Saving “Local” Media
I find the CTV save local media campaign amusing and absurd. The interests on the other side of the fight have called the ethics of the campaign into question, saying it’s one-sided and biased; but that element you could expect from a mega media conglomerate trying to squeeze more money out of service providers who are posting record profits. I don’t blame CTVglobemedia for appealing to their dwindling population of old media consumers to write to the CRTC in an effort to save their “local” media. But, what I do find unethical is the use of the word “local” in this whole debate.
Granted, CTV Atlantic employs many people round these parts. They have, at least, maintained local offices, anchors and reporters to cover the media-worthy stories in the region. But to suggest that the broadcast of 4 television programs (BT, Live at 5, News at 6, and news at 11:30) are the sum of local media in this region is ridiculous. Further, if CTVglobemedia was so concerned about the perseverance of local broadcasting, why did they gobble up CHUM Ltd. in 2007. You didn’t hear any calls for saving local media then.
Further still, have you ever counted the ratio of local to global stories on either the 6:00 or the 11:30 broadcasts? It’s roughly even. That is, for every locally-oriented story gracing the news desks of Steve Murphy and Bruce Frisko, there is one non-locally oriented story presented to Maritime viewers (this includes professional sports highlights). This, of course, will vary based on the number of sexy local stories which present themselves as newsworthy on any given day, but you get what I’m saying.
And even further still, how is Nova Scotia local to PEI? How is Halifax local to Sydney? There is a distinct difference between the local and the regional.
Poor little CTVglobemedia, they’ve invested so much into mediums which are quickly becoming obsolete. Their holdings include a vast array of television, radio and newspaper interests, but little in the way of new media. They are fighting with the service delivers for more money to carry their signals, in an era where people rely less and less on those signals for the delivery of news and information.
For me, the Internet has replaced my need for tuning into any CTV Atlantic news broadcast. Sure, I turn it on at 11:30 for background as I nod off to sleep, but I could easily adapt CNN into my bedtime routine and not feel as though I am less connected to the goings on in my immediate local surroundings. Facebook keeps me thoroughly informed as to the cultural goings-on in the city way better than the BT or Live at 5 crew can, and the fine local folks I follow on Twitter, including independent operations such as haligonia and HFX, are faster and less-mediated than any media agency could ever hope to be. The citizen journalism that emerged from the Spryfield fires was proof positive of this.
At least CTV Atlantic finally has a Twitter account, but with less than 30 tweets since March 19th and no home CTV Atlantic website to direct traffic to, for more information on their stories, it is hardly even worth a follow (though I’ve added them anyway).
I can understand the tactics of CTVglobemedia as they trot out local media personalities begging you to write the CRTC so that they can close the gaps in their operating budgets, but let’s face it, the fight is not about saving local media, it’s about saving the local media jobs. Perhaps they should ask for a government bailout instead. Hell, our Federal Government seems to be open to pouring billions of dollars into obsolete technology and industry. Just ask GM. Apparently every Canadian GM employee is worth 1.4 million dollars, surely Steve Murphy, Liz Rigney, Bruce Frisko and the CTV Atlantic gang is worth at least half of that!
“Safer” Communities Act?
On the surface, the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act is a fine piece of legislation. It essentially empowers citizens in their communities to do something about brothels, crack-houses, gambling rings and other types of seedy operations in their neighbourhoods. Police then take this information, assess the situation, and if evidence warrants, they get a court order to evict the tenants of these crime houses.
“Shut ‘em down,” the mob cries.
Shutting down known crime houses, informed by the people who know best about the goings-on in their communities sounds great… no? But what if in the end, there are no criminal charges laid against the tenants of the crime houses being evicted? Certainly criminals live in houses where criminal activities are taking place… right? Certainly if a judge orders that tenants be removed from their homes, the tenants are facing criminal charges for their criminal activities… right? Certainly the idea is not to shut down crime houses and then disperse criminals elsewhere in other people’s communities… right?
