This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: August 25, 2008 - Welcome to the Democratic National Convention in Denver!
Ok, so you probably aren't there -- neither am I.
But with the Internet's ever-expanding number politically active bloggers, you don't have to look far for coverage that will make you feel like you're on the DNC convention floor. Here's a look at some alternative ways of finding out what's happening in Denver.
The Convention Itself
First we cover the convention organization itself. According to the convention's Web site, it offers high-definition video streaming both live and on-demand -- in both English and en español. You may need to download some plug-ins for it to work. The site also hosts its own official blog.
Of special interest is the Big Tent. The Big Tent is a spot designed for bloggers and reporters to hang out, keep tabs on what everyone else is doing at the convention, and generally have a good time while staying connected. They also have a list of participating blogs.
Next, there's Twitter. Twitter is a service that lets users post short messages to a wide audience; many people use their mobile phones to update, providing live looks from anywhere. For a longer introduction to Twitter, watch this video.
There are a number of sources for convention coverage on Twitter, but rather than jump from place to place, allow me to introduce you to the hashtag. A hashtag, so called because it begins with the # sign (I guess "octothorpetag" was out of the question), is a way of tagging a "tweet" so others can find it. These things spring up almost organically when many users are talking about the same thing.
Two main hashtags for the convention are #dnc08 and #bigtent. A couple others are #momocrats and #stlpolitics. To see all recent updates using these tags, check out this Twitter search. The #dnc08 and #bigtent tags are general tags that many people are using. The #stlpolitics tag was set up by the Post-Dispatch. The #momocrats tag is being used by a group of bloggers, including one from St. Louis.
Local Blogs/sites
Which leads us to blogging or alternative news coverage. The convention site says 120 bloggers have been credentialed to cover the convention. Several Missouri and St. Louis area people are in Denver.
Momocrats, which I've mentioned, is a group of women who are Democrats. Many of them are at the convention, and they are blogging about their experiences. Some recent entries include DOs and DONTs of the convention, talking with attendees young and old, and reports from the various caucuses each is attending. The St. Louis connection is Jaelithe, one of the Momocrats posting from Denver, who also runs her own blog and is a member of the St. Louis Bloggers Guild.
The Beacon has two convention delegates passing along blog posts. Akeam Ashford is originally from University City and is a junior at Missouri State Uniersity. He is an elected delegate from Springfield for Hillary Clinton. Amanda Montee is an at-large delegate pledged to Barack Obama. She is from St. Joseph and attends the University of Kansas. You can find both of our bloggers' posts here.
Antonio French at PubDef is on the way to Denver, and will be blogging and Twittering from the convention.
Kacie Starr Triplett, a pledged Obama delegate and a St. Louis City alderwoman, is blogging for The St. Louis American.
Finally, the Post-Dispatch's Political Fix blog is covering both convention news and the lighter side of Denver, as well as posting videos to a YouTube channel.
