UPDATE: June 2, 2006
Also see our new story "BLP Blog Announces Live Online Chat With Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur"
BLP Blog Reviewed
Dr. William Duguid, the General Secretary of the Barbados Labour Party, has started a blog for the Barbados Labour Party (BLP). At least, we assume that Dr. Duguid has started the "Official" BLP Blog – because he is the General Secretary of the party.
And this leads to our first observation – that the Barbados Labour Party Blog appears to have been started in a bit of a rush on a Sunday afternoon, but it will probably improve dramatically in just a short time.
Titilayo over at Gallimaufry beat us to press with a review of the BLP Blog, and we couldn't do any better, so we will just steal borrow parts of her review. (By the way – as well as running her own blog, Titilayo has also been posting some excellent work over at The Pan Collective. You won't be disappointed if you drop by and have a read.)
Here is what Titilayo has to say about the Barbados Labour Party Blog…
The Barbados Labour Party has started a blog. It could do with a bit of work right now (grammar is important, people! and so is presentation!), but I think that the blog has the potential to be a good way for the BLP to present its views, and to open itself up to dialogue with the public, both their supporters and their detractors. In that regard, it certainly puts them a step ahead of the other political parties, the Democratic Labour Party and the People's Empowerment Party, neither of which even has a functioning website. It will be interesting to see how the blog develops, particularly as it comes to more people's attention and visitor traffic increases.
I do tend to wonder how much of the impetus to set up this blog came from the establishment and growing popularity of Barbados Free Press (which is presently the only site on the BLP's blogroll). If nothing else, I think that existence of the Barbados Free Press, and its increasingly high profile, alerted the BLP that there was a new medium available for them to "communicate with the people". And, despite my overall cynicism about politics, I think it's commendable that the BLP is attempting to make use of that medium. Good on them.
Quite right, Titilayo! It is commendable that the BLP has established a blog – because there is a risk in doing so and the party has obviously decided that it was a risk it had to take.
What Are The Risks In Establishing a Political Party Blog?
We'll try to keep the answer below 1000 words… 😉 but the two main risks can be shortened to this…
1/ Risk of Public Failure – Successful Blogging Takes New Skills & Commitment
2/ Risk of Exposure – Political Blogging Favours Opposition, Not Government
1/ Risk of Public Failure – Successful Blogging Takes New Skills & Commitment
When an organization establishes a blog, it enters into a new arena where there is a true "level playing field". Money no longer counts like it does for television or newspaper advertising or other traditional marketing campaigns… because "anyone" can put up a blog on the internet for nothing. So if money no longer counts, it means that good ideas, writing, presentation (and a little magic) are the currency for success in this new media.
Merely "having" a blog is not the same as operating a vibrant blog with an ever-expanding audience that trades ideas and focuses attention on common issues. Successful blogging takes new skills – and even many professional journalists and website developers have been unable to create a successful online blog. Just "having" a blog does not develop reader loyalty, create excitement and influence in a community, provide an international search-engine presence or penetrate larger online communities.
All this takes new skills – and the skill set for blogging is very different than for operating a traditional website.
Will the Barbados Labour Party Blog eventually be a hit with readers? We hope so, but there are no guarantees.
And that is the risk that any organization takes in establishing a blog… It isn't easy to be successful, and any failure is in public. While failure of a political party's new blog might not be such a big deal – if the failure is in an election year, that could be something else…
2/ Risk of Exposure – Political Blogging Favours Opposition, Not Government
As much as governing political parties say they want to "communicate with the people" when they speak about blogging, what they often mean is that they simply want to use the internet as a one-way communication tool to present their message to online visitors – much like a television commercial.
But that is not the reality of blogging. Unlike a television commercial where the viewer is limited to shouting at the screen when a "cow pasture" odour is detected, the reader of a blog has several options – from leaving a public comment, to thoroughly researching an issue and posting devastating counter-evidence on another blog – or in the political blog's comments section and daring the party to erase it. Bloggers also tend to "gang up" when a major story breaks.
Bloggers have caused major embarrassments to governments around the world because the bloggers can react, organize research and post evidence and articles much faster than larger organizations can respond. As well, the risks for governments increase when they enter into direct public debate with an uncontrolled audience… and that is what blogging is all about.