So why is it then, that today there is a man in Cape Breton living in his car with his dogs, while his wife and one of his sons stays with friends, and his other two sons seek help for their addictions? According to CBC NS this morning, a family was removed from their home under the Safer Communities Act. The windows and doors boarded up for 90 days because of neighbour complaints of criminal activities taking place in the house. No one living in the house was charged with a criminal offense… no one living in the house was carted off to jail… no one living in the house was able to face their accusers in a court of law… and denied the right to even appeal the decision.
It is alarming.
Because while the Safer Communities Act has done much to shut down brothels and crack-houses and gambling rings in low-income neighbourhoods based on community reporting of criminal activities, how is it that making this family homeless will make the community safer?
I’m even willing to accept that criminal activity was indeed taking place in this guy’s house. That the complaints registered against this family by their neighbours were valid. That the consequences of having two adult sons suffering from addictions disrupted and unsettled the community. Given that I am not party to the documents which resulted in the court order I cannot make a decision on this either way. But it sort of sounds like this guy was a victim himself. Being a hostage to addiction in his own home.
What concerns me the most about this story, and the possible precedent that it sets, is that the burden of proof is reduced into some sort of perverted community-based panopticon. A family is sentanced to become homeless for 90 days because their neighbours didn’t like the kind of company they kept.
Perhaps I am over-reacting. Perhaps there is some piece of condemning evidence against this guy or other members of his family which is so compelling that such drastic measures were required. But it seems to me that if that were the case, there would be criminal charges of some description laid.
The kicker in this story is that the accused does not even have the right to appeal the decision. Even if he did, he cannot afford a lawyer to represent his family’s rights.
How is it that we can allow a family in this province, in the 21st century, suffer the consequences for crimes that were not committed? How is it that our own rule of law has allowed the tyranny of the majority to trump the personal security of a citizen? How is it that tossing a family suspected (but not convicted) of criminal activity out of their home for 90 days results in creating a safer community?
Addiction is a nasty thing. It is a mental health condition, fed by the desperation and hopelessness of poverty. It produces all kinds of unsavory and criminal activity in our communities and neighborhoods. But is our best strategy really to simply shut down the buildings without any plan to deal with the people inside of them?
I guess it’s just a good thing that 1) this guy didn’t have any kids under the age of 15 who were also rendered homeless by this bizzaro situation and 2) the curfew law is not yet in place… poor bugger would be facing a $500 fine everyday for the next 90 days, until they were allowed to go back into their home.
We need to seriously rethink the way we approach law and order around here.
Johnny Law may need a new slingshot… redux
I had the great pleasure of working with Donald Clairmont on the Mayor’s Roundtable of Violence and Public Safety back in 2007-2008. The Mayor’s Roundtable was a response to a crime wave involving mostly youth. A response to Teresa McEvoy and the kiddie swarmings and the late night downtown brawls that were breaking out (though the Christmas Eve brawl came after the meetings). A response to an American Sailor being stabbed and a few drive-by shootings. A response to a McLean’s Magazine article ranking Halifax as having the highest rates of crime in the country.
One of my tasks was to observe the Roundtable meeting at City Hall and take notes for Don, who was helping moderate the presentations. It was a long day, but I learned a lot about law and order in this city. I wrote a blog after the meeting, which you can read here if you want to… but given the recent crime wave bonanza in the city I thought I’d look back and see how many of the policy proposals and suggestions we’ve implemented since those meetings in 2007:
One theme that did not go unnoticed was the call for change… some sort of change… any sort of change… Recognition that the current system is not working and the culture is moving faster than any policy can catch. Just acknowledging that there is a need to start “thinking outside the box” is a big step for some of these officials. One of the best sentiments came from the Executive Director of the newly formed Provincial Child and Youth Strategy, Robert Wright… Any policy designed to address these issues of youth culture and societal change should be inclusive and acknowledge the multiplicity of contexts that are represented in day-to-day social life. And it should acknowledge that when it comes to policy surrounding youth, they are moving targets. A good youth policy/strategy has to be malleable and move as fast to meet the needs of the moment. Now whether the government can actually speed up the processes of bureaucracy will be another matter all together.
