The Howard County Gang of Four bloggers
August 8, 2006
HoCo Hayduke reports, “In case you haven't heard, the Gang of Four (Local Bloggers) will be sponsoring an on-line candidate forum for most local elections beginning in October. More details here.”
Actually, the author of the HoCoMD Blog kindly emailed me the press release earlier today. Thanks.
This is a great opportunity for Howard County voters and a perfect role for the four blogs: HoCoMD Blog; The Hedgehog Report; HoCo Hayduke; and Howard County Blog.
Historically much of my family is from southern Carroll County and I have always followed Howard County politics. For quite sometime, I have followed by way of the four these four Howard County blogs.
I have only written one column that specifically deals with Howard County politics. In the Tentacle, I wrote on December 14, 2005 a column entitled,
“Politics in the Enchanted Forest:” “The political silly season has already begun in Howard County, known as the former home of the "Enchanted Forest." In our neighboring county, politics have recently started to resemble the storybook theme park that prospered in Ellicott City from 1955 to 1988.”
Since 2000 the blogosphere has had a profound affect on government and politics. This great leveling of the playing field or great democratizing of information dissemination, news and analysis is a good thing.
For more of my take on this dynamic, please read my Tentacle column from January 25, 2006, “How is Internet media held accountable?” The slug reads: “On January 19 The Washington Post put an abrupt end to one of the components of the latest experiments in this grass roots democracy dynamic we call blogs – the real-time, live “comment” section.”
For more commentary on the contemporary state of the main stream media, see my Tentacle column from January 11, 2006, “Journalism in 2005” The beginning of that column reads: “When one thinks of the mainstream media in 2005, the consistent theme is that of a reluctant, haughty and often pretentious dinosaur with its out-of-touch editorial boards. One can only hope 2006 is better.”
Kevin Dayhoff writes from Westminster Maryland USA.
E-mail him at: kdayhoff@carr.org
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Pasted below is the information from the Association of Howard County Bloggers press release:
For Immediate Release
August 8, 2006 – Howard County, Maryland
An association of Howard County bloggers announced today that they will be conducting an on-line forum consisting of candidates for local and State office.
The association consists of the four major blogs covering political news and events in Howard County. They will be issuing to each of the general election candidates identical lists of questions in which they will be asked to supply answers to by October 1st.
“Each of our blogs are different.” said Ian Kennedy, author of Hocohayduke. “I think we all agree that they reflect a broad spectrum of county opinions. Even those with similar political leanings don’t always agree, but sometimes we all agree.”
Once questions are formulated, distributed, and the candidates have responded the authors will then offer the answers to the public on their web log sites with four unique commentaries accompanying each and open to the public for additional comments.
“We will all develop and agree upon the questions and length of response, and then we will all share the answers. We will probably not share the same opinion or analysis of the candidate’s responses.” said David Keelan, author of HoCoMD Blog.
Evan Coren author of Howard County Blog added, “We will provide a forum where anyone can engage the candidates, read candidate’s answers to important questions, and ask follow up questions on our blogs. Readers will also be able to discuss the candidate’s answers and have a civic discourse with the candidates and each other.”
David Keelan agreed, “I like the idea of having three sets of eyes looking over my shoulder and ready to tell me if they disagree. It helps keep the partisan tone down and keeps the analysis and opinions more level”.
David Wissing, author of the longest running local blog, the Hedgehog Report added, “I think people will respond to this because we think they are interested in this type of perspective.”
About the Association of Howard County Blogs
The association consists of four Howard County based blogs.
What is a blog?
Blog is short for weblog. It is a type of website where entries are made similar to a journal or diary and displayed in a reverse chronological order.
Blogs often provide commentary or news on a particular subject, such as food, politics, or local news; some function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. Many blogs, including all of the blogs in the Association of Howard County Blogs allow their readers to post comments and discuss the issues posted on the blog.
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