Comments on: Politics and social media in Taiwan http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2009/10/politics-and-social-media-in-taiwan/ commentary on all things Taiwanese — Taiwan Tue, 13 Dec 2011 17:43:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: SociaLNK – We link and listen to your customers » Blog Archive » Taiwanese social politics http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2009/10/politics-and-social-media-in-taiwan/comment-page-1/#comment-85239 SociaLNK – We link and listen to your customers » Blog Archive » Taiwanese social politics Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:29:18 +0000 http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/?p=5434#comment-85239 [...] few days back on the rise of Facebook in Taiwan. With local elections coming up it seems that local politicians are climbing on the social media bandwagon. A quick look at the opposition party websites (the DPP) [...] [...] few days back on the rise of Facebook in Taiwan. With local elections coming up it seems that local politicians are climbing on the social media bandwagon. A quick look at the opposition party websites (the DPP) [...]

]]> By: David Reid http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2009/10/politics-and-social-media-in-taiwan/comment-page-1/#comment-85224 David Reid Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:37:14 +0000 http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/?p=5434#comment-85224 Jason, Thanks for your comment. I am sure Twitter will become more popular once it launches a Chinese-language version. Although Taiwan does seem to embrace web platforms that are not popular elsewhere. Jason, Thanks for your comment. I am sure Twitter will become more popular once it launches a Chinese-language version. Although Taiwan does seem to embrace web platforms that are not popular elsewhere.

]]> By: Jason Lin http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2009/10/politics-and-social-media-in-taiwan/comment-page-1/#comment-85222 Jason Lin Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:12:45 +0000 http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/?p=5434#comment-85222 I wish Twitter is more popular in Taiwan. Personally I don't like the interface of Plurk but I know lots of Taiwanese are using it. David, great stuff on your posts for Taiwan. There should be more foreigners like you introducing Taiwan. I rss your blog post feeds to our website. I wish Twitter is more popular in Taiwan. Personally I don’t like the interface of Plurk but I know lots of Taiwanese are using it.

David, great stuff on your posts for Taiwan. There should be more foreigners like you introducing Taiwan.

I rss your blog post feeds to our website.

]]> By: David Reid http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2009/10/politics-and-social-media-in-taiwan/comment-page-1/#comment-85220 David Reid Sun, 08 Nov 2009 12:49:53 +0000 http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/?p=5434#comment-85220 There is lots of Taiwanese political activity online. One of the main sites for it is PTT which uses the old BBS system. As for a new force emerging in Taiwan politics beyond the DPP and KMT I don't think this will happen for a while. Minor parties and social movements struggle to have their voices heard. Competing in and winning elections is even more difficult. There is lots of Taiwanese political activity online. One of the main sites for it is PTT which uses the old BBS system. As for a new force emerging in Taiwan politics beyond the DPP and KMT I don’t think this will happen for a while. Minor parties and social movements struggle to have their voices heard. Competing in and winning elections is even more difficult.

]]> By: Ed http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2009/10/politics-and-social-media-in-taiwan/comment-page-1/#comment-85219 Ed Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:59:23 +0000 http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/?p=5434#comment-85219 Interesting post David! I only read blogs in English about Taiwanese politics so nothing out of the ordinary ever appears. My wife isn't that much into politics (she studied art, I studied business and political science) so she doesn't stay up to date. Are there any exciting Taiwanese youth politics movements online? I mean the KMT and DPP aren't really that exciting prospects to vote for. Old Chinese vs old Taiwanese, both sides just in it for the money. Interesting post David! I only read blogs in English about Taiwanese politics so nothing out of the ordinary ever appears. My wife isn’t that much into politics (she studied art, I studied business and political science) so she doesn’t stay up to date. Are there any exciting Taiwanese youth politics movements online? I mean the KMT and DPP aren’t really that exciting prospects to vote for. Old Chinese vs old Taiwanese, both sides just in it for the money.

]]> By: David Reid http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2009/10/politics-and-social-media-in-taiwan/comment-page-1/#comment-85215 David Reid Fri, 30 Oct 2009 09:17:28 +0000 http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/?p=5434#comment-85215 PassingBy, thanks for your interesting comment. You are right about the problems with the lack of web design standards in Taiwan and poor organisation of information. With regard to PTS I am sure there are ways they could improve availability and access to their programs. One problem is that they are often hesitant to make the programs available because they hope to make money off them via DVD sales or selling the rights overseas. I might add PTS do have a number of YouTube channels and their evening news is uploaded soon after broadcast. The ABC in Australia has iView which makes all its programs available via streaming. However, it is only accessible from within Australia and programs are only made available for a limited time. PassingBy, thanks for your interesting comment. You are right about the problems with the lack of web design standards in Taiwan and poor organisation of information.