So a few of the specific suggestions that came from that day of presentations and where we are on them:
From the urban planner, Frank Palermo – HRM should start thinking of itself as a 24-hour city with 24 hour public transit. - yeah, okay… NEXT!
From a number of presenters – The opening of schools to act as community centres in after-school hours – well parents are fighting to keep community schools open just for school so… no.
Also from a number of presenters – Possibility of “community courts” for low level crimes, mental health related crime and drug treatment – we almost got a community court a few months ago, then something happened and it’s stalled
From Strategic Planner Jack Novack – The municipal government should get all the junk off their agenda and start thinking about policy that really matters for the growth and development of the city. – feeding the ducks… need I say more?
From Don Clairmont – The employment of a public safety coordinator attached to the Mayor’s Office well we got a public safety coordinator attached to the Police Force. I think the idea was to get an administrator in there, not another police officer… but, at least it is half there.
From Don Clairmont – Race Relations The race issue is never in the forefront of crime in Halifax, ever… despite the fact that black men are waaaaay overrepresented in the criminal justice system. Race relations are this city’s biggest shame… the ghosts of Africville haunt.
From Don Clairmont – Community Policing (not more police, but more visible police) – It seems as though they are doing both. They’ve hired more police, so that’s why I see them all the time and everywhere in the Capital Districts… There is a difference between visibility and feeling as though you are under siege in a police state.
Don gave about 60 recommendations to the City in total, some of them have started rolling and I think we’re seeing improvements where they have been. It would be interesting to know, from the City, how many of the recommendations from the Roundtable have been enacted since it came out last year.
My take on the current rash of shootings is that they are mostly gang-related. Which means they are almost certainly mostly drug-related. But there are concerning crimes happening that aren’t because of gangs .
Beazley said the public was not being targeted in the crimes that were happening. This was the day after 2 girls were taken hostage in a bowling alley heist, and a few days before a 19-year old was shot in the head (and then died).
The murder that was down the street from me turned out to be accidental2nd degree. In a run-down old rooming house involving folks know to the police. That was the 2nd 2nd degree murder on my block within the year.
And in the midst of it all Jimmy Melvin Jr. becomes a citizen journalist.
Fringe Fancies of the Loonie Left
There’s a running joke at work now, they are calling me “the politician’s wife.” My friends are calling me Michelle Obama. Well, some of them are. Others are asking how we got involved with with The Green Party. Except they are phrasing it, “how did you get hooked up with these flaky loonies anyway.” To that I got defensive (as any good partisan and politician’s wife would).
“Have you even looked at any of the Green Party’s stuff? I mean, before you start calling them loonies, you should probably read their strategy ideas. Remember it’s the Green Party, not the Pinko party.”
To which he responded he would read the strategy document when it was released tomorrow.
Seriously, we understand the Green Party of Nova Scotia is not in a position to take power on June 9. This is, after all, only our second provincial election. Even David has a realistic goal set for the day. 500 votes. That’s the goal. We’re asking people in our riding (Dartmouth South – Portland Valley) to be 1 of 500 who place an X in the box by David’s name. 1 of 500 who place an X in the box for an alternative approach to political representation. 1 of 500 who place an X in the box to say, I agree that the envrionment, social justice, community sustainability and participatory democracy are important issues that need to be brought to the table.
Of course, if he gets more than 500 votes, we’ll be giddy, since this riding saw 308 votes for the Greens in the last (and their first) provincial election (the third highest riding in the province). But like the tagline in the Green Party brochure, we are approaching David’s participation in this election with “clear-eyed realism.”
