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Final Blog Posts

samw.37 — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 18:52:41 CST

Write a short but insightful essay on your blog of around 500 words (no more than 800 maximum). This is not just something off the top of your head. You need to demonstrate that you've read and thought about what other people have been writing on this subject by linking to what they've written (or said audiovisually). Use a lot of links to examples that you discuss. Use images and screenshots as appropriate (and legally).

Possible topics include (sign up for one by putting your name by it or create your own at the end of the list):

Wikipedia and Hong Kong politics - Greg
Hong Kong journalists who blogKaty
Facebook activism by Hong Kong people- Hang
Hong Kong InMedia and other citizen journalism sites - how their coverage compares with mainstream coverage Ivy Violet
Will the YouTube generation watch TV? Porgie
How is the Internet changing news photography? Rob
How does "social bookmarking" or "tagging" change the way people find and share information? What does it mean for journalism and what should news organizations do with it? Juho
How does RSS impact news on the web, and what will it mean for the future of online and mobile news? Tracy
How is podcasting changing the radio business? - Franzi
How have search engines impacted the news business?Jojo (Yang Na)
How has the Internet changed the business model of news companies and what does this mean for journalists and the future of journalism? PENNY.
Are news organizations utilizing mobile technology to gather and deliver the news as well as they could?Calvin
Blogging, journalism and credibility: many bloggers say their influence comes from a loss of public trust in professional journalists. Journalists say bloggers cant be trusted. What do you think? Denise, Katherine
Chinese journalist-bloggers like Rui Chenggang and Luqiu LuweiCarol Zhou Yan
Was "zola" the "nailhouse blogger" a kind of journalist? Sonja
Online communities in mainland China, such as TIANYA Maggie
Web 2.0 businesses compared to traditional news organizations Julia
Can bloggers and journalists work together in new ways?Sunny
Choose a news organization in Hong Kong, mainland China, or your home country. Take a look at their website. How would you improve it - both in terms of online storytelling and in terms of how they might engage the public better? Robin, Andy
If you wanted to start your own online news organization in your community, what would it focus on and how would you use the Internet to generate a public conversation about your journalism, or involve the public in your journalistic process? Anna
If you were going to start a one-person news service or blog about a specialized subject, what would it be about? How would you go about it? Do you think you might be able to support
Has the definition of "journalist" changed because of the Internet? Naomi
What is the difference between "citizen media" and "citizen journalist"?
How free is blogging in the U.S. and how does it compare to the freedom of traditional journalists? Leah
Citizen Media and how the Internet is impacting Journalism. Dayle
[your idea here] How do the politicians in Hong Kong use new media to gain political capital? Cherry
[another idea here] What are the difficulties that Hong Kong InMedia and other citizen journalism sites are facing? How could journalists overcome these difficulties? Momo
Do people really tell the truth about themselves/what they write in blogs? Or are blogs simply another platform for them to create positive images of themselves? (In short, are people "honest" when blogging?) --Alison
SNS and website value of Douban. Sudalina
Acess & development of Wikipedia in mainland China - Tia
Are social networking sites making us less social? - Samantha

Some useful readings on related subjects can be found via my delicious tags:
Blogging
Blogs & Journalism
Business
Cellphones
Citizen Journalism
Citizen Media
Creative Commons
Copyright
Facebook
Flickr
Journalism
Journalism 2.0
Mobile
Myspace
New Media
Newspapers
Photos
Podcasting
RSS
Search
Social Networking
Tagging
Technorati
The web, jounalism and credibility
Video
Web 2.0
Wikipedia
Youtube

Plus some other readings of interest:

Equipment sign-up

ivycheung — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 04:26:43 CST

(Please put your name and exact times you plan to sign out and return the equipment)

MP3 player #1 Chang Heng sign out on friday nov 30, return dec1
MP3 player #2 momo sign out on friday return on monday
MP3 player #3 Ivy Cheung sign out on Dec 3, return on 4 Dec
MP3 player #4
MP3 player #5
MP3 player #6
MP3 player #7
MP3 player #8
MP3 player #9
MP3 player#10

SUPER-LATE TEAM

cll918 — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 05:15:45 CST

Hi! I am Cherry. As we are going to work together in the super-late team, Let's exchange our email address and phone no. below.

Greg: greg_ahlstrand@yahoo.com 9817-9699
Cherry: email- arlei@hkusua.hku.hk phone no.- 61731536
Robert: email- R.L.Olsen@gmail.com phone no.- 95284475
Carol Zhou Yan -carol@eyepress.com phone no-62961887
Franzi: Email fproeber_85@yahoo.de, phone no. 93085794
Sonja: sonja.broy@web.de, phone no. 95301124

Where will we go?
I have phoned DAB, DP and Electoral Affairs Commission this morning (17 Nov, 2007). The officers of DAB and DP said they would not have special venues for delivering news aboutDC election. The officer of EAC said we could find the most updated information on their official website. As there may not have a place that we can get all information from different parties, do we need to highlight some important constituencies and go to specific counting stations? (asked by Cherry)

Sonja and Cherry - do you know what stories you're planning to get? Rebecca said that Frazi and I are supposed to get photos to support your stories. I'm assuming we need to find out where the counting stations are for the candidates you want to feature.

By the way, I just sent an email to Paul Zimmerman a Civic Party candidate from Wanchai District to ask him where he plans to be whilst he waits for the elections results. I'll pass along his reply as soon as I get it. (Rob)

The reply from Paul: "That would be middle of the nite. I'm with Anson Chan when she votes for me at 8am at Marimount (see ypmap.com for the address) and on Monday at 1.50 we have a press con at Civic Party HQ - see www.civicparty.hk for the address." (Rob)

Districts to cover
To all - I have just read Mingpao. It mentioned that the Hong Kong's Information Department has special arrangement in 11 districts to assist the work of media. The peak, Tai Po and Kung Long are three of the 11 districts as their competitions are fierce. For the reason of convenience of my own, I prefer to cover Kwun Lung district. How do you all think about that? (By Cherry)
To Cherry: also wan chai district?

