Audio recording from Garth Turner’s Owen Sound Town Hall

September 28, 2007

Garth Turner Owen Sound town hall Last night I had the opportunity to take in a presentation/discussion with Garth Turner at the Owen Sound Legion. I quite enjoyed the event and I learned a few things while I was there. I was also reminded of a few things too. Like, for example the troubling demographic situation our country faces. It was likely demographic study that first introduced me to Garth. During my previous teaching career I referenced a couple of his books in my courses: 2015 revised: after the boom: how to prosper through the coming retirement crisis and 2020: new rules for the new age.

Both worthwhile reads I would suggest, especially if you happen to be studying demographics.

More recently, my interest in Garth Turner has been in his use of technology, mainly the web, to maintain an ongoing dialog with his constituents and other’s interested in the Canadian political process.

“In this Parliament Garth is known for his proactive outreach to Canadians and his belief in the future of digital democracy. His interactive Internet blog has received international attention as a first for an elected politician, and receives more than 2,000,000 hits a month.

At the same time, he has founded MPtv, an Internet television-type broadcast which takes Canadians behind the scenes with MPs of all parties on Parliament Hill. He balances his Internet profile with many Town Hall public meetings in his own constituency and across Canada.”
Source: http://www.garth.ca/garth/

I really like the idea of a “digital democracy”. First off, it just sounds cool. It’s so futuristic. That of course is not really the case. The idea of a digital democracy has been around for a quite a while. This seems like a good time for a quote from Alex Steffan, another author/leading thinker I admire… “The future is here. It’s just not equally distributed yet”.

The tools required to really make the “digital democracy” work are currently at our disposal. This site itself is to a certain extent proof of that. We are not mainstream media, we work on a shoestring budget, we haven’t got an army of writers/editors/producers but we are getting “the word out” to an increasing number of area residents. Take for example our current audio series on democratic reform. In effect we are using a few of the “readily available” technology tools to capture and distribute some very timely, important political information. The biggest “value added” feature of this particular example of the digital democracy from where I sit, is the “time shifted” nature of what we are doing. We have taken an event that occurred 3 months ago and we are making it available to the public to consume at a time that’s convenient for you.

Same goes for last nights event. For those not in attendance (which by quick calculation would be about 99.9992% of the local federal riding) you have another chance to hear what went down.

You can listen at your computer when you have a few minutes to spare in your day or you can download the audio files and drop them on your favourite portable (.mp3) player. Now you can listen on the go, perhaps as you walk to work or at the gym, or on the bus, or…. I think you get the idea. It should probably also be noted that you don’t necessarily need a new fangled mp3 player to get this content to go. You could burn a CD to listen to in the car and when your done with the disc you can pass it on to a neighbour or co-worker. I am going to look into adding this and future audio and video content at from theOwen to the collection at the local library as well. This takes the while Internet based distribution out of the loop and should serve to make our content available to a much greater percent of the population.

Hopefully you are starting to see how this might be of important if we are going to re-engage citizens in the political process. Garth.ca is a good place to start when looking at how a “blogging” MP or MPP or Mayor… can communicate directly to those who elected them. I hope you enjoy the audio. After you’ve listened to the town hall you should drop by and listen to our MMP series if you have a question or two about the coming provincial referendum.

Garth Turner Town Hall in Owen Sound (about 38 and a half minutes run time) You can listen with the flashplayer below or you may download the audio mp3 here, (right click save as)

If you have itunes and you don’t want to miss out on other great audio content produced by theOwen.com you can subscribe to all theOwen.com audio with this link

We really think this is some important info and that more people should know about it. You can use the share this link below to email a link to this page to your friends, family co-workers …

Written by Ryan · Filed Under Audio, Events, Podcast, Politics, The Area, theOwen

Step One: Read Garth Should Stay Home, Step 2: Head down to the legion tonight

September 27, 2007

As we mentioned earlier, Garth Turner will be in Owen Sound tonight holding a “Town Hall” meeting at the Legion. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of discussion is brought up by the area residents. The event kicks off with an informal meet and greet, followed by presumably a more structured presentation and question period starting at 7:00.

My personal interest in tonights event has less to do with the local issues (although it should provide some food for thought on local stories to cover) and more to do with the style of the event. Further to that I am very mush interested in Garth’s efforts to promote an open conversation with our political leaders. I am personally interested in what Garth has to say about the emergence of the digital democracy and a how new web based tools are changing the conversation we engage in with our local MP, MPP, Mayor , councilors…

For an example you should definitely stop by Garth.ca and read a few posts from Garth’s daily weblog.

A great article to start with might be Garth Should Stay Home, the most recent post on the site which addresses the town hall meeting going on in Owen Sound tonight. While you are there be sure to scroll all the way down to the comment section. In my mind that’s where the real action is. At the time I read the article there were 30 responses, some insightful, others not, but 30 voices all the same.

What do you think about the use of the web as a tool for communicating with our political leaders? You can freely add your Comments below and if 30 of you respond then we are truly onto something.

Written by Ryan · Filed Under Community, Politics, The Area, theOwen

Share your favourite articles from theOwen.com

September 26, 2007

This is just a quick administrivia post to “share” some details about a recent feature we’ve added to the site. As of a couple weeks we now have a Share This link at the bottom of every post on the site.

If you like the article you are reading, want to remember it for future reference or wish to pass it on to your friends, family, coworkers… simply follow the share this link.

Two ways to share…

The first, and simplest, way to share an article from theOwen.com would be to use the email tab.

Simply fill out the required details and hit send it.

The second option for sharing great articles, news and events details from around Owen Sound and Grey Bruce would be to take advantage of a “social networking” service.

Personally I am a huge fan of del.icio.us, which is a lot like your “favourites” if you are a Internet Explorer user only web based and far more functional. I use it to keep track of many facets of my work/personal life. If you would like some more details on social networking/bookmarking you might want to read our post about del.icio.us

This feature is an ongoing part of our effort to improve the accessibility and distribution of local information to those interested. More on this to come. In the meantime why not give it a try with the Share This link below.

Written by Ryan · Filed Under Administrivia, Web Tools

Autumn Leaves Studio Tour

September 26, 2007

We just received a reminder from Donna about the Autumn Leaves Studio Tour that his happening this weekend. Looks like many great options for a little fall road trip around Grey County.

On September 28, 29 and 30, 2007 from 10 am to 5 pm the 14th Autumn Leaves Studio Tour again offers close ups of rustic, contemporary, classic and funky art and craft against a backdrop of country lanes, waterfalls, harvested fields and exquisite autumn foliage.

Visit 26 different studios and see functional, wearable, edible and whimsical art for your homes, gardens & bodies.
Touch hardwood bowls, cool glass, hand woven fabrics, textured stoneware, satiny glazed pottery and ceramics and smooth hardshell gourds.

Smell coal burning forges, sun warmed cedar, fresh herbs, dried flowers and clean air.
Hear birds, laughter and lots of answers.

Taste homemade jams & decadent desserts.

See Raku firing and glass blowing demonstrations.

For maps or more info visit the studio tour website or call 1 888 445 4312

Written by Ryan · Filed Under Events, The Area, The Arts