David would be a fabulous MLA. Although I am obviously biassed, you will probably not find a person who knows David who would disagree with this statement. Someone with a better grasp of political theatre you will never meet. And he would certainly make the scrum an interesting and entertaining event.
Even our former MLA from Eastern Passage, Kevin Deveaux, understood David’s grasp of politics during the 2007 by-election in the area (that David was voting in and blogging about). He commented “Articulate, intelligent and balanced… glad to see there are thoughtful voters who are able to see through the political bullshit and make decisions based on facts.“
David would indeed be a fabulous MLA, because he gets it…
And because he gets it, I have been able to get it. I credit all that I understand about the political process to David. I also credit my ability to logically attack complex problems to the late night debates and intellectual sparring which often occur in this household. Likewise, I think David would credit me with his understanding of human behaviour and social theory, two areas which were beyond his expertise, but thoroughly entrenched in mine. David and I make a kick ass team when we combine our strengths and mask each others deficits.
In fact if David does, by miracle, manage to get elected, Nova Scotians will be getting a good deal… two brains for the price of one.
We get that there are a myriad of issues facing Nova Scotians today. We get that these issues are complex and interconnected with our economies and our environments. From health care to education to the increasing cost of living, we get that Nova Scotians are struggling to cope with the uncertainty of the future, because we are struggling to cope with the uncertainty of our future.
The relationships that exist between our physical environment, our economy, our culture, and our daily existence in rural and urban Nova Scotia need to be disentangled. While our current government claims to “get it”, years of mismanaged policy and finances, coupled with a ‘wait and see’ approach to the effects of the global economic crisis on Nova Scotia, proves they just don’t get it. While our opposition parties also claim to get it, the platforms released in this current election reveal them to be clinging to 20th century perspectives in the face of 21st century complexity.
We really wish our politicians did get it, so that we wouldn’t feel so compelled to set aside the beautiful month of May to actively engage with it like this. Usually during elections, we snipe from the sidelines. We ridicule these stale old policiticans and moan about these stale old policies. We usually hold an alcohol-fuelled salon on election night… not an alcohol-fuelled victory party.
And I have a feeling it will be a victory party. No matter how many votes David gets in the end. Because it turns out that this is an exercise of participatory democracy. We may not be getting proportional representation any time soon – but we are seizing this opportunity to have our voices heard, we are seizing this opportunity to have an excuse to go knock on the doors of our neighbors and chat with them about the things that they need, and we are seizing this opportunity to get our feet wet.
Because when the time comes that Nova Scotians realize that the environment, social justice, sustainability and paticipatory democracy are not just the fringe fancies of the loonie left, but the issues which are fundamental to a truly free and just democray, David, and I and the Green Party of Nova Scotia will have more than just a platform, we’ll have an implementable plan.
Whose issues are they anyway?
It seems to me that during elections, politicians and their parties are often too busy crafting and creating the issues for their constituents, rather than trying to get a deep understanding of what the issues actually are and addressing them accordingly.
A perfect example of this is often platformed emergency room overcrowding issue which almost invariably ends up on some party’s agenda.
On the surface it appears that this is an issue for the People; many have complained about waiting hours and hours in the ER for care. I, myself, have complained about waiting hours and hours in the ER for care. It is indeed an issue worth bringing into the debate.
But the problem comes when the politicians state “We are going to fix ER overcrowding by increasing capacity in ER.” The issue of ER care gets framed and defined as being a problem going on within the walls of our hospitals. “The problem is with ER overcrowding is ER capacity, so our party’s plan to increase ER capacity is the best way to address the issue.”
But if the party that decided to take the ER issue as one of their own had actually talked to the people who were complaining about their trip to the ER they might begin to understand that increasing ER capacity will not fix the problem of ER overcrowding.
