reps. I watch one rather closely and I can tell you that we are now back to the 18 hour a day work cycle which used to be characteristic of her high school teaching. There just isn't any way to know enough about 1100 bills, facebooking, myspacing, twittering, local concerning, answering machine feedback, committeeing, shmoozing, networking and on and on. Along with that little badge, the license plates and the transponder needs to come a switch that turns off the rest of the world while the rep. catches up.

So there is this built in contradiction that comes out loud and clear. If you have no staff (I would assume that this is the mechanism that "higher" officials use to spread out their time) and a fixed number of hours per day and days per week, you can spend them only on learning, listening, or public contact. If you sacrifice the learning and listening because you wish to get re-elected, you are quite likely to do things you wouldn't otherwise do because you just don't get to do the homework. I understand, way better now, why so many politicians look shallow and clueless. It may be because they just haven't the time to do a thorough job while twittering madly away. Of course it may also be that they are shallow and clueless but let's not punish the one as the other.  

Good Points (4.00 / 2)
the time crunch is a huge issue, particularly when you add travel from home to concord and back into the mix! And now you want me to Tweet too!

I guess the trick would be to find a way to use the technology to leverage your time.

As an example PSNH, was able to let 2035 people know about the Power outage at the Manch Mill Yard with a single Tweet. How many calls to their call center did that save?

Imagine how different last week might have been if we knew a comprimise amendment was in the works or a Senator clearly stated his/her position via a blog post.

You also touch on some structural issue that affect our legislators has well. Ever bill gets a hearing, no limits on the bills that can be submitted etc.

I few years ago a rep I was talking two suggest a system here reps could only sponsor or co sponsor X number of bills. That may be one way to focus on issues people feel are most important.

Hope > Fear



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[ Parent ]
But.... (4.00 / 2)
It might not have been a good thing for the public to be aware that a compromise was in the works, or for senators to engage in a public back and forth during negotiations. It would have given the anti's a chance to shift strategy, and I would rather have the senators focused on their work, not dealing with blog posts, during an intense negotiation.  I love transparency, communication and openness, but I also don't want the legislators to be part of a 24 hour reality show - a gross overstatement, I know. In fact, in light of how everything turned out, seems like it may have been a good thing they weren't spending time participating here!      

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    
[ Parent ]
I love transparency (0.00 / 0)
But
[ Parent ]
Micromanagement (4.00 / 1)
As citizens, our duties are pervasive. However, in a representative gov't, we must keep enough distance to allow our legislators to operate.

How far is that distance? I don't know. But, there certainly is a line that, if crossed, becomes a clear case of micromanagement.

I think I'd be annoyed with highly organized citizen lobbying group, as much as any professional lobbyist. Especially, if they were ill-mannered.

Eye of the beholder, and all that, yo.



www.KusterforCongress.com  

[ Parent ]
Slippery slope (0.00 / 0)
I'd rather err on the side of openness.
[ Parent ]
Can you hear me now? | 11 comments
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