In short – the Barbados Labour Party has decided to enter a new media where their posted ideas and words will be instantly analyzed in minute detail by people in Barbados and around the world. Should any of the blog posts have that "cow pasture" aroma that we sometimes see in politics, the BLP will not only be told about it – they might find those words broadcast around the world to the embarrassment of the party or a candidate.
Of course, a governing party can decide to not participate in blogging, but then they surrender the new media to other political parties and ad hoc citizen opposition.
As A Tool, Political Blogging Favours Opposition Over Government
As a tool, political blogging tends to favour the opposition for a few reasons…
– Attack is always easier than reactive defense (which is traditionally where an incumbent multi-term government finds itself during an election campaign.)
– While the governing party has to be careful to control it's outgoing policy messages, opposition bloggers do not have to worry about presenting a unified message if they are simply attacking the government (as opposed to presenting policy).
– There is never a shortage of stories or targets for opposition bloggers. After a decade in power, any government has made mistakes, had scandals and budget disasters. Bloggers from the governing party have a much tougher time finding such stories about the opposition.
– Opposition bloggers can react, research and post evidence and articles much faster than governing party organizations can respond.
– A blogging campaign is a superb budget equalizer and force multiplier for the Opposition. It provides a cost-effective method of mass-communication for smaller organizations and budgets, and when well done can significantly impact traditional election campaigns.
– Traditional media outlets tend to follow breaking blogger stories during election campaigns. Once again, this acts as a force multiplier for the opposition. Past federal elections in both the United States and Canada are proof enough of the influence of blogging upon the traditional media and the voting public.
Barbados Labour Party Blog Added To Our Links
Dr. William Duguid, the General Secretary of the Barbados Labour Party, contacted the Barbados Free Press and asked that the BLP Blog be included in our sidebar links.
We have, of course, added the link – and we wish Dr. Duguid and the BLP success with their party's new blog. And we do applaud the establishment of the Barbados Labour Party Blog as it could possibly lead to more transparency and accountability by the Government.
post by Clive with Marcus
Barbados Free Press 
Love it!
Bloging takes new skills and comitment? How different is this from any other endevour? the biggest part of blogging is the technology behind it, and there is no shortage of online capacity, FREE CAPACITY at that. As for Gallimaufry comments about grammer, such is pure hogwash, why is grammer important to successfull blogging? Well i think you and this Gallimaufry have more to fear than the BLP. I will be going there to register my disapproval with the way things are. I think i have wasted enough time on one sided political blogs who doesn’t seem interested in real change, as for this GalliMAUFRY I haven’t visited her blog but i will dismiss her as a language maven with very little say but doing so while being grammatically correct. If i feel the need to check my spelling i will go to http://www.answers.com first. 😀
Adrian, Adrian, Adrian…
Such viciousness first thing in the morning is very unlike you. Perhaps you need another coffee? (or maybe a tablet for all that rum last night? heh heh!)
Titilayo of Gallimaufry actually abhors politics and was trying to be positive and encouraging towards the BLP Blog.
Do visit her work at The Pan Collective and you will enjoy her writing, I am sure.
Here is a link, or get to her works through links on the sidebar or in the story.
http://thepancollective.typepad.com/thepancollective/all_posts_by_titilayo/index.html
Wow, that’s some of the harshest criticism that’s ever been levelled at me on the internet! And from someone who hasn’t even visited my site no less; I am rather taken aback.
Adrian, man, why you so vex? Yes, I think grammar is important to any attempt to express yourself and to communicate in standard english (or in other standard languages or non-standard dialects, in fact). I won’t apologise for that. If you ever think it worthwhile gracing my site with a visit, your assessment of my “having very little to say” may or may not be altered. But you will also find that mine is certainly not a “one sided political blog” (or any kind of political blog); it’s a personal site/blog and I write what I like (and yes, I try to use good grammar).
But I actually came here to comment on the BFP’s post, not the comments, because I think it made two good points (particularly the last one) that I was too lazy to make. The first point re risk of public failure applies to any blog, not just political ones, and indeed to many other endeavours apart from blogging. Your analysis of the second point, and the issue of direct debate with an uncontrolled public — people like Adrian, who must be over on the blog lambasting the BLP all like now! 🙂 — is I think a significant issue re political blogging, and it’s why I think the BLP’s move into the blogging forum is admirable and why, despite my apolitical nature, I am interested to see how this new venture develops.
