VasGk | Κοινωνικό Νερό

YouTube videos from the ‘08 presidential candidates can be distinguished in 5 categories: 1. Uploads of TV ads 2. Candidate appearances on TV shows 3. YouTube exclusive messages and videos 4. Viral videos of the candidates and their supporters 5. Political Infomercials Some latest Hillary videos have a distinct characteristic, they look like infomercials! I believe it is a rather sad outcome of lost creativity. The web gives the opportunity to create great looking viral videos with hand held cameras, while exploring editing opportunities previously not used in political campaigns. The Hillary Clinton campaign has created a series of videos of people talking about “The Hillary I know”. I don’t want to judge the messages presented, but I must say that they look made up, given the studio like production quality. YouTube gives the opportunity to candidates to look real; Hillary Clinton is trying to rebrand herself with old style infomercials. Video utilisatio...

The Internet engages people to look into how a voting procedure works and change their stance towards active participation. Let’s compare three YouTube videos in order to understand how candidates communicate the need to caucus with the citizens of Iowa . The YouTube videos make the procedure look real and cool; they explain the procedure as a user’s guide on how to caucus, while promoting the candidate at the same time. The YouTube Iowa Caucus Videos: Describe the caucus procedure, Make clear who can take part in one Clarify how does it work, and Justify why it is important to do all this for a candidate and the country. Will someone be enticed to caucus for a candidate depending on a caucus video? On the other hand, do these videos create awareness without follow through? It would be excellent to be able to measure the impact of these videos with caucus turnout numbers, and truncate the data with the final results.

I want to say a big thank you to everybody that came to my book launch last Thursday. My deepest regards to my close friends who supported me throughout the drafting of my 1st book. The Dictionary of Corruption presents 270 words and expressions that are commonly used by citizens talking about political and business life issues. Corrupt politicians, corrupt businesses, most of all, corrupt citizens. The words people use indicate deep and inherit characteristics, and at the same time, represent the lack of progressiveness in our society and sometimes economic backwardness. Corruption is a social characteristic. It is neither good nor bad; it is a social phenomenon, and needs to be handled as such in order to be eradicated form political, business and everyday life.

Βασίλειος Γκινόπουλος «Το λεξικό του Ρουσφετιού και της Κομπίνας» Εκδόσεις Παπαζήση Η κοινωνική ανοχή στη διαπλοκή και την διαφθορά, φέρνει στο προσκήνιο λέξεις και φράσεις με νοήματα που είναι είτε λυπηρά, είτε αστεία. Οι χρόνιες παθογένειες του κρατικού και επιχειρηματικού μας συστήματος καταλήγουν σε ρουσφέτια και κομπίνες. Η Λερναία Ύδρα του λεξικού του Ρουσφετιού και της Κομπίνας έχει 270 λέξεις και εκφράσεις που χαρακτηρίζουν έναν ιδιαίτερο τρόπο σκέψης και επικοινωνίας στη Ελλάδα. Καθημερινώς ακούμε, διαβάζουμε και χρησιμοποιούμε λέξεις και εκφράσεις που προσδιορίζουν ένα χαρακτηριστικό του σημερινού Νεοέλληνα. Την ανάγκη του να ¨κάνει την καλή¨, να βρει μια ¨επιδότηση¨ και να τα ¨αρπάξει¨. Το βιβλίο αυτό αποκαλύπτει και παρουσιάζει. Αναδεικνύει ένα μέρος της σύγχρονης Ελλάδας, μίας χώρας που συχνά παρομοιάζεται με άλλες χώρες, υποσαχάριας Αφρικής… Το λεξικό του Ρουσφετιού και της Κομπίνας, με εύθυμο και συνάμα γλαφυρό τρόπο αναδεικνύει και παρουσιάζει ένα μέρος της σύγχρονης...

It seems to me that the upcoming 2008 US election has not only started early this time around, but it has been feeding the news with commentary about current issues, whilst criticizing President George W. Bush. Candidates take the role of the opposition while trying to differentiate between themselves. There is no gains in attacking the President, especially from the democratic candidates; by doing so they do not differentiate from one-another, they just repeat common values while having a safe opposition strategy. Hillary Clinton is attacking the President without differentiating from the rest of the bunch, while Edwards and Obama are talking about current affairs. The democratic candidates need to understand that their opponents right now are in their own party, there is plenty of time to attack the President, and the republican candidate, once there is a final Democratic candidate. Hillary's move not to differentiate from the others is setting her aside to be targeted. Obam...