With regard to PTS I am sure there are ways they could improve availability and access to their programs. One problem is that they are often hesitant to make the programs available because they hope to make money off them via DVD sales or selling the rights overseas. I might add PTS do have a number of YouTube channels and their evening news is uploaded soon after broadcast.

The ABC in Australia has iView which makes all its programs available via streaming. However, it is only accessible from within Australia and programs are only made available for a limited time.

]]> By: PassingBy http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/2009/10/politics-and-social-media-in-taiwan/comment-page-1/#comment-85214 PassingBy Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:55:47 +0000 http://blog.taiwan-guide.org/?p=5434#comment-85214 To be fair, the <i>official</i> DPP website for a few years was really stuck in circa 2003 with no updates in design though occasionally the content was updated. And during the Frank Hsieh-Ma Ying-jeou presidential election, even though the Greens were sort of self-organizing and doing some interesting things online, it was Ma that had a lot of the creative media talent on his side. The 30-50 set, including those working in the media industry, were clearly in the Ma camp, although the KMT compensated them very, very well also. They were even hiring college students to blog for them. While the vocal hypersocials and otakus on the web in Taiwan have always been pro-Green (being progressive and technologically sophisticated seem to go hand-in-hand), there has been a visible <i>mainstream</i> internet shift towards the Greens as well. It's absolutely overwhelming, and very visible on PTT. But instead of merely using the Internet to get elected, the DPP should really take up the issues of information transparency and truly well-designed, convenient, standards-compliant Internet-enabled e-government. E-government to the Taiwanese government in the past means simply dumping very legalistic documents online in an IE-only compatible website with overly cutesy Flash animations all over the place. Oh and number one and two links are an organizational chart and a message from the head of the department. Give me a break; the organizational chart I could see as marginally useful if it included descriptions of responsibilities or jurisdiction (but they never do) and the message of course is useless for 99.9% of people using the website. Making some random documents available online is not enough. It needs to be properly structured (tags with dates, locations) and released in a standard way that is easy to parse. You shouldn't have to login and there should be a clean-looking, permanent weblink for all pages. They need to plan for CMSs that get updated regularly and notify people when there's something wrong. You can't have this idea that a website is an undesirable expenditure that happens every 4 years and that information only gets updated along with the the website redesign. Check out the weather bureau's website for example. Even after Morakot, it's still a big mess. PTS every day is producing so much good material, but where's the archive with the the tags and the descriptions to let me search for episodes on things I want. Why can't I easily watch news episodes from say three years ago. That's my taxpayer money funding that; you're not going to tell me the government is going to try to make royalties from that are you? Efficient government that really knows how to use the Internet could be an <i>economic</i> issue that the DPP could really use to get a leg up on the KMT. To be fair, the official DPP website for a few years was really stuck in circa 2003 with no updates in design though occasionally the content was updated. And during the Frank Hsieh-Ma Ying-jeou presidential election, even though the Greens were sort of self-organizing and doing some interesting things online, it was Ma that had a lot of the creative media talent on his side. The 30-50 set, including those working in the media industry, were clearly in the Ma camp, although the KMT compensated them very, very well also. They were even hiring college students to blog for them.

While the vocal hypersocials and otakus on the web in Taiwan have always been pro-Green (being progressive and technologically sophisticated seem to go hand-in-hand), there has been a visible mainstream internet shift towards the Greens as well. It’s absolutely overwhelming, and very visible on PTT.

But instead of merely using the Internet to get elected, the DPP should really take up the issues of information transparency and truly well-designed, convenient, standards-compliant Internet-enabled e-government. E-government to the Taiwanese government in the past means simply dumping very legalistic documents online in an IE-only compatible website with overly cutesy Flash animations all over the place. Oh and number one and two links are an organizational chart and a message from the head of the department. Give me a break; the organizational chart I could see as marginally useful if it included descriptions of responsibilities or jurisdiction (but they never do) and the message of course is useless for 99.9% of people using the website.

Making some random documents available online is not enough. It needs to be properly structured (tags with dates, locations) and released in a standard way that is easy to parse. You shouldn’t have to login and there should be a clean-looking, permanent weblink for all pages. They need to plan for CMSs that get updated regularly and notify people when there’s something wrong. You can’t have this idea that a website is an undesirable expenditure that happens every 4 years and that information only gets updated along with the the website redesign.

Check out the weather bureau’s website for example. Even after Morakot, it’s still a big mess. PTS every day is producing so much good material, but where’s the archive with the the tags and the descriptions to let me search for episodes on things I want. Why can’t I easily watch news episodes from say three years ago. That’s my taxpayer money funding that; you’re not going to tell me the government is going to try to make royalties from that are you?

Efficient government that really knows how to use the Internet could be an economic issue that the DPP could really use to get a leg up on the KMT.

]]>