Thursday, August 30, 2007

People-Powered Debate in Bridgeport

From Spazeboy.Net (because I'm too lazy to create my own post saying essentially the exact same thing):



I spent a couple of hours in Bridgeport this afternoon filming questions for a debate between Chris Caruso and Bill Finch. My Left Nutmeg and the Fairfield County Weekly have teamed up to put on something extraordinary and I’m excited to be involved with some of the question gathering and filming (Connecticut has the best political videobloggers, after all). Maura has the details over at MLN:


A YouTube debate for the Bridgeport mayoral primary!

When and where:
Thursday, September 6, 2007
8:00 PM

Playhouse on the Green
177 State Street, Bridgeport

What will make this debate different than all other Bridgeport Democratic mayoral primary debates is that it will consist of questions asked by ordinary people from all walks of life in Bridgeport, though YouTube!

How it works:
Bridgeport residents are encouraged to submit questions to ask would-be Democratic mayors Bill Finch and Chris Caruso through YouTube. Simply tape the question using a MiniDV camera or even a cell phone (some models can record up to a minute of video) and upload them to YouTube with the tag "bridgeportdebate" (all one word).

Tips for questions:

* Be personal - we want questions that are about what YOU care about and reflect the diversity of Bridgeport families
* Be creative - the more interesting your video, the more likely we will use it
* Try to keep your question short and to the point: approximately 30 seconds is ideal, but absolutely no longer than 1 minute in length.
* Introduce yourself - begin with your name and mention your neighborhood or organization

Addressing the digital divide

The reality of the digital divide is that many people in Bridgeport don’t have access to the Internet, video cameras, or video cell phones. To address that concern, dedicated volunteer videobloggers including ctblogger, Spazeboy, Connecticut Bob, and MattW will be hitting the streets of Bridgeport to collect “woman/man on the street” questions from interested Bridgeporters.

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