assignment 10- 29

the Washington Post has a very decent blog set up. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/26/AR2008102601762_2.html?hpid=opinionsbox1&sid=ST2008102700771&s_pos= is an op ed on the Florida election and what it will do to the American political landscape. what follows is the comment section. where the people discuss how the pre voting is a sign of Deomcrat organization/ strategy that will predict the outcome in November. how does this enable people? well it is an outlet for their beliefs. being involved and sharing ideas allows for the people to influence opinion. what is more is that it is opinion on an opinion. it hands the topic over to participants, who then share their experience's with others. in turn the posts are viewed and rated by other bloggers. the reaction of the bloggers is to fact check and rate the post. the involvement is left to your own accord. allowing people to read an article and then post about the topic is entrenched in the model of citizen journalism. sowhy is it helpful? it allows any participants the ability to share. more than that it facilitates the canvassing for information. when the person sees a post they want more information on, they go and research. disagreement can be put aside with facts and data. it becomes more than people spouting opinion and more about getting the story correct. the comments are not profane or offensive but more thought provoking. p://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/26/AR2008102601762_Comments.html

anything that allows and supports people to express themsleves on given topics is an enabler for active participation. the blogs have opened the floodgates for many people who desired to influence or even explain their situation to a larger whole.