Rob: Have you confirmed that you will follow Paul at that night? If so, maybe we can divide us into two teams, one to cover Kung Long district, another to cover Wanchai district. Is this idea ok or not? (By Cherry)

Sounds good. So we would be divided into two teams- Cherry to cover Kung Long with Franzi and Rob and me for Wan Chai, right? (sonja)

To Carol: at what time will you be in the lab? (sonja)
To Sonja: I will be online to coordinate with Greg and Rebecca at 7am as Rebecca suggested.If anything need me to help, I will be online until the results.

Good! Sonja - what time and where would you like to meet? (Rob)
To Rob: What about 1.15 am in front of the CP headquarter?
another question: What about the audio? Can we collect recorders in the Lab?
To Sonja: That should be fine. I just want to confirm that the Civic Party headquarters is Unit B, 16/F, Wing Hang Finance Centre, 60 Gloucester Road? I'll be the western guy wearing a tan colored jacket.-> alright! (sonja)
Also, I have a recorder if you need one and it still has my interview with Paul Zimmerman on it, in case that proves helpful. My slideshow with most of the interview is at: http://jmsc.hku.hk/hkstories/content/view/508/2791/

To Franzi: Can we contact each other at around at 12:00am? I know you live near Sassoon Road. Do you know how to get to Kwun Lung Lau? (By Cherry)
To Cherry: Hello Cherry, I am not quite sure how to get to Kwun Lung Lau. Do you know what bus is going there (from Sassoon Road or Queen Mary Hospital)? When do you want to meet and where? (Franzi)

Kwun Lung Counting Station (A0701)
Kennedy Town Community Complex (Multi-purpose Function Room) 2/F, 12 Rock Hill Street, Kennedy Town, Hong Kong

Carol:Guys, just a technical question, where would you like to upload your photo and audio on the field? Please name your pictures with" super late team( your name)".thanks

FROM REBECCA:
In order to avoid late night FTP struggles or problems when people's personal Inboxes refuse to accept large files, people can send stuff from the field to the following e-mail account: jmsc.newmedia@gmail.com
password: pokfulam2007

My mobile phone is 63348843 in the event of issues/problems/concerns. Call me any time. I am one of those people who can get back to sleep when woken up.

Please resize your photo and audio before emailing, and remember naming your mail"super late team(your name)",
To Greg: FYI, you can just email me your story text and let me know which photo and audio wanted, no worry about the technical problems. I 'll deal with them.thanks
(BY CAROL)
To Greg: I will send the text and audio to you. You can edit my draft work. (By Cherry)

From Greg
Here's the plan so far:
Greg will structure the story and edit the text. We may do one story or two, depending on what is filed.
Carol will handle formatting and uploading.
Rob's going out about 9:30 or 10 to shoot polling stations and quiz voters. He'll write extended captions so we can do a sort of exit-poll thing with his photos.
Rob and Sonja will cover the Civic Party press conference in Wanchai at 1:50 a.m.
Cherry and Franzi are covering the Kwun Lung Counting Station, based on the discussion above. What time is this? --> (Cherry and Franzi: We will meet at Kwun Lung Lau at 12:30am. We will probably do interview with the candidates and the officers of Electoral Affairs Commission. If the information is not enough, we will go to some headquarters of political parties to seek for useful information.)
Everyone should file to the gmail account that Rebecca provided (above).

Time schedule:
The preliminary results should be out around 2 a.m., finals by 4 a.m.
Do people think they can start filing by 3 a.m. latest? (We will try our best! by Cherry)
(again, my previous post was deleted): sorry, but i´m pretty sure that i can´t send material before 3.30am, because the press conference is at 2am and i don´t live in wan chai. sonja
I have to be at work at 7:30 a.m., so I can edit until 6:30 a.m.
Carol will upload.
I haven't spoken with Cherry or Franzi, but I don't want to call them now in case they're resting before hitting the field.

Feedback apreciated. I'll be checking this and I'm on cell at 9817-9699. Call anytime.
Thanks, Greg

Thanks Sonja and Cherry, 3:30 is great -->(I am not confident to finish writing before 3:30, by Cherry). Just need to file as easrly as possible so we can get a decent story in shape for posting by about 6. Thanks much!

Quick note on filing: Everybody in stories -- text, photos and audio files -- must be identified with first and last name unless they decline to be identified.

Another note on filing, and apologies if you already know this:
The text files need to filed in at least a rough story structure, describing what happened. I will handle rewrite, but I need the basics so I can tell the story. Again, apologies if I'm stating the obvious. I don't know the levels of reporting experience we have on the team.
Thanks again, Greg

To Cherry, Sonja
Don't worry, just file as soon as you can. I need to edit and send to Carol by 6 a.m. so Rebecca can look at it.

Cherry and I had to make some changes. Because she was late we missed the announcement of the results in Kwung Lung and had to find a different race to cover. We went to the University constituency race. Here you can find my pictures from the polling station in the St. Clare's Primary School. I will also send the pictures per Mail in case it might be more convenient for you.
Bests, Franzi

TO Rob:
i sended the first structure of my text to the jmsc-account. have a look- still waiting for the official results of all districts....

Hi Sonja,
I can see the audio files on the gmail account, but no text.
Greg-> sended it again! sonja

I have everything now. Looks good. i should have a story ready to send to Carol for uploading in an hour (about 6:30 a.m.). You guys did great out there. Thanks!

Thank you for your photo and audio
Carol

To Cherry: just wondering what happened to the audio you got and all the quotes? did you have technical problems? --> (You mean you cannot download the files? I have uploaded the audio again. Cherry)

Assignment Desk

RMacK — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 13:36:26 CST

PRE- ELECTION "ADVANCER" STORIES
NOTE: Dates listed are the deadlines for posting your finished story to the HK Stories site, saved as draft. RM will check, request final edits/changes, then publish once author(s) have made requested changes.

