One web site that I found which enables Buffalo residents to blog about politics is BuffaloPundit. The web site is affiliated with WNYmedia.net. According to their website, the Western New York Media Network is an online micro news outlet which enables regional, political and cultural progress. They do this by providing the people of Western New York with a platform that enables them to advocate for causes they believe in, entertain readers with fun and viral content, inform people about news, events and organizations that are shaping the region in which they live, opinionate on the news and issues of the day, and to unite people with a common cause.

This web site is a great example of how the Internet enables communication between different people that normally probably would not have contact with each other. By broadening communication capabilities, more ideas and knowledge are shared, more relationships are created and more people can benefit from others experiences. I liked the way Brandis Griffin put it, “Weblogs, or blogs, began as online personal journals but have evolved to include editorials and information from journalists and political analysts. Readers and other bloggers can make comments on the posted topic or start a new "thread" of discussion.”

With the 2008 presidential election right around the corner, a very hot topic in the world of blogging is politics. Here is the information for the blog I chose.

Blog’s Title: Be the Change/We are the Change

Blog’s URL: http://wearethechange.wordpress.com/what-is-this-all-about/

Blogger’s Name: Diana

Blogger’s Occupation: Community Organizer at a progressive political and social organization called Citizen Action of NY

Blog’s Date of Birth: The first entry I found was on September 27^th

I tried looking up the website on technorati but didn’t really get any results back, but I’m not sure that I was doing it correctly.

I enjoyed Diana’s blog very much. She is an avid Obama supporter who organized Obama campaign activities as a volunteer in Buffalo. Her blog includes lots of links to other websites with more information about the topics she is discussing, as well as YouTube clips. She seems to be very down to earth and a bit of a comedian. She makes sarcastic remarks about McCain’s camp claiming that the NY Times is not a legitimate news source but how they fully endorse Fox News.

In 2004, Daniel W. Drezner and Henry Farrell conducted a study to try and find out how blogs were effecting politics. Their main question was, “why do blogs sometimes have real political consequences, given the relatively low number of blog readers in the overall population?”(Drezner and Farrell 22). What they found, was that “blogs may frame political debates and create focal points for the media as a whole. Because certain opinion makers within the media take blogs seriously, they can have a much wider impact on politics” (Drezner and Farrell 22).

Daniel W. Drezner and Henry Farrel July 2004
http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~farrell/blogpaperfinal.pdf October 22nd 2008

Brandis Griffin November 2006
http://www.oread.ku.edu/2006/november/20/blogs.shtml October 22nd 2008

Diana
http://wearethechange.wordpress.com/ October 22nd 2008