PLENARY SESSION - SOCIAL MEDIA AND POLITICS
of the United Kingdom presented the conference with an ongoing example of how to use the social media effectively. Explaining that his Branch and his Region were supporting the addition to the Commonwealth Games of events for the disabled along the lines of the Paralympics which had recently been staged very highly successfully in London, he said he and others had Tweeted the idea and were getting a huge positive response very quickly. This generated support for the idea and demonstrated that the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference was active and involved. Tanzanian MP Hon. Zitto Kabwe
presented other examples, explaining that Members had used the social media to generate support for changes to the copyright laws to protect authors’ rights. Members could also use the social
media to mobilize support for censure motions against Ministers. Mr John Hargreaves, MLA,
of the Australian Capital Territory suggested cabinet meetings could be conducted on Twitter for a set period to enable Ministers to respond to the public. However, he also warned that governments can seek to block information by using their control over the relay infrastructure.
Information overload A Member from the Isle of Man, Hon. Steve Rodan, SHK, voiced concerns about the effect of technology on the work of Members. How do Members
manage the communications expectations of constituents who look for instant responses rather than considered responsible answers? The quantity of information has expanded, but has the quality of information suffered? Baroness Gardner of Parkes
said that as a Member of the United Kingdom Parliament’s upper House she had little help to deal with the flood of information. A Member who answered everything he or she received would have no time to do anything else. She added that communications
advances made possible many changes to work practices which did not contribute to healthy living, including moving children away from exercise. Prof. Unwin suggested developing
strategies on the use of technology such as making full use of automated responses which are becoming more sophisticated. Mr Hiebert said his automated
email response asks senders to send him their name and postal address if they want an answer. He only answers by mail. He also advised Members to set up group pages on Facebook so no responses were required. He added that these sites should
be monitored so inappropriate comments could be removed quickly.
Stopping misinformation Mr Rodan was among several speakers who questioned how
Members can differentiate between good and unreliable information and how they avoid having their communications systems swamped by material from pressure groups or other interests. Hon. Request Muntanga,
MP, of Zambia also sought ways of separating true information from misleading material, asking how the electronic publication of misinformation can be stopped. Processes to stop or minimize
the publication of false or misleading information was also sought by Hon. Lebohang Ntsinyi, MP, of Lesotho. She suggested that guidelines or good practices for the successful handling of electronic information could be developed. Dr the Hon. A. Chakrapani, MLC,
of Andhra Pradesh agreed that social media and other electronic sources can pose serious problems when they publish unreliable information. He asked how they could be controlled. Raising a different type of problem
produced by the new technologies, Hon. Christine Bako Abia, MP, of Uganda reported that students writing examinations had begun using some of the shorthand abbreviations developed in text messaging.
A careful response Shri Kurien said governments are examining the issue of how – and whether – to try to control what is published on the internet. Mr Hiebert warned that attempts to regulate content or enforce
codes of conduct would have to be considered very carefully. He recommended
publicae.net as a safe internet resource designed for politicians which published content on which they could rely. Prof. Unwin, however, pointed
to an unintended benefit from the publication of both reliable information and misinformation: learning to separate good information from bad is a valuable ability to teach young people. He and Mr Hiebert agreed
that social media are still relatively recent phenomena and unintended consequences are still being identified. For example, Prof. Unwin pointed to concerns in China that the rapidly growing use of mobile phones is leading to a decline in the ability of students to write Chinese characters. He added, however, that advances in technology could soon provide electronic alternatives to the ability to read and write. Mr Hiebert added that the social
media have effectively opened a huge experimental area whose effects are still developing. This should not, however, be an excuse for Parliamentarians to avoid participating in this emerging form of communications. Shri Kurian also told Members
that while the social media is not universally available, it is still more accessible to the poor than other media are, and that it holds great potential to improve the lives of poor people in the future.
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