If they talked to the people about their ER experiences, they would hear “I had to go to the ER because I don’t have a family doctor and I was worried that the cold my daughter had was serious” “I had to go to the ER because I am too poor to get my teeth looked after properly and I got an abscess that was causing me unbearable pain” “I had to go to the ER because I was having a mental breakdown and did not have anywhere else to go.” All of a sudden, the issue of ER overcrowding is better defined… The ER issue is not simply about capacity. It is an issue because of a fundamental problem with health care delivery. The majority of people who go to the ER do not have sufficient ongoing health support in their lives, and are going to the ER for non-emergency reasons because they have no where else to turn. Minor health issues become emergencies because of a lack of ongoing health support.
If you want to make an issue out of ER overcrowding, wouldn’t it make more sense to first try and address the reasons why our ERs are overcrowded in the first place?
Politically, I suppose it makes sense to simplify our most complex issues into soundbites. The predominant assumption by campaign machines is that voters are not capable of understanding the complexity of it all… if you use too many words, statistics and facts in your political campaigns people’s eyes start to glaze over and they stop listening. You want to appear to be smart, but not so smart that you are no longer a politician of the people. Federally, Iggy is going to have problems with this in the next election… Provincially, none of our leaders seem to have this problem.
It is far easier for them to take the issue and define it for us in a way that is simple and shallow. It is far easier for them to recycle ideas from previous election campaigns. It is far easier for them to act as though 20th century politics, policy and thinking are still relevant and essential for governance in the 21st century.
But I shouldn’t be too hard on our leaders. Most of them simply don’t have the capacity themselves to understand what really needs to be done to fundamentally fix all the problems in our society. They are graduates of business, political science, and public relations programs. The majority of their education and experience is rooted in how to make the message palpable… how to sell it in soundbites and how to form and create public opinion. These are how our politicians are educated rather than on how to listen to the rhythm of the street and incorporate it into the symphony of governance, on how to understand the reality of the issues and put it into policy with teeth, on how to be compassionate and understanding of the struggles of their constituents.
In our era of information overload, our leaders are struggling to make sense of it all. They turn to census data and research that is usually outdated by the time it becomes public. They rely on the traditional media to deliver their message, which has the attention span of a gnat and requires them to speak in soundbites. The rapid pace of reality does not often stop for a critical analysis and deconstruction of the issues (which in the end is just as well because if we did, we’d realize that the whole structure needs to be broken down and build back up for the 21st century).
We assume that our politicians are the experts in managing and delivering services to ourselves and our communities because they seem to have ideas on how to address the issues. This is a valid assumption if we accept their issues as the ones which need to be addressed.
But from where I stand, based on the tired old political platforms and policy offerings from all of our major parties in this campaign, shallowly addressing the issues for the sake of political expediency… none of our current leaders are qualified for the job. None of our politicians are experts on our issues. And none of our politicians are going to fix the problems we face in these turbulent times.
Instead, all of our leaders are playing the same old games, regurgitating the same old lines around the same old issues, and attacking each others ideas in the same old way. No wonder there is so much political apathy in our province. No wonder the disenfranchised say, these leaders don’t speak to me or reflect my values and issues. There is nothing there to inspire us to believe that things will be different under this party or that. There is nothing there to inspire us to have faith that our leaders “get it” and will do everything they can to “fix it” regardless of how unpopular or flaky the solutions might sound.
If voters started hearing politicians making statements on their issues: about how they work two jobs and still need to go to the food bank once a month, about how they are uncertain how they can afford to have their tooth aches fixed, about how they have to travel too far to access essential services, about how they want to make home improvements for energy efficiency but don’t have the capital to do it, about how they are silently suffering with depression and anxiety because it all just seems to much and there is not enough support to help them get through the day… Then, and only then, will they be more inclined to start *really* giving a damn about who wins the next election.