GROUP 1: Monday Nov. 12 (9am in all cases)
MJ 1A What & Why: Implications of the outcome - Dayle (published)
MJ 1B What & Why: History - Julia (published)
BJ 1A Resources: FAQ and Timeline - Juho (published)

GROUP 2: Tuesday Nov. 13
MJ 2A What & Why: Future - Sunny (published)
MJ 2B Voters: Voter concerns - Naomi and Sudalina (published)
BJ 2A Campaigns: "Pro-China" parties Sonja and Leah (published)
BJ 2B Campaigns: "Pro-democracy" parties - Katherine and Cherry (published)

GROUP 3: Weds. Nov. 14
MJ 3A. Campaigns: How candidates campaign - Violet and Tracy (published)
MJ 3B Voters: Voter motivations - Maggie (published)
BJ 4A Voters: Minority candidates and voters - Hang and Andy (published)
BJ 4B Issues: Government role: Samantha and Alison (published)

GROUP 4: Thurs. Nov. 15
MJ 4A Campaigns: "Young blood" phenomenon - Tia (published)
MJ 4B Campaigns: Portraits of candidates - Anna and Bob (published)
MJ 4C What & Why: Role of DC in community - Denise (published)
BJ 4A Races: Hot race: Central and Western District, Kwun Lung Lau - Porgie & Calvin (published)
BJ 4B Races: Hot race: Central and Western, The Peak - Robin and Momo (published)

GROUP 5: Friday Nov. 16
MJ 5A - Voters: DAB vs. Pan Democrats - Greg & Jojo (published)
MJ 5B - Issues: Heritage battle - Sydney (published)
MJ 5C - Issues: Media coverage - Carol (published)
BJ 5A Races: HKU community: University constituency race - Franzi & Katy (published)
BJ 5B Races: Hot race: Kowloon City, Whampoa East - Ivy (published)

ELECTION DAY COVERAGE TEAMS (Sunday Nov. 18):

See the Election Day page.

AFTERNOON TEAM

cal2king — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 08:45:25 CST

contacts

text/audio from the field
Calvin Cheng (Kwun Lung Lau constituency)
62781025
calcheng@hku.hk

EARLY TEAM

kabb79 — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 03:26:19 CST

Team members' contacts:

Hi everyone, I've already send you an email. I think it is time that we organise ourselfs for Sunday. Me (Julia) and Dayle will be in the Lab. I would like to know what kind of stories you want to do and what you think when you will deliver texts, images etc. Dayle and I can do some additional reasearch on sunday or make phonecalls. We should have in mind that we are supposed to post the first story around 1 pm. Hope to hear from you! Julia

Lab editing and posting:
Julia
mobile: 64064150
email: j.offen@web.de

Dayle

mobile: 6056-7615

email: dayle.prowse@email.de

Photos from the field:
Samantha
Mobile: 91302838
Email: samw_37@hotmail.com
MSN: same

Jojo
Mobile: 6674-9972
Email: Jojo.ynn@gmail.com
MSN: o4u83@hotmail.com

Text&Audio from the field:
Alison (me and Sam are going out together on Saturday)
Mobile: 61782235
Email: lamylim@hkusua.hku.hk
MSN: same

Katy Ballard (going out with JoJo to CWB Sunday morning)
email: kabb79@mizzou.edu
room phone (not mobile): 3152-6644
MSN: jewel92852@msn.com

Sudalina
Mobile: 63504431
Email: sudalina@hotmail.com
( I suggest we organize a meeting before Saturday in order to better coordinate.)

Random Brainstorming Ideas:
Poll stations:
1. getting ready to open: early morning pictures
2. talking to people running the poll stations: do they vote?; what is the voting process, who counts the ballots, how do they ensure there's no tampering?; do they expect this year to be any different?
3. talk to first voters: why they're voting?; do they always vote?; maybe their predictions? Try and get a human aspect

Party Headquarters:
1. are they even open this early on election day?

Mock polling booths (only available on Saturday)
1. do potential voters go in there?
2. is it useful?
3. are 4 mock stations too much?

Election day

RMacK — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:52:03 CST

Voting time: 7:30-10:30
Last time the results were announced around 2am.
Question we need to find out: When do candidates expect that they will have a good idea whether they won or lost? Will some people be declaring victory before midnight?

We have 32 students altogether from the MJ and BJ classes. We will likely divide into 5 teams:

EARLY TEAM: report on the start of the voting. Can also include coverage from the practice voting booth the day before. (We may consider whether this team should divide into two and also file a story on Saturday).

DM lab editorial (editing/rewriting people's English, asking questions about stuff that isn't clear, etc.): Dayle
DM lab posting, uploading formatting: Julia
Photos from the field: Samantha, Jojo
Text/audio from the field:Alison, Katy

AFTERNOON TEAM: report by late afternoon/early evening about how the voting has gone so far

DM lab editorial (actually, early evening 7-10pm): Penny
DM lab posting, uploading formatting:Tracy
Photos from the field: Porgie, Andy
Text/audio from the field: Tia, Maggie, Calvin

LATE TEAM: Close of polls at 10:30, how was the turnout, what are the early projections, is anybody already declaring victory. NOTE: The DM lab roles can potentially be done remotely as long as you remain on a live Skype chat newsroom the whole time.

editorial: Denise
uploading, formatting: Hang
Photos from the field: Anna, Violet
Text/audio from the field: Ivy, Leah

Super-late team: 2am election results announced, winners celebrate, report on reactions of winners and losers.
Editorial: Greg (get up early before work and help finalize people's reports)
Posting, uploading, formatting: Carol
Photos from the field: Franzi, Bob
Text/audio from the field: Sonja, Cherry

Day after team: follow-up stories posted on Monday laying out the implications of the results.
DM lab editorial: Naomi (POSSIBLE SWITCH TO SUNDAY TBA)
DM lab posting, uploading, formatting: Robin
Photos from the field: Katherine, Sunny
Text/audio from the field: Momo, Sudalina

DAY-AFTER TEAM

kathcolville — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 01:16:29 CST

Hi! Please email me so that we can try and organise some things for Monday - kathcolville@yahoo.com.au or you can call me on 6690 2798. Thanks! Kath.

Hot race: Kowloon City, Whampoa East

ivycheung — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 00:42:39 CST

Background information:
-Chan Ka Wai（Democratic Party） Vs Priscilla Leung（Associate Professor of the City University of Hong Kong)
-Chan has been the district councillor for 8 years and is seeking another term of office
- Priscilla is a pro-China person and is selling her professional image in the election

Text:
- Briefy introduce the candidates
- Review the change in these 4 years
- The ideas of 2 candidates
- Voters' opinion

Interview:
-2 candidates (I have dated Chan on 4 Nov)
- Voters (view of 2 candidates, vote on that day, major issues at the district)

Photo:
- Candidates photo at interviews
- Candidates photo when campaigning
- Voters photo at interview
- Candidates' poster, banners
- Candidates' office

Audio:
- Interviews of candidates
- Background when the candidate is campaigning

Video:
- The election campaign of the candidates
[Eg. when they are delivering leaflets to voters, when they are "washing floor" (if they allow me to follow them:)]

Useful sites:
- Blog of Chan Ka Wai
- Democratic Party
- 2003 DC Election

Pro-china parties

lrpgwc — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 00:08:37 CST

- a general overview: who are the partys, when were they founded, how many members/candidates do they have, how many people voted for them at the last DC-election? (short- info boxes or graphics)

-audiofiles: 5, a spokesperson or a candidate of every pro-beijing party; a very short interview about the DC-issues (concrete questions not clear yet, we will discuss them next week!) UPDATE: we changed our plans, because it´s impossible to get 5 soundfiles. instead of this, we´ll do an interview with roland soong from the eastsouthwestnorth-weblog about the DC elections and the pro-china parties

-pictures: One picture per person interviewed and a possible slideshow of issues that represent a view all the parties share.

-a static text about 500 words to analyze the election campaign and the chances of the pro-china parties/ with links to weblogs & newspapers etc. (surely the media will give some prognoses about the election result, we could give a summary) UPDATE: DAB and Democratic Party are fighting each other because of a "distortion" of remarks- i will pick-up this figth in a few words to make the text more "actively" and more interesting

The following is a Q & A I had via email with Kelvin Chan, Communication Officer for the Liberal Party. If you have any suggestion as to how we may integrate this into our Pro-China story, we'd really appreciate it.

1. What are the key issues of the liberals? What differentiates your party from the others?

Answer: Our key issues can be divided into two parts, livelihood and economic development. As for the perspective of the livelihood issue, the Party insists on promoting a society with care and compassion among different classes. As for the economic development front, to keep a thriving economy and uphold the prosperity of free market economy is our main aim. What actually makes our Party different from the others, however, is that “what we suggest is based on fact but not empty talk” and therefore, all of our suggestions can be achieved. You may find more information about our vision from http://www.liberal.org.hk/contents/, our official website.

2. What do you predict your chances are in this district council election?

Answer: Since there are more candidates running for district council election in comparison with that of 2003, we do hope that we can earn more support from the voters and go forward to another level.

3. Why do you think a pro-china orientation is the best for Hong Kong?

Answer: Along with the handover to China 10 years ago, the relationship between China and Hong Kong gets closer and closer. In fact, Hong Kong earns much support from the mainland. The SARS epidemic in 2003 was one of the examples showing how much support Hong Kong could get from mainland China when we are in need. We think nobody in HK can ignore the growing importance of the China factor and it is crucial for us to maintain a more prosperous future.

4. How many members/candidates are there currently in the Liberal Party?

Answer 4: There are 56 candidates taking part in the district council election and 17 of them are asking for renewing another term of office.

HKU community: University constituency race

Franzi — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 23:18:04 CST

Elements (Information):
Political Science Department

Do students have a big interest in politics
# Pol Sc. Students at HKU

Candidate Profiles (includes photo, party affiliate, bio)

Interviewees:
University Staff (can include professors, workers, faculty staff)

How important is this election?

Candidates:

WU Chor-nam
CHAN Chit-kwai (alias, Stephen) (Independent)
Lilian Yue Man-Tuen (Independent Democrat, C&W Democratic Power)

Photos and Audio:
Interviewees
Voter poll:

Graph
Most important issues?
Who’s voting for who

Campaign Events (action photos)
Slide Show w/ audio

Content (part of “advancer” material):

What issues are most important to the HKU community?

What are the most popular party affiliates on campus:

Professors
Students

What do the voters want

Do candidates listen to voter’s needs and does this impact what they support

Do the DC elections influence policy in Mainland?

Sources:
Blogs
HKU webpage
Talking to people

Timeline

Kusti — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:39:39 CST

Here's the link to the District Council Election website that gives details on when the election will happen and so on.

Election day
- 18th November 2007 (Sunday)
- Voting time: 7:30am - 10:30pm
- Results: ~2am (if same than last year)

Other major dates
- 25th September: Register of electors ready; total of 3,295,826 people can vote in DC elections
- 2nd October: Nomination period started: 2nd October
- 15th October: Nomination period ended: 15th October

FAQ

Kusti — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 10:03:17 CST

What are District Councils?

Wikipedia: The District Councils, known as District Boards before 1999, are the local councils for the eighteen districts in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China. They are consultative bodies on district administration and other affairs.

What is the role of District Councils in Hong Kong politics?

The term consultative bodies means that the District Councils dont have real legislative power. Instead they give advice to government on various things.

matters affecting the well-being of the people in the district
the provision and use of public facilities and services within the district
the adequacy and priorities of government programmes for the district
the use of public funds allocated to the district for local public works and community activities

Where funds are made available for the purpose, District Councils can also undertake:

environmental improvements within the district
the promotion of recreational and cultural activities within the district
community activities within the district.

The district councils also advise on the management of community halls, which should be in the best interest of the local residents. The district councils initiate, organise and sponsor community involvement projects and activities aimed at enhancing community spirit and social cohesion and promoting the well-being of people in the districts. These range from large-scale district festivals to the formation of local youth choirs and dance troupes. They have also achieved notable success in improving the local environment by undertaking minor environmental improvement projects such as the provision of rest gardens, rain shelters and amenity planting. In the 2003/04 financial year, $205.6 million has been allocated for the district councils.

What is the relationship between District Councils and Legislative Council?

The Legislative Council (LegCo) is the unicameral legislature of Hong Kong. It has 60 seats, 30 which are selected by functional constituencies. A functional constituencyis a professional or special interest group involved in the electoral process. One of these functional constituencies is District Council. At the moment moment mr. Lau Wong Fat is responsible of District Councils in LegCo.

How many District Councilors are there?

There are 534 member of whom 405 are elected members, 102 appointed members and 27 ex-officio members (Rural Committee Chairmen in the New Territories). So there are 405 seats available in the election. In this page there is a list of the districts and how many members belong to each district.

How many candidates are there in this years election?

There were 918 candidates in the list when the nomination period ended. 907 of them were considered valid on 25th November. 41 of these candidates were elected unopposed. So there are 866 candidates competing on the remaining 364 seats.

Who can vote in the election?

All Hong Kong permanent residents aged 18 or above who are ordinarily residing in Hong Kong are eligible to register as electors. A total of around 3.29 million registered electors whose names have been included in the 2007 Final Register of Electors for Geographical Constituencies may cast their vote in the election.

Only about 2.96 million registered electors in 364 constituencies received their poll cards though. The 336,874 electors in the uncontested constituencies will not have to vote. They will receive a notice of uncontested nomination and a leaflet introducing the elected candidate of their respective constituency.

What are the major issues in this years District Council election?

1) Local issues

Each district has their own issues. It is often stated that the District Councilors' most important mission is to take care of their own district's issues. That is the voters' main concern.

2) Issues concerning whole Hong Kong

There are some major issues that play a role in the election, like the question of universal suffrage or environmental issues like air pollution. These, however, seem to be not as important in the election as the local issues.

LATE TEAM

RMacK — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 04:28:33 CST

There is no abstract available for this page revision.

Government role

lamlinlin — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 04:10:52 CST

Who to be interviewed? (master list)

1. professors at HKU whose expertise is government elections? someone from the politics department? someone from the public administration department?

HKU (responsible by Sam)

Peter T.Y. Cheung (張贊賢) - was a Part-time Member and Research and Planning Director of the Central Policy Unit of the HKSAR

James T.H. Tang (鄧特抗) - worked on legco election related stuff before

Miron Mushkat - teaches government, economy and financial management w/ interest in public sector economics & finance

Irene L.K. Tong (湯歷姬) - wrote a book on Villagers' committees & Urban Community Councils (might know some DC-related info?)

Lam Wai Man (林蔚文) - interviewed 8th Nov morning

CU (responsible by Alison)

Mr. CHOY, Chi Keung 蔡子強 (Senior Instructor) - interest in electoral affairs [seems to be an expert too, he's always on TV!]

Prof. MA, Ngok 馬嶽 (Associate Professor) - research & interest in HK government & politics, parties & elections, etc --> interviewed 8th Nov afternoon, finished

Prof. WONG, Wilson Wai Ho 黃偉豪 (Associate Professor) - research/interest in public budgeting and financing

City U

Prof Anthony Cheung, Bing-leung - public budgeting and financial management teaching interest

Lingnan U

Li Pang Kwong - has done research in voting behavior & elections, hk politics, politics of budgeting, etc

2. district councilors (to let them comment on government's efforts)
- I've already interviewed Mr. Stephen Chan, district councilor of Central/Western District for previous assignment. He has criticized the government for not doing enough.

3. someone from the government/election committee responsible for election promotions?

Registration and Electoral Office

- Miss Connie Wong, Principal Information Officer, Media Relations Unit She deals with news and publicity activities. (her office tel no.: 28277637)
- Ms. Cindy Kong (Deputy Chief Electoral Officer) - tel: 2827 7139
Deals with adminstrative matters, financial management and provision of resources in the department.

4. politics experts/critics?

5. ordinary voters (whether they notice government efforts)

6. Others
- Mr. Yim Kai Ming (chairman of Hong Kong Institute of Marketing and an advertising expert). He has written articles analyzing the government advertisements of DC election before. Perhaps he can make comments about publicity work of the government in this year too? (I've already known him during a previous interview in my internship!)

Government Efforts (research):

government effort 1:

organizing a "DC Election Opening Ceremony" on September 2007 at Kowloon Park, Tsim Sha Tsui

the host: 政制及內地事務局局長林瑞麟
選舉管理委員會主席彭鍵基法官
民政事務總署署長陳甘美華

the election ambassadors: 黃耀明&容祖兒

view the whole opening ceremony via RTHK here

government effort 2:

produce some short promotional videos for broadcasting purposes, using celebrities such as DoDo Cheng.
Video 1 Video 2

government effort 3 (in the past):

host a photo-taking competition with the theme of DC Election in 1999. View press release here.

government effort 4:
set up a DC election website (also had one in 2003 and in 1999)

government effort 5:
radio announcements:
nomination period, 2007 dc election 1, 2007 dc election 2

government effort 6:
posters, banners etc.
hanging on streets, pedestrian bridges, even posted on taxis.
(recently, I notice a VERY big billboard concerning the legco by-election appears in Victoria Park - may be some contrast is possible?)

government effort 7:
set up a Electoral Information Centre in Wanchai, which is something like a election museum with displays and exhibitions about elections. There is even a mock ballot station inside!

government budgets on DC can be read here under the session "estimates".

Other Ideas:

- compare past DC elections' promotion efforts w/ this year's
- discuss the use of celebrities/idols in election promotion

- we should bear in mind that the Election Committee is promoting 2 things - the first is to encourage people to register as voters, the second is the actual election. Without the first promotion the second can't be successful.

Interview Questions (for Academics):
- do you think the government's promotional efforts are sufficient this year?
- how do they compare with previous years?
- what efforts should be continued and what improvements can be made?
- are there fewer promotional efforts in areas with fewer seats (e.g. outlying islands)?
- is there enough promotion to non-voters so that they can register and vote for the DC elections?
- is there enough promotion to voters so that they are aware of the elections?
- who play the most important role in incresing DC awareness - the govt, media or the candidates themselves?
- can you comment can the use of celebrities (like Joey Yung, Do Do Cheng) in DC promotions?
- are there any gov't policies that help promote the DC elections (e.g. financial policy saying that a certain amount of money must be put aside for promoting the DC elections)?

-- are the policies useful?

