Monday, December 1, 2014

Social Media and Elections - Who should seek answers?

A decision was recently made regarding complaints about the use of Social Media on Election Day in Nanaimo.

Someone looked into it and said there was "Compliance" - there was no harm and therefore no foul.

A couple of tweets and Facebook cover change -  big deal    or   BIG DEAL.

The answer is important - feelings, reputation & democracy is involved.

The question speaks to a very real change in Society and what we have come to regard as "reasonable" behaviour.   Is Social Media just a small new part of the real world or is it a whole new world where the need for new rules and new limits on behavior are just now being realized.

I know a little bit about computers - I worked for IBM after my UBC Commerce-Marketing degree - That first year of training was an intense blend of Systems Engineering and Business Administration.

A computer is in its simplest form a bunch of connections- silicon, wires, circuits and switches.  Think of a light switch at your door. That is a simple computer.  In one position it means function- the ability to see and do things, the other position it means money and energy saving.  Add millions and billions of light switches and you get a modern computer with amazing power to change lives,  remedy social ills, land cameras on comets and find a name, a number or any other bit of information faster and more accurately than ever before.

So does the recent Elections BC decision mean its over?  I understand that they have nothing to do with determining any consequence of actions only to guide compliance, only to try - to do the best they can to help people do the right thing - whatever it is "the right thing" may be.

Does the decision mean the new rules about Social Media on Election Day were or are now well understood or applied and enforced properly and fairly?

Does the decision mean that everyone, especially those Candidates and Council members involved actually understand them, even now?

Mistakes were made - that much I know.  I don't know what exactly those mistakes were.  I don't understand whether the error was "What was done", "How it was done" or simply "When it was done" or maybe even a combination of those and other factors.

I have learned nothing from this mistake other than doing nothing saved me.

Was it really that simple?

Who should be the one to look at this in detail and give a reasonable explanation?

Who should seek to guide the community on difficult sensitive issues?