Keep it up BFP.
You are making a difference and people are noticing.
The internet is a great leveller.
… and yes, grammar is important.
Sometimes I look back at what I write and am appalled at my careless use of words, spelling and grammar.
I think it is to do with the emotion I feel when I am moved to comment that makes me do these things.
But that’s the magic of BFP.
It makes you want to contribute and be a part of making the difference.
That’s why I will keep making my comments inspite of the mistakes I make with my english.
There may well come a day that the opportunity will no longer be there so I use it when it is there. I don’t mind my errors. I have no problems being corrected.
Thanks BFP
Interesting.
titilayo: I have no uses for personal blogs, quite frankly i have no interest in persons personal non-political viewpoints other than it is a requirement for a politicaly active citizen to engage and share with his fellow citizens the importance of skepticism, and vigilence, of government which must always be viewed as a necessary evil. Beyond the cohesiveness that the citizen needs to be an effective hedge against the exesses of government I prefer not to care to much for my fellow citizen’s personal likes and dislikes. 😀
BTW: If you are going to call someone on their grammer, you may have to do better than “TRY TO USE GOOD GRAMMER” as a grammerian you cannot be held to the same low standards as the rest of us. 😀
Adrian (I assume that’s you above), I never claimed to be a grammarian. I’m not about to diagram every sentence on the BLP’s blog. All I’m saying is that the ruling party in Barbados has started a blog which puts the things they say on that blog into an international public forum. I think it behooves them to pay attention to the presentation (both visually, grammatically and otherwise) of the information they put out on that blog.
Apart from that, this dialogue that we’re having is starting to make me uncomfortable because I’m getting the feeling that you’re belittling me, and I don’t quite understand why. So I will consider myself bested, and bow out of the conversation now.
Until you can point out several grammatical errors on the BLP’s website that would suggest that
1: errors were indeed made and that the number of such errors suggested that it needed to be nipped in the bud
2: Or how does the BLP blog which is using the same resources and the BFP suffer from presentation “drawbacks”
I will believe that your comments were an attempt to belittle their efforts.
as for me belittle you, I have no such powers, and certainly no such intent, but you seem to think that you do as i cannot at this time determine any other reason or intent for your critique.
Adrian, let me make it very clear that I think that the BLP blog is an excellent initiative, as I said in my post. I think it’s really really admirable. So if you think my intention was to belittle, please let me assure you that it wasn’t.
To answer your second question first, the difference between BFP (and just to clarify, it’s not as if I think the BFP’s visual presentation is miles beyond that of the BLP blog, because it clearly isn’t) and the BLP blog is that the BLP is the ruling political party in Barbados, presenting themselves to the world via the internet. It is therefore in their best interest to make sure that representation is top of the line. And I have no doubt that they will do that (their website, after all is quite lovely), it will just take a bit of time to get everything just right. I notice too that they are being very pro-active in responding to criticism of their site — they are taking it constructively, and I think that is also admirable; I respect that a great deal.
To answer your first questions second, look at the very first post (not the WordPress “Hello World!” post) on the blog, the one about whether the government is doing a good job. There are punctuation and grammatical errors in that post — the very first post! Then look at the third post, the one about Ishamel Roett. There’s an error there as well. There’s an error in the next post too. The next post is fairly okay, and the next is a table of numbers, so no grammar mistakes there. So, of the six posts (again, not counting the WordPress post) on the site at the time that I made my comments, there were grammatical errors in at least 50% of them. Even their header contains an error (“The Peoples Choice” should be “The People’s Choice”). So yes, I think that suggests that some improvement is necessary. And indeed, there has been improvement.
As I’ve said, the BLP starting a blog is a great initiative. I mean, how many governments in the Caribbean, or even in the world, are brave enough to put themselves out into that sort of public forum? Very few, if any. So I think it’s fantastic that the BLP has done that. And I am sure that the blog will continue to get better as time progresses — as I said in my post, I’m looking forward to that.
“Ishmael”, of course, not “Ishamel”. Typo, my apologies.
