Ontario Referendum Part 4

October 2, 2007

The following audio clip is the last in our four part series of audio talks presented earlier this summer at the launch of FairVoteCanada’s Yes Campaign.

The event in Owen Sound was held in Owen Sound at the Public Library on June 20th. Unfortunately the event was held immediately following Snowbirds air show (you can check out some of the show here if you missed it) and it was a beautiful sunny day= not a great time to learn about electoral reform in the basement of the library.

So what was the event all about? By now I am sure you are aware that this October 10th, when we hit the polls to elect our local MPP, you will also be given the opportunity to vote in an Ontario referendum on Electoral reform in Ontario. The choices, of which you will the details in the following audio are to stick with the present First-Past the post electoral system (you can grab more details about FPtP from Referendum Ontario here) or to make a switch to a Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) system (another page from Referendum Ontario about MMP).

Fair Vote Audio Part 4 (about 33 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 future 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 …

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Written by Ryan · Filed Under Election2007, MMP, Podcast, Politics, theOwen Features, Audio

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 …

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

The Ontario Referendum Part 1 of 4

September 13, 2007

The following audio clip is part one of a four part series of audio talks presented earlier this summer at the launch of FairVoteCanada’s Yes Campaign.

Fortunately however we here at theOwen are big fans of time shifting important local events in case you missed them. More on this one in the future …please stay tuned.

In part 1 of the series we hear from Joyce Hall and Anita Droog. They provide some background on the referendum, MMP versus FPtP and why MMP was recommended by the Ontario Citizens’Assembly.

Fair Vote Audio Part 1 (about 22 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 parts 2-4 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 …

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Written by Ryan · Filed Under Podcast, Election2007, MMP, Community, Politics, Audio, Participation, theOwen

If you missed Electric Eclectics

September 13, 2007

Electric Eclectics 2007 - submitted by Josh Richardson

It’s been a while coming, but at the beginning of August in Meaford was held the second annual Electric Eclectics Festival of Mondern Music and Irritainment. Once again it was packed full of artists from around the world and attracted people from all over Canada. This year’s festival was graced by the warm and amusing Jaymz Bee , who is a fixture of the Toronto lounge scene, and a party planner who includes a James Bond opening as one of his many credits. His “Cosmic Vision” was a intergalactic play on the search for romance in a lonely universe, which included Juno award winner Richard Underhill on sax. Their performance was a highlight of the Friday night, along with the incredible duo, Whippoorwill , who closed the night. Saturday was the culmination of the festival, which was preceded by sound installations and workshops across the Grey-Bruce during the previous month. Alexander Hacke of German Industrial legends Einsturzende Neubauten filled in the headlining spot, as well as Canadian “noise-music” pioneers The Nihilist Spasm Band making their Electric Eclectics debut. The entire audience was taken aback by Dutchman Edward van Der Heide’s sound and laser performance late Saturday night, which topped off the evening with an incredible display of light and oscillating waveforms. Many young up-and-coming bands had their time on the Electric Eclectics’ stage. Here is an interview with just one of those bands. Fossils are a trio of 20-somethings hail from Hamilton, Ontario and fall under the “noise-music” genre, which the 60-somethings of the Nihilist Spasm Band originated. The talked to me about their music and their concept of noise.

The following audio clip is out first attempt at using a combination of mobile phones and theOwen.com caller feedback line to collect audio commentary and reviews from events in the area. Many thanks to Josh for taking the time and making the effort to help us out with this. I can pretty much guarantee that the quality can only get better than this as we learn a little more. Clearly a land line will beat a cell for quality any day. Want to give it a try. Have a look around the site and add an audio comment by calling 519 416 Owen (6936)

And on to the audio (the player is being a little funny? you can listen in a new browser window here (if you want you can also right click that link and download the track)

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Written by Ryan · Filed Under The Area, Meaford, The Arts, Podcast, Audio, Music, theOwen

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