Bloggers at Westminster?

The House of Commons is taking a look at weblogs, but while this BBC article describes an enthusiastic response, it seems that it is all more of the same, the old top-down communication trying to move into a different medium. Note that what the article calls "bloggers" might better be labelled "personal website promoters":

[Bloggers] are taking part in a meeting at Westminster on Monday designed to look at how weblogs can be used in politics, particularly in the light of their increasing use in the US. There has been so much interest in the meeting that the organisers, online think tank Voxpolitics, have had to hire a bigger room.

"Blogs are an exceptionally good way of talking to people who are interested in what you do," said Voxpolitics director James Crabtree. "They could provide a place for people to go and see what MPs are doing, what they are thinking about". . .

"Blogs can provide politicians with a human, more accessible face," said Mr Crabtree, "they are a tool for transparency and openness". . .

So far some 120 people are taking part in the seminar, which is due to be held in the Grand Committee Room in the Commons at 1900 BST on this evening.

Ask not what you can say to the politicians, but what the politicians can say to you.

Posted by David on July 14, 2003 3:10 PM