Ok Titilayo I do believe that your comments were not designed to specifically belittle the BLP’s efforts. I will say that your ability to quantify the number of grammatical and spelling errors on the site down to the percentage is quite remarkable; surely your grasp
of the written language rules is to be envied. It is note worthy for me that your understanding of what was written is very detail so much so that in addition to absorbing exactly what was intended, you were also able to correct the errors per the rules that are designed to impart proper understanding. You understood in spite of the errors, and I understand that good grammar serves a secondary but more important purpose of informing the world that you are learned, or sophisticated, or smart etc.
…Yuh know i did not even pick up that spelling error, but i somehow was able to understand which post and to whom you were refering.
What makes you so sure that Barbadians will not be so angry at your refusal to take seriously a number of issues? How certain are you that the electorate in the city of Bridgetown will not vote against your party in solidarity with their fellow citizens who are suffering as a result of the sewage plant. Now I know that PEP’s instigated litigation may have disrupted any progress on plans to resolve this issue, but how many persons are aware of this?
How certain are you that the electorate in the northern parishes will contain their anger and quietly forget the hell that they have to go endure with dry water taps for nearly 3 years running?
Your Deputy PM flew a kite on the Homosexuality debate how many persons have since resolve their anger against your party for what they perceived as the indifference to the wishes of the majority?
As lofty as the GoB ideals are for allowing indo-guyanese into Barbados, how certain are you that the electorate will not remember the indifference, and condescending attitude, the name calling that you resorted too calling Barbadians when they registered legitimate concerns about their numbers here?
Barbadians have perverted the democratic process on one occasion by voting overwhelmingly against the governing party, and while they have overwhelmingly registered their disgust with an opposition party on one occasion, I am not ready to believe that Barbadians will not be so angered by your party to send you packing knowing full well that Thompy maybe even worst.
Sorry BFP: I can’t seem to tell the difference between your site and the BLP’s. 😀
Adrian – you don’t seem to be making any sense.
OK…. I see what happened now.
Adrian’s post starting “What makes you so sure that Barbadians will not be so angry at your refusal to take seriously a number of issues? …”
…was posted by him at the BLP blog site in response to an article saying that PM Arthur was wonderful. Somehow, Adrian also posted it here by accident, I guess.
Lots of talk happening everywhere, I guess!
Robert
…..Well it should be obvious by now…where ever bajan politics is being discuss I will be there tuh add muh two cents worth. 😀
…..All bajan political websites will receive a visit from me. 😀
How are you able to get a picture of the BLP blogf and site on your blog.
Any assitance would be appreciated.
Hello Dr. Duguid
We use a screen capture utility called “SnagIt” (Snag It) to capture the screen shots you see in our posts. We crop them so readers don’t see our entire computer monitor and only see the portion we want – like the BLP website or a single photo from a Flash presentation. (Heh heh… and MacroMedia used to say that Flash presentations couldn’t be copied!)
You can download a 30 day trial version at the SnagIt website for free. Free is good.
Price for outright purchase is US$39.95 but it would be a bargain at twice the price as it does so much more than just simple screen capture. Give it a try for free and you will end up purchasing it for sure.
PC Mag Review Here…
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,1936101,00.asp
SnagIt Website
http://www.techsmith.com/snagit.asp
Marcus
Thanks.
I tried all sorts of things but I could not get it done.
Man Marcus I think that Duguid could afford tuh spend 80.00 BDS out of that raise he just get? 😀
Hey Doc to show that i have not forgotten the benevolence of the socialist welfare state of Barbados, and to demonstrate that it has inculcated a dependentcy/entitlement attitude in me, can you ask you for some free Dental advice?
Do Barbadian Dentist screen patients for throat cancer, if so what are some of the signs?
Yes we do. We look new growth anywhere in the mouth of 2-3 weeks duration or more. Lumps in the neck. Raised indurated edges on the lesions. Lesions that are hard and appear fixed to structures below. Difficulty swallowing and ofcourse unexplained lesions on xray.
Just to name a few.
if this a not a an offical party blog it should not carry the BLP
Hi Steve
The BLP Blog is a work in progress – but there doesn’t seem to be any doubt that it is the “official” Blog of the Barbados Labour Party. After all, the author is the General Secretary of the Party, an elected MP, and it was announced today that the Prime Minister will be hosting a live comment session on the BLP Blog.
If that doesn’t make the BLP Blog “Official”, I don’t know what does!
Here is the article about the new and exciting developments at the BLP Blog…
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