WRITING CULTURE 2012: Film, Food & Beyond

THE CAUCUS BLOG

The Caucus Blog is all about the latest politics and government news. Every day, bloggers post, update, and inform their readers. As a blog, it is not necessary for the text to be just fact and news. At times, bloggers would voice their own opinions and perspective on these events in their post, and it is very clear that the bloggers are mostly pro-Obama.

Last week, the Caucus Blog was consumed with posts about the events from the Democratic National Convention. Bloggers discussed about the convention speakers’ speeches (e.g- Michelle Obama, Bill Clinton, Elizabeth Warren, Mitt Romney, and Barack Obama), the issues Obama would address if he became president, the issues Romney would address, the candidate who would receive the Latino’s vote, the relocation of Obama’s convention speech and other election matters.

As a news consumer, I found the blog to be interesting and informative, however very one-sided. I would preferred it if the New York Times would do a little more coverage on Romney. Browsing through the blog posts, I noticed that there was an vast amount of posts about Obama. They provided so much information and background on Obama that I think the same courtesy should be extended to Romney as well.

MULTIMEDIA COVERAGE

Politics and I have a rocky relationship. I prefer to work “hands-on” rather than reading, writing, and listening. When it comes to politics, I have yet to find a way to motivate myself to understand politics “hands-on”. However with the multimedia round-up, there is still hope.

The New York Times did a phenomenal job in creating a more efficient and lively way to read and follow the news. What interested me the most was how they deconstructed the candidates’ speeches at the DNC allowing the readers to follow and comprehend them at their own pace. The deconstruction went as far as to showing the candidates’ speech via text and topic order. The New York Times even incorporated tools such as slideshows, videos, and social networks to make the experience more enjoyable. Connecting with social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook, gives readers the chance to comment and voice their opinions and views. But my favorite tool of them all, the solution to my “hands-on” politics problem are the interactive features. I find them easy to use, fun to play with, and very helpful.