Tonight I attended Michael Ignatieff’s town hall in Hamilton at Liuna Station. Over 1000 people attended according to The Spec and CTV News – three times the number who attended the nearby Harper rally in downtown Hamilton. It was a very good night for Mr. Ignatieff. He definitely carried the momentum that he had gathered …
Continue reading “My Thoughts on the April 7 Ignatieff Town Hall in Hamilton”
This first week has really shown that social media is creating a new playing field. 1. Social media and main stream media are mutually leading one another We’re seeing a really interesting reinforcing effect here: when an event happens, social media is all a-twitter about it. The thing is, Twitter is dominated by the top …
You may have noticed that during this 41st Canadian federal election, your Member of Parliament has changed his or her Twitter handle. He or she is probably doing this to avoid the perception of conflict of interest: MPs are not meant to use their MP offices to further their personal interests. Another question to ask …
Continue reading “Why politicians are changing their Twitter names for the election”
I just got home after a wonderful evening that blended all the things I like: politics, public affairs, government, food and fascinating people who wanted to talk. I spoke on the topic of “Wikileaks: Has government communication changed forever?” I was speaking to the Hamilton Chapter of the Canadian International Council. I was amazed to …
Last weekend, I traveled to Washington, DC, one of my favourite cities in the world. It was a bit of a working vacation for me, since I have been going quite hard, with research and teaching. I arrived on Saturday morning, flying on Jetblue out of Buffalo. It was a funny flight, because I was …
A note I sent to the people who participated in “TOO RUDE?” … Dear Friends, I thought that I would write to you and tell you what a great success TOO RUDE? was. According the Hamilton Spectator’s write-up we had 150 people in attendance on Nov 10, 2010. We also made the front page of …
Continue reading ““TOO RUDE?” political civility panel a great success!”
I had a wonderful night giving a public lecture to a great audience at the Holiday Inn on Wyecroft Rd in Oakville. The lecture was in the “Mac on the Road” Alumni Lecture Series, so I knew some people in the crowd! What a pleasure to reconnect with people who were my students only a …
Continue reading “Gave a “Mac on the Road” Alumni Lecture on “Making Sense of Social Media””
It is so easy to feel disconnected. It’s simple to think that we are powerless in front of those who run the world, making it turn more quickly or slow it down to suit their purposes. It’s easy to slink off into a cynical corner to shut our eyes and fall into the sleep of …
Continue reading “Life Love 40: The excitement of political action”
Today I had the pleasure of speaking to student leaders from across McMaster as a guest speaker in the Vision 2010 workshop organised by MSU President Mary Koziol and her executive. I spoke between Kate Whalen, Director for the Office of Sustainability and Brian McHattie, Hamilton City Councillor for Ward 1. I spoke about the …
Continue reading “My talk at the McMaster Student Union “Vision 2010” Workshop”
I am going to put a blog logo on my business cards. Here’s what my cards look like now on the front… … and on the back … Here is the blog logo that I am going to put in to the next version of the business cards: So that’s what my new cards will …