Web 2.0 and the Nova Scotia Election
Back during the last US Presidential Elections, I wrote a blog about the candidates utilization of the Internet in their campaigns. It was way back in the election when it looked like John McCain didn’t have a chance in hell of getting the Republican nod, and Barack Obama had just won a legal battle to have his campaign staff take over the MySpace site which someone else started in his name. I had no idea back then that Obama would turn his campaign into a social media blitzkrieg… picking up where Howard Dean was cut off in 2004.
Obama and his campaign staff knew how to do it… they knew how to effectively use Web 2.0 and engage a whole generation of otherwise disenfranchised voters. By reaching out to them online, because he knew that he probably would get them to come out to the rallies… In fact, after his comment at the first ever Virtual Presidential Town Hall regarding marijuana legalization and the “type” of people he was engaging online… he probably didn’t want too many of them showing up at the rallies after all!
In any case, in that review, I gave each candidate’s website a Web 2.0/Hipness rating, on a scale of 1 to 10… ranking the sites in terms of ability to engage youth, disenfranchised cynics, connectors and netizens based on my critical understanding of all of those things…
Here in Nova Scotia, things are a little different. The population of youth, disenfranchised cynics, connectors and netizens is substantially smaller than the population of status quo voters. We Nova Scotians have been accused of being fearful of progressive change… and Web 2.0 has not necessarily penetrated the whole population as well as in other provinces. Frig, not even our whole population has access to High-Speed Internet… with far too many rural communities being left in the dust.
However, in an election, sometimes it is the small populations of those who have never previously voted which can make big differences in the election outcomes… And politicians are recognizing more and more that the Internet, and the effective use of Web 2.0 platforms can make those small differences have mega impacts. So far the candidates have been slow to take full advantage of the platforms. Of the three mainstream leaders, only Stephen McNeil is twittering… and none have encouraged user-generated video and photo… But they are all trying to connect using their Party’s websites.
Yesterday I chirped “The Liberals are smoking the other parties in terms of an effective Social Networking infrastructure… #nselection” and after taking a thorough look at their site, now I know why. A company called KTUpload is powering the Liberals Website. I worked very closely with one of the folks at KTUpload for years at the Atlantic Centre for the Study of the Information Society… and while he had little to do with the site, I know that he “gets” it. So while the Liberals have a smokin’ website, it is more important to note that they had the foresight to hire a web development team which gets it.
First point… When you Google NS Liberals, the sponsored link at the very top of the page is Darrell Dexter’s NDP website (Brilliant Guerrilla Marketing technique from the NDP)
Second point… The site is clean and easy to navigate. It has clear menu titles and no drop-down boxes. The pages interlink with one another very well… so if you are interested in looking at the media, you can click through the home page… and you will find the Media link on other pages of the site.
Third point… Web 2.0 platform use. The Liberals are using all the big ones… Facebook, Flickr, Youtube and Twitter, and thier links to these pages are prominently displayed on the home page. You don’t have to search for the legitimate groups… you just have to click through.
Although the home page of the Liberal Website may have too many sets of Stephen McNeil’s eyes on it… there is a simple contact form which makes it easy for the voter looking to get a sign or volunteer or get on the mailing list without have to search for it.
The “Follow the Leader” feature on the home page links to a calendar of events for McNeil… but when you click on it… there are very few engagements, making it look like he’s not very active on the campaign trail… While it is a great feature, it may not be juicy enough to be a home page link, when the photo gallery (which is buried on the media page) is very juicy and may have been a better choice as being prominently displayed… either that, or display the calendar for the whole month + of the campaign to show all the places he’s been as well as where he is going on a single view (they could even integrate the photos into the calendar)
The Candidates page shows the current 29 candidates for the Liberals. You can click through to a little bio page with some of their info… the candidates pages are inconsistent in their format. Some of the photos are way too big for a quick load of the page, which is problematic for those who get impatient with page load time (especially for all those folks in rural Nova Scotia who only have dial-up). Also, the candidates who are on twitter, should have links to them on their individual bio pages.
