Blogging first broke into the limelight in the US after 9/11. By June 2002, when Slugger began life, poltical blogging was still a something of a small village affair in Britain and the lonely pursuit of a handful of early adopters in Ireland. One, Paul Dunne, even handbuilt his own linux-based blog software. This week’s events in Britain have shown how blogs enable individuals to share forensic knowledge and insight in speedy networks. In Ireland we are still looking for our Rathergate moment. With one, and possibly two, big elections coming up next year, Cian, Suzy, Damien (Irish Blog Awards fame))and myself invite anyone with an interest to a one day conference in Dublin on 7th October, that will both explain and explore just what political blogging can do. PRESS RELEASE:
Inaugural conference on blogging and politics to be held in Dublin on October 7th.
The heavyweights of the growing Irish blogging community will mix with politicians, journalists and interested members of the public at an event called “Blogging the Election” In Dublin in October. The event is being billed as an informal meeting and discussion on how new Internet tools like blogging can help and influence the very traditional political process in Ireland.
Politics website IrishElection.com will be running the event with the support of political commentator Mick Fealty from website SluggerOToole.com, campaigner Suzy Byrne from MamanPoulet.com and Internet lobbyist Damien Mulley.
Cian O’Flaherty from IrishElection.com stated “Irish Politics has yet to embrace and tap into the ability of the Internet to energise interest in politics and political campaigning. The “Blogging the Election” event will explore how bloggers can benefit elections and help shape the future of politics.”
Mick Fealty from Slugger O’Toole added “Next year’s general election holds possibilities for a blogging breakthrough in Irish politics and we will be exploring this issue in depth via experienced guest speakers and by facilitating a series of open spaces in which participants can host their own conversations, probing issues that they are passionate about.”
More information is available from www.IrishElection.com
About blogging and politics:
Blogging has revolutionised online communication in way that few previously imagined. It has allowed intelligent audiences to make faster and smarter responses that often disrupt traditional top down news flows. It puts considerable power in the hands of ordinary citizens to disrupt cosy consensuses of established political and media elites.
In the US, bloggers have shaped some of the biggest news stories and continue to provide a decisive influence, even inside political parties. In Britain, a new breed of aggressive anti-government bloggers has been generating stories that have brought them into the centre of the mainstream establishment, the Deputy Prime Minister the most senior politician to feel the heat.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty