Twitter Contest Challenges the World to Define Democracy
Author: Jane MorsePosted on: Feb 4th 2010
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More than 1,400 contestants give personal definitions to “Democracy is….”
Can you define democracy in just 140 characters?
More than 1,400 people worldwide took up that challenge in a unique contest sponsored by the U.S. Department of State using Twitter. They were required to tweet their personal definitions of what democracy is using the hash symbol: #democracyis.
The tweet with the most re-tweets was submitted by @zuola from China and said, “民主就是独立的个体和独立的组织在文明社会中使用除暴力外的透明手段争取利益最大化的过程中逐渐完善的游戏规则.” (“Democracy is a set of game rules that, in their gradual process toward perfection, independent individuals and organizations in a civil society seek to maximize their interests by using transparent and nonviolent means.”) The award is a Flip Video HD Camcorder.
Lasting just two weeks, the “Democracy is…” Twitter Contest generated personal definitions of democracy in eight languages from more than 30 countries representing all regions of the world. A similar contest is planned for the future.
The global contest expands on the international conversation on democracy initiated by the Democracy Video Challenge contest. Both contests seek to encourage young people around the world to use new media to break down cultural and geographic borders and share their thoughts about issues of global importance. To date, the Democracy Video Challenge maintains an active online community of more than 30,000 friends, fans and followers.
The Democracy Video Challenge is made possible by a public-private partnership that includes: the Center for International Private Enterprise, the International Republican Institute, the International Youth Foundation, the Motion Picture Association of America, NBC Universal, the Recording Industry Association of America, the National Democratic Institute, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, TakingITGlobal, the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Communication & Journalism, the U.S. Department of State and YouTube.
The U.S. government has strongly supported the use of new media for the free exchange of ideas.
Explore more on this topic in Internet Freedom: Free Expression in the Digital Age.
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