4iP Blog

A couple of weeks ago we held a lively debate in Birmingham looking at the impact of the web on politics. With an ‘expert political panel’ that included Councillor Paul Tilsley, Deputy Leader of Birmingham City Council, Emily Benn (who was standing in for her grandfather, Tony Benn, who was unfortunately unable to make it due to ill health), PPC for East Worthing and Shoreham and Charlie Elphicke, PPC for Dover and Deal, as well as some West Midlands-based campaigners and bloggers talking about some of the exciting work digital media is enabling them to do in the region, the event explored how those in (or seeking) power are now being held to account by citizens using new digital tools.

The panel responded to presentations from Tony Walley and Mike Rawlins from the Pits’n'Pots blog in Stoke, Nick Booth from Help Me Investigate and the Social Media Surgeries, and Audrey Miller, a campaigner for the Jubilee Debt Campaign,  In addition to some heated debate on the cost of Birmingham City Council’s website, the evening explored the local, national and international potential for digital media, the relationship between amateur blogs and traditional local newspapers,  questions of access and inclusion, and whether a modern MP can afford to ignore digital media. 

If you didn’t manage to come along on the night or follow the twitter stream at #recasting, we filmed the whole event so you can catch up online here.  You can also read a summary of the night and some of the questions it raised at Charlie Beckett’s blog, who chaired the evening.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the evening and please join us for the next event in the series, which will be taking place in Glasgow in November. If you would like any more information in the meantime, please contact us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)