Voters began creating their own mix-and-match Democratic presidential debates yesterday in one of the most extensive hands-on experiments yet to fuse politics and the Web in the 2008 campaign.
In the first-of-its-kind "Democratic Candidate Mashup," Web surfers could choose as many candidates as they wanted, then pick a given topic - Iraq, healthcare, or education - and put the elements together like video building blocks. Later yesterday, they were also given access to the raw footage so they can splice the videotaped answers with their own audio and video additions to produce their own creations.
Hosted by Yahoo!, the Huffington Post blog, and online magazine Slate, the debate features sober questions by PBS host Charlie Rose and more offbeat questions from political satirist Bill Maher on subjects such as legalizing marijuana, whether voters are spoiled, and whether Americans are getting fatter and dumber. The interviews with candidates were taped Wednesday from the various states where they were campaigning, and some of Rose's questions came from users who submitted them on the three websites.
Organizers said they hoped the heavily promoted mashup would attract voters who are turned off by traditional televised debates.
"Unfortunately most people who are not engaged in politics are not going to sit down for an hour and a half to watch a debate," said political commentator Arianna Huffington, cofounder of the Huffington Post. "We don't want to give up on these people, and we want to allow them to participate in the way that they want to participate. With a little luck, they'll become engaged."
In a telephone interview, Huffington said she had in mind young people like her two teenage daughters, who she said do everything online, including watching favorite TV shows.
Researchers and bloggers who closely follow the influence of technology on electoral politics praised the experiment yesterday as a creative and convenient way to allow voters to explore candidates' views.
And like the July Democratic debate on CNN, with questions posed by voters via YouTube videos, it is further proof of the imprint video and the Internet are making on the campaign.
But some questioned whether such efforts will really inspire disengaged young people to get involved in campaigns or to vote.
"I don't think a 16- or 17-year-old who doesn't watch debates on television is going to say, 'Oh my God, they designed this just for me,' " said Andrew Rasiej, cofounder of techPresident.com, a blog about the election and the Web. The site is working to set up its own presidential debate. "The problem is so few young people are being asked what they want. It's what adults think they want."
All eight Democrats in the race participated in the mashup, and they did make some news.
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In the first-of-its-kind "Democratic Candidate Mashup," Web surfers could choose as many candidates as they wanted, then pick a given topic - Iraq, healthcare, or education - and put the elements together like video building blocks. Later yesterday, they were also given access to the raw footage so they can splice the videotaped answers with their own audio and video additions to produce their own creations.
Hosted by Yahoo!, the Huffington Post blog, and online magazine Slate, the debate features sober questions by PBS host Charlie Rose and more offbeat questions from political satirist Bill Maher on subjects such as legalizing marijuana, whether voters are spoiled, and whether Americans are getting fatter and dumber. The interviews with candidates were taped Wednesday from the various states where they were campaigning, and some of Rose's questions came from users who submitted them on the three websites.
Organizers said they hoped the heavily promoted mashup would attract voters who are turned off by traditional televised debates.
"Unfortunately most people who are not engaged in politics are not going to sit down for an hour and a half to watch a debate," said political commentator Arianna Huffington, cofounder of the Huffington Post. "We don't want to give up on these people, and we want to allow them to participate in the way that they want to participate. With a little luck, they'll become engaged."
In a telephone interview, Huffington said she had in mind young people like her two teenage daughters, who she said do everything online, including watching favorite TV shows.
Researchers and bloggers who closely follow the influence of technology on electoral politics praised the experiment yesterday as a creative and convenient way to allow voters to explore candidates' views.
And like the July Democratic debate on CNN, with questions posed by voters via YouTube videos, it is further proof of the imprint video and the Internet are making on the campaign.
But some questioned whether such efforts will really inspire disengaged young people to get involved in campaigns or to vote.
"I don't think a 16- or 17-year-old who doesn't watch debates on television is going to say, 'Oh my God, they designed this just for me,' " said Andrew Rasiej, cofounder of techPresident.com, a blog about the election and the Web. The site is working to set up its own presidential debate. "The problem is so few young people are being asked what they want. It's what adults think they want."
All eight Democrats in the race participated in the mashup, and they did make some news.
Discuss Add this link to... Bury
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