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Sunday, April 19, 2009
My introductory post: How people Twittered the Canadian Election
Please allow me to introduce myself, my name is Jesse Kline and I am new here at The Shotgun. I am a student entering my final year of the Masters of Journalism program at the University of British Columbia, where I've gained experience blogging and reporting for TheThunderbird.ca. I hope the apply the skills I've acquired through this experience to my work at the Western Standard, where I'll be interning over the summer.
I have many interests, but my formal training is in the areas of public policy analysis and information technology. While these may seem like two very different fields, I strongly believe that using free software technologies in the public service can help reduce government spending and end our reliance on foreign monopolies. There are also many issues relating to online privacy and freedom of information that should be important to any freedom-loving individual.
Most recently, I completed a content analysis of Twitter to find out how people were using the popular micro-blogging service during the 2008 Canadian federal election. From the article:
I signed up for a Twitter account last October and I was determined to figure out what all the fuss was about. One of the first things I did was sit down on election night and watch the stream of tweets posted to the #canadavotes hashtag. I still didn't get it. Many people were twittering the election results, but I could get the same information from the mainstream media and I was pretty sure that most Twitter users were just rebroadcasting the stuff they were seeing on television. So I tried insulting the Green Party, but not too many people took my bait. It didn't appear to be a forum for political debate, not to mention that the sheer volume of tweets flying by made it next to impossible to keep up with everything that was going on.
Read the rest here.
Posted by Jesse Kline on April 19, 2009 in Web/Tech | Permalink
Comments
Welcome to the Shotgun, Jesse.
Posted by: Matthew Johnston | 2009-04-19 9:55:01 PM
Yet another student posting on the Standard? Is this some kind of course requirement for libertarians in training?
Also, lets quit this ridiculous preoccupation with tweets and twittering. Instead of yapping endlessly online, how about you get off your duffs and ACT!
Posted by: epsilon | 2009-04-20 9:04:44 AM
Students bring a passion for ideas, intelligence and feel for cultural trends that is greatly valued by me and other members of the Western Standard team.
If they lack wisdom and maturity, which I don't think they do, readers like you, Epsi, will keep them in line.
Posted by: Matthew Johnston | 2009-04-20 9:35:51 AM
I smell a COMMIE. Remember, Jesse, as Matthew notes *we* will be watching *you* *very* closely for evidence of Marxism.
Posted by: No Commies | 2009-04-20 9:44:34 AM
That's pretty funny, No Commies.
I'm sure a man with a fondness for Hayek won't let you down.
Posted by: Matthew Johnston | 2009-04-20 10:30:38 AM
Hahaha I've never been accused of being a communist before. I think anyone who reads my work will quickly realize I'm NOT a commie.
Posted by: Jesse Kline | 2009-04-20 11:53:54 AM
The comments to this entry are closed.