BBC promotes digital citizens

BBC News online is featuring Vloggers get political in Norway - a story about video blogger Raymond Kristiansen who is "aiming to energise a new generation of voters ahead of Monday's elections".

Kristiansen does not consider himself to be a leader in the vlogosphere, which is the community of video-bloggers across the globe.
But he is spearheading the use of vlogs in politics, as an active member of the youth wing of Norway's Liberal Party.
At a recent campaign event ahead of the elections, the leader of the Liberal Party did a photo-op with a local businessman in Bergen. While the mainstream media gathered around to record sound bites, Kristiansen stood in the background, taping the entire event with his small camcorder.

The story led me to another set of pages which I missed back in July, when the BBC featured other digital citizens: a low-cost film-maker, a podcaster making his own radio show, a blogger whose blog lost her a job - but is now renowned for her writing, DIY DJs, and an activist for digital rights. The comment section on the site has enabled other digital citizen (and their critics) to add their experiences and links.
The stories themselves are inspiring. What is also exciting is the willingness of the BBC to both invest in an online campaigning space for citizens - the Action Network - and also to feature digital citizens' own DIY efforts. Definitely worth the license fee.

Technorati Tags: engagement, socialtech

Comments

[Raymond M. Kristiansen]

Yes, I think the BBC is doing a good job with this. When it comes to the role of video in politics and government, that is something I will continue to cover, especially on my Norwegian blog. By the way, we met shortly at Reboot 7 earlier this year - you still shooting video from conferences? And yes, I found this through Technorati heh.

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