Some Nice Editorials on Dean and Blogs

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Tim O'Reilly
Feb. 01, 2004 09:51 AM
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Howard Dean's disappointing performance in the first two primaries has come as something of a shock to people who think that blogging is the answer, whatever the question. Jock Gill just sent me a pointer to a nice op-ed that he wrote on the subject that exactly captures my feelings on the subject. The internet is a great tool, but it's only a tool, only one tool of many that we need for any objective, let alone an objective as complex as electing a political candidate. Expertise trumps enthusiasm, and above all, knowing the right people to connect to rather than just connecting to the folks who are already on your side. (What were they thinking, sending kids in orange hats to Iowa? A sure way to say "We're not like you.")

It's clear, though, that tools like blogging, meetup, and effective online advocacy done by folks like MoveOn, are here to stay, and have become an important part of the political toolbox. The question is, as always, what we can learn from the pioneers. What works. What doesn't. How can we get better at what we do? That's the spirit of next week's Digital Democracy Teach-In, which we're holding in conjunction with ETech in San Diego.

P.S. I also like Chris Lydon's reflections on the Dean campaign. There are probably lots of other great reflections on this subject, but I haven't been able to work my way through all the hand-wringing to find them. But of the ones that have been sent to me, these two stand out as on the money.

Tim O'Reilly is the founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, Inc., thought by many to be the best computer book publisher in the world. In addition to Foo Camps ("Friends of O'Reilly" Camps, which gave rise to the "un-conference" movement), O'Reilly Media also hosts conferences on technology topics, including the Web 2.0 Summit, the Web 2.0 Expo, the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, the Gov 2.0 Summit, and the Gov 2.0 Expo. Tim's blog, the O'Reilly Radar, "watches the alpha geeks" to determine emerging technology trends, and serves as a platform for advocacy about issues of importance to the technical community. Tim's long-term vision for his company is to change the world by spreading the knowledge of innovators. In addition to O'Reilly Media, Tim is a founder of Safari Books Online, a pioneering subscription service for accessing books online, and O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, an early-stage venture firm.

Comments on this weblog

Showing messages 1 through 2 of 2.

The Net hides another flamer
2004-02-03 07:10:24 rufwork [View]

Most curious to me is that someone who presented themselves fairly competently via the Net also seems to be the candidate with the weakest social skills. And before *I* get flamed, honestly, you've all experienced it. Some people communicate gracefully and intelligently in, say, their usenet posts, but one quick disagreement over minutia later and you're watching a thirty-reply flame war explode in a hail of usenet spam.

Until typing somehow is able to express character as well as actually spending time with a person -- or until people start doing all their interaction through simple ASCII -- expect blogs to remain a tool, not a panacea. And when it comes to the man you'll have sitting across the table from Putin or Chirac or another world leader, political/social skills are always going to remain a top concern.

Groups and Individuals
2004-02-02 20:11:14 enkerli [View]

It's almost reassuring to see that the Internet can build movements but can't build a lasting figure. Individuals may become famous overnight but their popularity doesn't imply automatic success in other spheres of life.
A major difference between MoveOn.org and Dean's campaign is that, despite the people behind him, Howard Dean represents himself as an individual candidate in a specific process while MoveOn.org represents a series of ideas held by a loose group of people. This group, however difficult to circumscribe, has a certain permanence. If an important figure in a group deviates from the group's idea, the group may still reject this person's idea and remain basically unchanged. A person's campaign depends completely on this person's ideas and actions.
Real grassroots movements on the Internet aren't bottom-up, building a pyramid to promote the tip. They're many-to-many relationships which provide for more dynamism than any individual can muster.

Showing messages 1 through 2 of 2.

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