Sri Lanka: the limitations of online electioneering
In the last few months, all but the most lazy or technophobic pundits have commented on how Obama’s savvy use of the Internet in his presidential campaign would provide aspiration for budding politicians all over the world. Skeptics countered that many of Obama’s innovations simply wouldn’t work in the developing world, where access to the ...
In the last few months, all but the most lazy or technophobic pundits have commented on how Obama's savvy use of the Internet in his presidential campaign would provide aspiration for budding politicians all over the world. Skeptics countered that many of Obama's innovations simply wouldn't work in the developing world, where access to the Internet is still very expensive and not widely spread.
In the last few months, all but the most lazy or technophobic pundits have commented on how Obama’s savvy use of the Internet in his presidential campaign would provide aspiration for budding politicians all over the world. Skeptics countered that many of Obama’s innovations simply wouldn’t work in the developing world, where access to the Internet is still very expensive and not widely spread.
To judge by the unfolding election campaign in Sri Lanka, the lessons of Obama’s campaign went unheeded. ICT4PEACE, one of the best blogs exploring the role of technology in conflict transformation, has posted a very useful comparison of the web strategies of several politicians running in elections to Sri Lanka’s Western Provincial Council scheduled for April 25th. There is very little of Obama’s tech-suaveness about their campaigns: the candidates show very little knowledge of the potential of mobile technology, have very little (if any) content in local languages (Tamil and Sinhala), don’t offer any options for online donations (the site of one candidate says it does but offers no real mechanism for wiring the money), and are not very keen to disclose their assets. No wonder they are not very popular: one candidate has only a dozen Facebook friends, while another is barely over a hundred. Perhaps, online revolution in electioneering will have to wait, at least in Sri Lanka.
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