All the multimedia is great on the Liberals page, but they should have the text of the videos audio as well (again for our good friends in rural Nova Scotia who are trying to access the site via dial-up)
Overall the Liberal website gets my Web 2.0/Hipness Rating of 7/10… they lost points because no matter how good their site is, it’s really hard to make Stephen McNeil hip and because of the issues listed above. But also because there is absolutely no where on the website which indicates their platform or positions on the issues… Aesthetics should never compromise information.
It is unclear who is behind the NDP website, which leads me to believe that someone from the party itself is maintaining it. There are pros and cons to this approach. On the one hand, the party will have more control of the content… on the other hand, sometimes you should just let the professionals do their thing.
I do not like the amount of blank space on the NDP’s website. The colour scheme seems weird to me… Too much blue, and not enough orange. The slide show is nice, but there are far too many images with text that is what I would consider ‘negative campaigning’… too much talking about the Conservatives… People are coming to the website to find out about the NDP, not what the Conservatives are doing wrong. And why oh why do the NDP have a widget with PC on it as one of the most prominent graphics on the home page. They are on the offensive, and the tactics leave a bad taste in my mouth.
I like the “your action centre” widget, but disagree with using the word “your” for the videos and pictures on the site… because they are very obviously campaign photos and videos… not “your” videos and photos. If they wanted to show ‘your’ videos and photos, they would have a site upload form and allow supporters to *really* share “their” photos and videos from the campaign trail. They are really “Your Candidates” videos and photos…
The NDP have one up on the Liberals in that they have links to “the issues.” Though again every single stance on every single issue is preambled with where the conservatives have failed, and there is very little substance, or indication how the NDP plan to address the issues. So while they have done their job in identifying their priorities in this campaign… they have not done much to tell the voter the strategy in addressing the issues.
Their Candidates page is nice. I like the electoral map and the list (though rather than alphabetizing by name, it may be better to alphabetize by riding). Their candidate table could also be bigger, with direct links to their websites, emails, etc right on that main candidate page, which would be easy to do if they widened their content page.
The NDP have their Web 2.0 links embedded in the footer of every page, which is very clever… but the blue font is hard to read and the logos are not prominent enough (and the Facebook one may actually violate the FB TOS for logo use).
Overall (and though it breaks my heart) the NDP get my web 2.0/Hipness rating of 6/10… Negative campaigning is NOT hip… and the Website is lacking in aesthetic appeal, without the content to help bump the rating up a bit.
So… when I Google NS PCs, the sponsored link (again) is a link to the NDP website. But, the first link is not the Tory site, it is the Nova Scotia Young Progressive Conservatives site… in fact, Rodney MacDonald’s site is no where on the first page of search results at all. A readjustment of the search to NS Conservatives (still the NDP sponsored link), but there it is (immediately followed by a CTV news story about the conservatives “failing”)
The Conservatives have a very slick website. It is extremely aesthetic and “Nova Scotian”… which is easy to do when you have access to the designers which have gotten some very nice contracts from the Tories (NSLC, and the Nova Scotian Gaming Authority to name two)… Revolve Branding 360 are big playas round these parts… and the Tories have always understood the importance of branding…
Aesthetically, the PCs score big points on the site… they do have the most visually pleasing home page for my eyes. That said, I can’t really find many too many design “problems” with the site, except in their Web 2.0 use.
While they allow the option to “share” their site on a multitude of platforms… they do not offer the voter the chance to *engage* the party and the candidates by linking to their Facebook, Twitter and YouTube presence… in fact the lack of these links indicates to me (a non-Tory supporter) that they do not even have a presence on these sites… ergo, it is not their priority to engage and interact with the electorate in this way.
So rather than critique the site, I’ll point out the subliminal marketing strategies behind some of the graphics and language on the site.
They are rotating three pictures which visually sum up their whole campaign beautifully.