Questionaire Draft (for ordinary citizens):
- do you think the governments promotional efforts are sufficient? if not, how can that be improved?
- how did you become aware of the DC elections this year?

potential options for respondents to tick:
- family/friends
- gov. ad on radio
- gov. ad on TV
- gov. ad on some mode of transportation (e.g. banners on bus, taxi)
- DC website
- another gov. website
- from district councilors/candidates' campaigns/pamphlets
- others

- do you know where the ballot station in your district is? is it convenient for you?

Our Contacts:

Alison Lam
Email: lamylim@hkusua.hku.hk
MSN: lamylim@hkusua.hku.hk

Samantha Wong (Sam)
Email: samw@hku.hk
MSN: samw_37@hotmail.com

Central Western District - The Peak

momo_jessica — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 09:14:15 CST

Elements:
- Liberal Party has been holding the constituency for years; Mark Lin is seeking another term of office
- high profile challenger Tanya Chan from Civic Party
- Liberal Party chairman James Tien publicly citicized MTR Crop CEO Chow Chung-kong for his nomination of Tanya Chan, but then took back the statement and apologized days after
- it can be a barometer for the popularity of political party among upper class people in Hong Kong

Interviews:
i) voters

1. Which candidate will you support?
2.Is political background a consideration?
3.What do you expect from the District Council?

ii) Independent candidate: Louis Leung

iii) political commentators

Photos:
Candidates in campaigning activities
Voters
Interviewees
places that are relevant to the election (mentioned in candidates' policy agenda, voting station etc.)

Audio:
From interviews with
i) voters
ii) candidates
iii) political commentators

Online and real-life sources useful for background information:
Mark Lin's Blog
Tanya Chan's Blog
Louis Leung personal website
Liberal Party website
Civic Party Website
The Central and Western District Council Website

Advancer Story:
Introduction including the background - why is it a contoversial race? / what are the important issues in the district?
background of candidates and their policy agenda
quotes from interviews
how their campaign has been going
opinion from voters / other people
perhaps there will be some prediction?

"Pro-democracy" parties

cll918 — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 21:04:34 CST

I) Project Outline:

1) Introduction of "pro-democracy" parties: Who they are, when and how they were established, what their political visions are, how their performance in 2003 DC Election is... (Links, graphic, pictures, info table and static text:100 words)

2) The information of "pro-democracy" parties in running for 2007 DC Election: How many candidates of "pro-democracy" run for the election, how their candidates are distributed over the 19 districts, Where their sphere of influence is, Which candidates are significant to focus on... (Links, graphic, pictures, info table and static text:100 words)

3) The strategies of "pro-democracy" parties:

a) Report on the "pan-democracy" conference on 9th Nov: The speeches in the conference, interview some of the candidates for their view of 2007 DC Election. (Picture with action, audio and text: 200 words)
b) Interview with Lo Wing Lok who is in charge of the coordination within the parties (Picture with action, audio and text: 200 words)
Questions:
1. What are the strategies of "pro-democracy" parties in the DC election?
2. What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of "pro-democracy" parties?
3. How did each party in pro-democracy camp communicate, coordinate and cooperate with other parties?
4. Are their any conflict between different parties in the camp?
5. People may have a impression of "pro-democracy" parties which always act against the central government. What do you think about that? Will it affects voter's choice?
6. What is the role and function of EC and why is it important for political parties?
7. How are the political view of "pro-democracy" parties implemented in a local sense?
8. Which one do you prefer, to promote economic prosperous or social equality, though they may not be mutually excluded. But what "pro-democracy" parties focus more?
9. Are this similar or different with "pro-China" parties?
10. Did Beijing give pressures to the DC?
11. HK government said it will give more resources and power to DC, what is your view?
c) Interview with some scholars in the social, public administration and politics theme. We will ask them on their view of the strategies used by the "pro-democracy" parties, the role and function of DC, why is it important for political parties to succeed in DC as a case in HK. (Picture with action, audio and text: 150 words)
Suggested interviewees:
1) Dr. YEUNG Sum (Assistant Professor in Department of Social Work and Social Administration of the University of Hong Kong)
2)Eliza W. Y. LEE (Associate Professor in Department of Politics and Public Administration of The University of Hong Kong)

4) Public opinions or critics on the "pro-democracy" parties in running for EC election. The prediction of the DC election result. The source of information of this part will be mainly come from news organization and bogs. (Text: 100)

II) Schedule

5 Nov 2007	Katherine is going to take photos and do audio recording related to our project
6 Nov 2007	Interview with Lo Wing Lok at 3:00pm in Sheung Wan
9 Nov 2007	Attend the "pan-democracy" conference at 8:00pm in Tsim Sha Tsui
13 Nov 2007	Project Deadline
To be confirmed	Interview with a scholar

Portraits of DC Candidates

robertolsen — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 05:04:42 CST

Page for Anna and Bob to coordinate.
Rob will interview Paul Zimmerman of the Civic Party running in the Stubbs Road constituency.

Hi Rob, I will post the names of my interviewees as they confirm their availability, as long as they have different backgrounds we should be fine.
I'm not sure if we are supposed to use the same format, in anycase I have posted mine on my blog. (Anna)

Alrighty, the other candidate I'm hoping to contact is Siu Ka Yi from the DAB. This way I will have covered two different candidates from opposite ends of the political spectrum. (Rob)

I managed to get a nice collection of photos and an audio recording of Mr Zimmerman by following him around like a paparazzo at two different events. I'm in the process of tracking down my other interviewee now. (Rob)

BJ Story list

robinpang — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:57:56 CDT

1. Key facts and information: FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions, how the election works, etc.) & Timeline (what happens when in the election process?) Google map of constituencies.(x2)

2. "Pro-Democracy" parties (x2) - Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood - Civic Party - Democratic Party - Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions - League of Social Democrats - Neighbourhood and Workers Service Centre - The Frontier

3. "Pro-Beijing" parties (x2) - The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong - Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions - Federation of Hong Kong and Kowloon Labour Unions - Liberal Party - The Alliance

4. Other parties and groups (x2) including 7.1 People Pile - Citizens Party - Civic Act-Up - New Century Forum - Southern Democratic Alliance - April Fifth Action and other groups or associations fielding candidates.

(2-4 group project: create pie chart showing the percentage of candidates belonging ot each party.)

5. Central/Western University constituency race (x2) - in-depth report on the candidates, issues, and voter concerns in HKU's constituency.

