The Election That Has the Whole World Blogging
By Jose Antonio Vargas
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Martin Perez lives in Parañaque, a suburb of Manila, an ocean and a few time zones from the United States. But when he gets up at 5 a.m. to get ready for work, the high school teacher goes online to read the latest news in the U.S. presidential race, study poll numbers, watch YouTube videos -- and blog about the McCain-Obama showdown.
"It's official. This US Election matters to me more than it should," Perez wrote shortly after the first presidential debate. His two-year-old blog, Ako Mismo, or "I, Myself" in Tagalog, is written mostly in English, with some Tagalog mixed in. In a phone interview, the 25-year-old says following the White House race has been "like a religion."
The Web is flat, especially when it comes to this marathon campaign. Every twist and turn, every new character, not only unfolds stateside in real time, endlessly commented on by the blogosphere, but also keeps the rest of the world on its collective mouse, with bloggers from countries as disparate as the Philippines, South Africa and Brazil glued to the historic race.
Differing time zones aren't considered barriers on the Web, where different languages can be easily translated on Google. Sure, many foreigners have paid attention to America's presidential elections through newspapers and television in the past. But the continued mainstreaming of the Internet, online experts say, has given non-Americans access to more information than ever before -- and, through blogging, an interactive platform to express their views. David Sifry, founder of the search engine Technorati, says: "As the tools have gotten simpler and easier to use, there's been an absolute explosion in the number of bloggers outside of the U.S., and one of the subjects they blog about is politics."
(More here.)
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Martin Perez lives in Parañaque, a suburb of Manila, an ocean and a few time zones from the United States. But when he gets up at 5 a.m. to get ready for work, the high school teacher goes online to read the latest news in the U.S. presidential race, study poll numbers, watch YouTube videos -- and blog about the McCain-Obama showdown.
"It's official. This US Election matters to me more than it should," Perez wrote shortly after the first presidential debate. His two-year-old blog, Ako Mismo, or "I, Myself" in Tagalog, is written mostly in English, with some Tagalog mixed in. In a phone interview, the 25-year-old says following the White House race has been "like a religion."
The Web is flat, especially when it comes to this marathon campaign. Every twist and turn, every new character, not only unfolds stateside in real time, endlessly commented on by the blogosphere, but also keeps the rest of the world on its collective mouse, with bloggers from countries as disparate as the Philippines, South Africa and Brazil glued to the historic race.
Differing time zones aren't considered barriers on the Web, where different languages can be easily translated on Google. Sure, many foreigners have paid attention to America's presidential elections through newspapers and television in the past. But the continued mainstreaming of the Internet, online experts say, has given non-Americans access to more information than ever before -- and, through blogging, an interactive platform to express their views. David Sifry, founder of the search engine Technorati, says: "As the tools have gotten simpler and easier to use, there's been an absolute explosion in the number of bloggers outside of the U.S., and one of the subjects they blog about is politics."
(More here.)
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