The first is a photoshopped picture of Rodney and his team (the photoshop is in the sign on the podium Rodney is standing at) “Proven Record Economy First” This image wants to remind you that Rodney has a team of capable MLAs behind him… They are applauding him (some very vigorously – look at the two dudes on the exteme left in the front row). This photo, reinforces the other prominent language on the site… “our leader” “our team” “our track record”… they are presenting a united front. Reminding those who are uncertain of Rodney’s experience himself, that he has a solid team of experience behind him.
The second photo is a garbage can, with a white background simply stating that the Liberals (red font) and NDP (orange font) have thrown 20,000 jobs in the garbage. This must have to do with the infrastructure contract cancelling fiasco, but in the end it doesn’t matter… the graphic doesn’t link to the whole story like the other two images do… just a simple statement of interpreted truth with a simple graphic to accompany it.
The third photo is a beauty… perhaps the most compelling of all three. It is related to gambling, and risk… which the designer knows much about given they do design work for both ALC and the gaming corporation… It is an image of two sets of dice, one with letters (probably Boggle dice) spelling out the word “R-I-S-K-Y” and two standard orange one. Both of the visible sides of the dice show the smallest possible numbers they could be arranged with… notice the two ones…
The PC website gets a Web 2.0/Hipness score of 7/10 as well. If the issues around the Web 2.0 connections were resolved, along with a letting Rodney MacDonald have a Twitter account… then I would revise my earlier statement that the Liberals were smokin’ the other parties in their SNS infrastructure, to say that the Tories were.
The NDP don’t care much about the Green Party… not enough to pay for a sponsored link when someone Googles it… But, the NS Green Party is so unknown that Google wants to know if you really meant the “NZ Green Party”.
The Green Party of Nova Scotia uses the federal Green Website template. Which is a good thing, because it is important for people to remember that they are another Federal party… not simply a fringe party with little support… despite the fact that it is a fringe party with very little support.
The Green Party website has no external Web 2.0 integration, however does have a little SNS embedded in it’s site called “The Green Network”. It’s a pretty good idea, though I am beginning to question the effectiveness of trying to start up your own SNS when there is free access to popular ones like Facebook and Twitter… only the most diehard of supporters will actually take the extra step to become a member of yet another SNS… It could, however, be a VERY effective tool for coordinating their campaign provincially… for the candidates to connect and share ideas, and to create strategies which can unite the party itself. But it needs to be integrated with the large existing and successful SNS’s to be very effective.
The Green Party site does not appear to be in election mode at all. There is no candidate list, no campaign rhetoric. no upcoming events. But, the one thing that The Green Party Site does have is content and ideas… Their About the Party page outlines the Green Party’s core values as a party… something that none of the other parties care to offer up to the voter.
The other thing I really like about the site, is the opportunity to really get to know the leader of the Green Party, Ryan Watson… He has a blog, he has a twitter… and if you message him, he messages back! Ryan Watson is young, handsome, charismatic, and hip himself… which scores the Party more points in this election than it has in past elections the NS Greens have participated in.
Overall, the website is severely lacking though. No candidate list, an online form to request a sign which doesn’t inform you if your request has been completed and a graphics which lead the viewer to believe that the Green Party is a one issue, environmental, tree-huggin’ party. Which isn’t bad if you are into that sort of thing… but will not play very well in industrial Nova Scotia.
Unfortunately, the Nova Scotian Greens have a small operating budget, therefore they rely heavily on volunteers to carry out the campaign… so it is hard to do regular updates and high level interaction… Ryan Watson is doing well assuming the role of leader… it’s just too bad that he doesn’t have a political infrastructure to back him up… we may have heard much more buzz about him if he had.
So while I’m giving the Green Party the lowest Web 2.0/Hipness rating a 5/10… I’m giving Ryan Watson the prize for hippest leader with an 8/10.
Hope you found this deconstruction interesting…