Most competitive races (Via Ivy):
6. (x2) Central and Western District, Kwun Lung Lau: Ip Kowk Him (DAB) Vs Loy Ho Vs Leung Kim Kam
7. (x2) Central and Western, The Peak: Mark Lin (Liberal Party) Vs Tanya Chan (Civil Party) Vs Louis Leung (Independent)
8. (x2) Kolwoon City, Whampoa East: Chan Ka Wai（Democratic Party） Vs Priscilla Leung（Associate Professor of the City University of Hong Kong）
9. (x2) Sha Tin, Fo Tan: Richard Tsoi (HKCTU) Vs Scarlett Pong Vs Wong Mei Ngan

Story Ideas

ivycheung — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 01:29:27 CDT

TOPICS:
(Note from RM on 10/21: I have reorganized your ideas under different headings. From now on when you add things please add them under the appropriate heading.)

WHO IS RUNNING FOR DISTRICT COUNCIL?

- The trend of younger candidates. Their youth is their strength. What can they offer that older candidates cannot? If the majority of voters are middle-aged to eldery citizens, how do they expect gain the voters approval? Should the citizens support the younger candidates to help the community build a stronger breed of politicians with fresh perspectives?

- what about the "young blood", running for the elections? the nomination period is going to start, so in two weeks we will have the names of the candidates. what are the ideas of the youngest candidates, running for the different parties?

- The District Council members can elect the Legislative Council member among themselves in the future, it may attract junior members of political parties to show off and pave their political road in Legislative Council. More on this: a new trend showing that more young candidates/junior members of political parties are participating in the District Council Election this year. The youngest candidate is only 21 years old, just fulfil the minimum required age for a candidate. What does this imply? Is this trend good to society?

- Keeping an eye on Charming (富榮), Yau Tsim Mong District: LegCo member James To Kun-Sun suddenly withdrew from the DC elections. What will the impact of his withdrawal be?

- Something interesting to note is that heritage conservationist, Ho Loy, is now officially a DC candidate for the Kwun Long constituency of the Central and Western District. She might be someone interesting to keep an eye out on.
-I think it would be interesting to interview Ho Loy regarding her conservation views as the lack of shared community space in HK is a real problem. For an island that is so well known for its sky-scrapers and business, one must not forget that people have to live within this urban metropolis and access to community space contributes to a healthy mind and body.

-80 more DC election nominations received. Eighty more nominations were received for the 2007 District Council election by Returning Officers of the 18 districts on Oct 3rd. This brings to 389 the total number of nominations since the nomination period started October 2. It will close October 15. One elected member for each of the 405 constituencies in the 18 districts will be returned in the November 18 polls. More details here.

- A quick look at some funny stories of last year's election, see how candidates competing to attract voter's eyes. Follow are some from the printed Singtao District Newspaper( Island District), we could try to find other similar stories.

- Some candidates dressed as ghost to break the tradition.
- A female candidate in Sai Kung in order to get more votes from women, show how she lost 11 pounds due to hard work for the social work.

- Many parties will nominate "new politicians" to run the coming DC elections. Will it be easy for them to win? Is it related to the increasing number of regristered voters?

-Candidates and Councilors Since there will be 405 seats for District Councilor election this year. How much percentage will be the new blood for each DC?

Portrait of a District Councillor

To make the work of the District Councils more transparent we should write a portrait/human interest story about a District Counicllor. What is his motivation to do the work? What has he activily done for his district (beside joining the DC meetings)? Which projects does he care for? What does he think about universal suffrage in 2012?

Qualification of candidates

Both the DAB and the Democratic Party are promoting "political elitism" in the upcoming elections. For example, 88 of DAB's 177 candidates are university graduates. However, does holding a university degree necessarily means doing a better job? Is there any relationship between qualification and work performance?

Experiences of candidates
Some candidates might have been living in a particular district for decades, and some are totally green to the job. How will their own understanding and interpretation of the districts needs affect the nature of their work?
- experiences is somehow important in performing the work in a district. Candidates must be very familiar with the district they work with so as to help and serve the community well. Many young candidates participated in the election this year. They may be very devoted to contribute to this community, however, how familiar they are to their district? Some of them have only worked in that particular district for a few months. Are they qualified to fulfil their duties as a District Councilor?

- Ex-movie star vs Dragon boat captain. In Southern District, the two candidates that squared off during the last election have been hard at work laying the groundwork for their respective campaigns again this year, but the question is: what have they actually done to benefit the people in the district? One of the candidates has been making a rather dubious claim that she was somehow responsible for the reduction in public housing rental rates.

-The whole issue of candidates’ gender and it’s effects in District Council election might be worth investigating. Are the man and woman candidates taking different roles and running for different things? Is woman’s role in Hong Kong politics different from man’s? Do Hongkongers like softer woman candidates better than edgy ones? More about this here.

- An investigative story where local residents are surveyed about the types of issues they would like dealt with at a local level. These issues could then be taken to the council candidates and we could ask them how they might realistically deal with these issues.

HOW THE ELECTION WORKS

-Compare the difference of the "automatic elected" candidates to the "normal candidates".

-The number "automatic elected"candidates has decreased from 74 to 41 this year. Why? Is it related to the appearance of new parties? Will the advantages of DAB decrease or not?

-All the 18 District Councils will be suspended from October 2 to December 31 to facilitate the holding of the third general elections in the district boards. How could the district management ensure the social stability and society inline?

-Ballots: New DC ballots will include names, numbers, and photographs of candidates. Will such visual imagery sway elector votes? Examples are candidates on the ballot who may be judged for looking too young or aren't "good-looking" enough.

- How do the voters make decision? Some reports showed that voters are looking for someone who can help them in local affairs, instead of some big issues (universal suffrage, government policy) in DC elections. Is it true?

-Money: Will the $3000 rise in maximum election expenses make a difference in swaying elector votes? What candidates have made the most of this increase

Election Expenses-the maximum amount of election expenses is $48,000. Is it enough for printing of posters and fly sheets? Or some candidates just spend little money on campaigning? How do they deal with election expenses?

