Hip Government?

Someone in the government is evolving. how can this be? the government is.. has been the most backwards, most traditional organization.

Garth Turner gets it. he's using the "new media" to communicate with the public at his website, via blogging and google video.

I'm sure most people have heard the story, but here it is again. hes been kicked out of the conservative party caucus. his views are not the views of the conservative party. he IS however representing the views of his constituents, which i think is more important. this event has gotten his weblog a plethora of publicity. every canadian radio and tv station reported this story, so there are very few canadians who haven't heard about it.

which is great! in so many ways. He's pretty much guaranteed himself as an MP forever. the publicity was SO good for him, its genius. if he actually planned it to happen this way, kudos to him.

The nation gets a look at how hes interacting with the public. using the "new media" provides him all kinds of benefits. the public gets easily accessable information about what their MP is doing. he attracts a younger crowd of voters by using new technology making him future proof. he gets to have whats more of a "conversation" with the public via the weblog, where people can leave comments and direct feedback for him. this new media also allows him to speak unedited unlike TV, radio and newspapers, who can frequently take things out of context. he's created his own context.

genius.

now if only the rest of our MPs would take this kind of initiative and evolve.