What role should any level of government take in social media? (federal, provincial ,city, crown corporations, educational institutions, etc)
Should social media be thwarted by the government? No. An attack on social media is an attack on free speech. What I choose to put on Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace is my choice and no one else. The difference between voicing my opinion and writing my opinion is no different. The target audience may be different, but that is it. Whatever happens is my fault and it shouldn’t be up to any form of government to limit how my opinion is voiced.
The people need to moderate their own actions. People aren’t dumb. They will learn that if they do something, and negative consequences arise, that duh, maybe they should change their actions. Let people learn. Let them screw up. Let us make mistakes. To be moderated in everything we do is not helping. We need to be let go and figure out life on our own.
We are the government and we need to voice our opinions and rise to the challenge. Nothing will ever change if we sit back and let the “select” few run our lives.
(-3 rating, 12 votes, rated) You need to be a registered member to rate this post.
What role should any level of government take in social media? (federal, provincial ,city, crown corporations, educational institutions, etc)
I would be so excited if governments and educational institutions made better use of social media. In particular, I think governments should take advantage of the widespread use of social media among younger demographics in order to raise voter turnout in elections.
The voter turnout for Alberta’s last provincial election was a dismal 41%. That is the lowest turnout for a Canadian provincial election in the last 50 years!
I think a lot more young people would be inclined to vote if a couple of things were to happen:
1) There were a way to vote online without having to go to the polling station. It’s not as big of a deal here in Edmonton to stop by the neighbourhood polling station, but for people in rural areas, the nearest polling station could be a 20 minute drive away, and they might not always be able to go. Also - let’s be honest - people are lazy. I think a lot of people would be more inclined to vote if they could do it without leaving their home.
2) Politicians got more involved with social media and interacted with their constituents directly. It’s hard to be an apathetic voter if your premier/MLA/MP/mayor etc. solicits your feedback and responds to it. This sort of interaction would be a way for youth to be directly involved in policy and feel as if their opinions actually mattered. Websites like dearmrpremier.ca are a huge step in the right direction!
What do all of you think? Would you like an online voting option? Would you use it?
(20 rating, 37 votes, rated) You need to be a registered member to rate this post.
What role should the government play in Social Media?
What is this, China? I mean isn’t the answer obvious. The only caveat to absolute freedom of social media would come into play if people’s rights were being infringed upon by hate groups or sexual criminals. Other than that the world is going to have to adapt.
The government should keep up with technology and understand how to use social media tools but that should pretty much be the extent.
Privacy laws are going to become more and more important as photographic recognition applications begin to spider the web but hey.. the fundimental ‘as long as the rights of others are not infringed upon’ should hold true.
(-6 rating, 32 votes, rated) You need to be a registered member to rate this post.
So you bought a BlackBerry storm.. or an iPhone… now what?
I know that I already posted some stuff about this but I would like to re-post to make sure you have all had the oppertunity to see this valuable information.
1-800-GOOG411 - This phone number is better then 411. It has high-tech voice recognition software that is second to none. Try it out now!
If you are looking for directory information you can text “googl” (without the e) and it will respond with SMS in 5 seconds. Just make sure to include the city.
1-800-2 CHA-CHA - Call this number up and ask them any question under the sun. They will send you an ansew via text right away.
If you like this post then please go to yess.org show them some support. It’s not related but hey.. Everyone needs to do something right.
yess.org
(-4 rating, 32 votes, rated) You need to be a registered member to rate this post.
The most recent topic presented to the competitors at this blog camp is “What have you learned about business? Why is business important?“.
I love this topic. Let me begin by saying that Business is not about money. It’s about creating value in people’s lives. In business terms, you could say ‘value add’.
Everybody has a certain level of value to contribute into society. In our capitalist system we assess that value in a monetary fasion. We let things float and people end up paying a price for a certain level of value.
So what is business? Business is the exchange of these valuable things. When we study business we hope to be able to learn to manage the trade of “things” and “services” with all of the tools available out there. It is all about creating more value at less of a cost and getting as much value as you can from others.
If you find this interesting then come to MacEwan and learn business!
(0 rating, 54 votes, rated) You need to be a registered member to rate this post.
This guy was really entertaining here at MacEwan. He brought a lot of humor to the competition. Do you know anyone who can beatbox? He told me that there was a little MacEwan Beatbox competition with his friends and that I couldn’t call him the MacEwan Beat Boxer… so I call him the MacEwan BoomBox.
Hahaha.. Anyways enjoy.
(6 rating, 52 votes, rated) You need to be a registered member to rate this post.
Alberta has an advantage simply because it is part of Canada. Thanks to the restrictions on Canada’s banks, Canada isn’t sinking into recession as much as the U.S.A., a fact I am thankful for, especially since I am about to enter the job market this summer.
Alberta has a decent chance of weathering the current economic climate simply because we have less debt than other provinces - no debt at all, in fact. This puts us in a unique position in Canada, since every other province is trying to control their debt load.
“The big reason why there’s not much going on in Alberta is the fact that more than $13 billion in oilsands spending has been shelved this year, because of the global economic crisis. In turn, Alberta consumers aren’t buying things like homes or cars, further eroding the money that’s going around.
But, according to the Conference Board of Canada things should start to improve in a year, when demand for oil will pick up.”
I do wish that Alberta’s economy was a little less homogeneous. During the boom years, the Alberta economy became less diversified because companies not involved in the energy industry couldn’t afford labour. These companies then moved their operations to other provinces. Now that oil prices have plummeted, that lack of diversification is hurting.
The economies of Saskatchewan, Manitoba, P.E.I and Newfoundland are all continuing to grow. I think Alberta can start growing again, given some time.
(21 rating, 47 votes, rated) You need to be a registered member to rate this post.
Will Alberta better weather the current economic crisis than other regions?
I think this comic sums it up nicely. Just because someone else has been affected by the effects of the economic situation in parts of the world does not mean Alberta should turn its back and forgot it happened. To do so would make us look ignorant and cocky of a situation in which no one is immune to.
Yes, some places have it worse than others and that is unfortunate. Especially when some places did not contribute to the problems as others. So what if we are fairing better than others. Should we just stop there and pretend everything is fine in our own little world. No. Lets do something about it. If we are ahead of the game, lets help out and do our part to get our neighbors out of this mess. Canada is a nation of community and the last thing Alberta should do is sit on its high horse and look down on those who weren’t prepared or ready for such collapse. Who was ready? Lets just say Albertans should be thankful for the position that they’re in.
The weather is getting better and I hope the rest of the country will begin to see brighter days ahead.
(-1 rating, 19 votes, rated) You need to be a registered member to rate this post.
The challange that comes with our desire to be an evergrowing super economy within Canada results in a dilema.
Lets talk oil.
Do we sacrifice the future for present gains. This issue is not new and has become more prevelant than ever before. When we were absolutely prosperous there was a small voice calling out to protect the environment. Like in my previous blog about the oilsands said… it was called “the most destructive activity on planet earth”.
Now that the pressure to maintain growth during this economic downturn has increased… these small voices have subsided.
What do you think?
(25 rating, 97 votes, rated) You need to be a registered member to rate this post.
Written by: Poznanman April 3rd, 2009 Alberta, Edmonton, General, Politics | No Comments »
(-3 rating, 12 votes, rated)
Loading ...
