Blogging the Election

BEING the last person to blog on the weekend’s Blogging the Election conference (or it certainly feels like it from all the other posts I have seen) I thought if I didn’t do it soon, I would probably not get around to it.


Damien, Mick, Cian and Suzy

Well it was a great day and night, I was a sh*tty mess all day Sunday. Not only was the day informative with many thought provoking bits and pieces put out to the floor, but it was also good to meet up again with and meet all those people I stop by regularly. (There were more but I feel slightly linked out after that paragraph)

Richard Delevan kicked off the day with an inspiring introduction which covered many aspects of blogging. I found his take on things very interesting, how the small town nature of things might be more of an issue here. And it is true to a large degree we all know someone who knows someone so it will be something to watch as in whether or not that will be a big consideration in blogger's coverage of events in the run-up to the General Election.

On the topic of anonymity Richard did not have any problems with but like everything else be sure and accurate in your research. But above all he said 'be funny, be fierce, be fearless' a pretty spot-on mantra to my mind.

The politician’s panel threw up its own issues, such as Ciaran Cuffe’s internet campaigning, Damien Blake’s knowledge of the media and Dominic Hannigans quandary over sock puppet commentators and what way to handle comments.


Dominic, Ciaran and Damien

That was a theme that came up throughout the day with Guido, Simon McGarr and in the pub later.

Guido Fawkes was wildly entertaining, extremely informative and as colourful as you would imagine. It was fascinating to listen to the lengths he goes to in his blog and the proof is in the pudding.

It was at this stage I prevented Ellie Babes from doing anymore live blogging when she was good enough to allow me to upload my morning’s pix. This was great, there is no point in having this wireless broadband access, digital camera, flickr account, a flickr uploader button without being able to have as much liveflickrblogging as possible. And I was a hostage to those with better laptops than I and Ellie was a honey allowing me the time on hers. Oh and she is quite mad too.

Simon McGarr scared the socks of us in another more than informative section. Now while I have to admit when I am taking photographs I can sometimes switch off to the whole picture that is going on around me I believe the bottom line amounts to 1. no disclaimers (they are no use), 2. take down any comments you are unsure of, 3. apologise immediately if something is dodgy and picked up on by an annoyed potential legal-action taking person (unless you are sure of your facts), 4. if needs be consult a libel lawyer. (And if I got any wrong please don't sue Simon :) )

As I said I may have passed over many points raised in the pursuit of pics but I think it was one session that could have run and run and maybe one that should definitely be expanded upon in a future Irish Blog Con.

Antoin O Lachtnain from Digital Rights Ireland spoke about Freedom of Information and once again the audience proved to be inquisitive and engaging.

The room then broke into groups and I took the time to snap some more and then upload the afternoon’s stash of pix so I missed the discussions but I loved the idea of the ‘Bringing down the Government’ session.

It was a great day, unfortunately the amount of women dropped considerably as the day went on which was a shame. When I first went in there were few women however our numbers grew before the start of the day but disappeared during the sessions after lunch. Despite saying this I would be very confident that our numbers will increase by the next one.

Then we went for some pints…But I couldn't possibly publish those pics for fear of incriminating people and threats of legal action...

We started off in the Brazen Head in numbers which dwindled somewhat by the time we got to the Porterhouse. I wasn’t capable of much on Sunday. All in all I'd say the day was a complete success, much kudos to Damien, Cian, Mick and Suzy, I'm looking forward to the next one.

Meanwhile here are a selection of pics from the day.


Mr Mulley working his magic


Bernie and Ellie live blogging the day


Antoin O Lachtnain


Breaking up into groups


Guido Fawkes


Remember bloggers "be funny, be fierce, be fearless"


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