02.18.10 - Digital Democracy
The first forum featuring all four 2010 candidates for Lexington mayor will be from 6-8 p.m. Wed. Feb. 24 at Awesome Inc. on Main Street, a technology incubator in downtown Lexington.
The forum, subtitled “Digital Democracy,” will be online in real-time in several formats, with bloggers as part of the panel.
The forum is sponsored by the Scripps Howard First Amendment Center at the University of Kentucky.
About 60 people will attend the forum in person, but voters all across Lexington and beyond can participate in the digital aspect of the forum on Twitter, Cover It Live, UStream and local blogs.
How people can participate online in Awesome Issues: Digital Democracy
Join Open Facebook Event Awesome Issues: Digital Democracy for info
Follow Twitter hashtag #lexmayor from 6-8 p.m. Wed Feb 24
Participate in live blog by going to http://www.kykernel.com and going to Cover It Live.
Watch live on Ustream at ustream.com with realtime video blogging
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/awesome-issues-digital-democracy
Read accounts at area blogs
See recaps and photo galleries at http://www.bluecoastlive.wordpress.com
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“We feel certain that this unique 4-candidate forum will bring diverse participatory voices to the mayor’s race and that the digital debate over the issues that will shape Lexington’s future will be rich, civil and productive,” said Kakie Urch, assistant professor of multimedia in the School of Journalism and Telecommunications.
“Lexington has a long history of being a center of information technology business and education in the state. It seems only right
that one of the first forums to make use of so many digital platforms is here, where we have LexMark, HP, Awesome Inc. and a University with an amazing Visualization Center,” she said.
CHANGING POLITICAL MEDIA
The last Presidential inauguration was broadcast on CNN with a Facebook comment feed. The largest audience ever tuned in and could comment on the speeches, the classical music, Aretha Franklin’s hat and be part of the American political process.
Potential 2012 candidate Sarah Palin has a Twitter feed. The venerable Christian Science Monitor is an online-only publication. And
most political watchers in the Commonwealth get their cues from a combination of their Facebook feeds, Twitter feeds, political blogs and traditional print and broadcast media coverage.
The president in the White House made one of his first acts the appointment of a New Media Director and the “president of the Big Blue House” is 1.3 million strong on Twitter at @ukcoachcalipari.
So, it only seems right that key local elections are moving to include digital participation.
PARTICIPANT LIST
Candidate Participants
Skip Horine, technology manager
Teresa Isaac, former Mayor, community organizer
Jim Gray, Vice Mayor, owner Gray Construction
Jim Newberry, Mayor, attorney
Traditional Media Participants
Bill Bryant, WKYT TV
Tom Eblen, Columnist, Lexington Herald-Leader http://www.kentucky.com
Kenny Colston, Editor, The Kentucky Kernel http://www.kykernel.com
Erik Carlson, Reporter, Business Lexington
Digital Media Participants
Steve Smith, College Republicans
Joe Sonka, editor, “Barefoot and Progressive” blog
Bianca Spriggs, artist/teacher
Cover It Live Reporter (digital live chat hosted at kykernel.com)
Sarah Wainright, University of Kentucky Journalism senior
Moderator: Kakie Urch, Asst. Prof. Multimedia, University of Kentucky
School of Journalism and Telecommunications
ABOUT AWESOME INC.
The issues-oriented, digital and live forum will be the third in the Nextington series at Awesome, Inc. on E. Main Street Awesome Inc. is a small business and technology incubator.
THE MODERATOR
The forum will be moderated by Prof. Kakie Urch of the School of Journalism and Telecommunications. Urch is an assistant professor of multimedia at the school, with experience in managing political coverage of local, statewide and federal races both online and in print for major media companies when she was editor of The Kentucky Enquirer in Northern Kentucky, assistant managing editor of The Kentucky Post and assistant managing editor of The Desert Sun newspaper in Palm Springs, Calif. Students in her three multimedia classes at the university will be part of the online coverage and event team.
ABOUT THE SCRIPPS HOWARD FIRST AMENDMENT CENTER
The mission of the Scripps Howard First Amendment Center at the University of Kentucky is to promote understanding of the First
Amendment among citizens of Kentucky, to advocate for First Amendment rights in the Commonwealth and nationally, and to produce internationally recognized scholarship concerning the First Amendment and its related freedoms.
by: Ace
- 1 Comment
- Tags: Mayoral Race, Mayor Newberry, Jim Gray, Teresa Isaac, Skip Horine, Awesome Inc