-600 million financial support from Gov The DC will receive 600 million financial support from HK government this year, told by Central and Western District Councilor Chen Caixi. So based on what requirement do they distribute the sum to 18 districts? How much can each district get? Since it is confirmed that big organization backers are not allowed to financially support DC, so can DC satisfy people’s need with government’s money? Is it clear for people to know how much money they spend to work for local citizens? In which way?

-The potencial crisis caused by District Council Elections, just like financial corruption,unreasonable scheme, etc. If the elections cost unnecessary money from the taxpayers, who on earth is beneficial from the election.

- Is Hong Kong society apathetic towards politics in general and more specifically the district council elections? Do they feel there's no point in bothering? Or are they really are very involved and politically forward people - who's voice is simply not being heard or being ignored? To what extent does Beijing hold an influence over the democracy of Hong Kong and it's day to day running?
- Compare and contrast with the last district council elections and see if number of voters has increased or decreased? What has changed in this time and what conclusion can we draw from that? As of right now, we know that the first day of the 2007 nomination period brought in 309 nominations, compared to 380 in 2003. Is there something we can draw from this?

- Some voters confuse with the boundary of constituency in DC election. Is it the goverment's fault? Or it is the voters' responaibility?

WHAT DO THE DISTRICT COUNCILS REALLY DO?

- According to a rececent Ming Pao article, there has been an increasing trend of having full time District Councillors elected to serve the districts. Does being full time mean the residents are better represented? Or simply because a full time District Councillors gain an advantage of "being there" for the citizens most of the time, or are there other reasons?

In the run up to the District Council Elections, we could take one/each district independently and look at what the district council has achieved in the last 4 years of service. Then, move on to assess whether indeed therefore it is successful or superfluous. We could also do a survey with residents to assess whether or not issues they had concerning their district were tackled/dealt with and whether or not any real improvement had been felt.

-Balance of Double Duty. Many DC members are also Legislative councilors, and for more time they act rather with titles in Legco and parties. Then, what have they done to show voters they were also performing as DC? How can they balance their double duty?

- District councilors are asked to be more creative in their work in the community. While some district are doing minimal work (e.g. asking poor families to apply for Comprehensive Social Security when more can be done), there are others that are getting down and doing the dirty work like the Sham Shui Po district. What would be interesting to see is how exhaustive dc's use their resources. Are they really here to help? Are they spending more time on their campaign and winning votes instead of brainstorming ways to better the livelihood of their communities?
DC's signed a pledge to promote "Seven livelihood concerns" when elected in 2003. since then, have these seven concerns be dealt with? are they improving? are the solutions DC's offer the community "creative" enough?
reference article: "Be imaginative, councillors urged" (SCMP)

- Is the Government planning to interfere social agendum through strengthen the control in District Council?

- The Government enlarges the power of District Council by allowing them to allocate and mange the facilities, is it the implication of the increasing attention paid by the Government on District Council?

- How much influence does the district council have on policies affecting the community? What is being proposed by the districts in this election? What was promised previously and were the goals ever reached?
How effective are the district councils in making the communities a better place to live in? (does this tie in with public disinterest?)
- According to this idea:
an analyzing story, with one district as an example.
What were the worries of the citizens in the last 10 years? So did the DC politicans a good job and helped the local people? Was there a changeover of power after a DC election? If yes, did policy appreciable change?
It would be important for the story to talk to older inhabitants of the district- and of course the opinion of former DC politicans would be interesting. Are they satisfied with their work? Is there anything, they would remake?

Background-Story: Who does a district council function?

I think we need a story that explains how a District Council functions. The majority of Hong Kong people have no idea how the councillors are elected, how much power they have, how the procedures for decisions look like. The story should be a background one, with graphs, numbers and tables so that the reader can quickly and easily understand the structure of the district council.

Inter-district Cooperation
If large projects are to stretch between different districts, how will the processes go about? What if the district councilors are from different political affiliations? How will matters iron out between the both sides? This story can build on the background story on how does the district council function.

-In the past years, many district councils were involved in scandals such as corruption. So, is there anyway to prevent such things happen again?And how can people rebuilt trust with their servents?

- changes to the DC election system - new seats
- how much power does DC's really have
- do voters care about district council elections?

PARTY POLITICS
-Comparison of compaign plstform between political parties

- The consultation on government's green paper on political reforms ends on Oct 10. Some may think the universal suffrage issue will help the pan-democrats in winning more seats in the DC election, but will this factor work? Do people vote for them in response to the "green paper consultation"?

- After the 500,000 people demostration in 2003, that arouses the public demand for democracy, that resulted in a good quantity of seats obtained by the Democratic Party that year, however, without such incident this year, can the DP still gain the same amount of seats in the District Council Election?

- The District Councils were established to advise the government on district affairs and such, but why is it important now that voters know the political party from which the candidate came? Should we not put greater emphasis on their qualifications to serve the community? Are the elections and council becoming too involved in politics? How involved should district councilors be in politics?

- Apart from the new blood joining the usual political parties running for the DC election, in November, there will be groups like Mongkok Vegetable Wholesale Merchants Association, Hong Kong Miniature Football Association, Hong Kong Dragon Boat Association and the Hong Kong Flower Retailers Association, registered with the Electoral Affairs Commission running for the seats, does that mean there is much social concern from the public? or the usual political parties are doing not good enough in district affairs?

- Members of think tank, such as Savantas Policy Institute, will run the coming DC election and their target is the voters who are civil servants. Will it encourage candidates who run the election through non-traditional political party, like think tank?

- For the Democrats:
Is Hong Kong well-prepared for 2012 universal suffrage, while the Chinese government is so resistant to universal suffrage?
There are doubts that the democrats are too unrealistic or they just want to use this as a slogan to gain more vote.

- For the DABs:
They say they are more realistic so they fight for the 2016 universal suffrage. Does this mean that they will not participate in any campaign that support the 2012 universal suffrage? Or they just want to throw out a slogan that could differentiate them from their opponents?

Inside the major parties
- DAB (young DAB)
- The Democratic Party
- Civic Party
- Liberal Party
- The Frontier

- DC elections as test for party strength: DAB, Democrats, Civic Party etc.
- DC elections as test on universal suffrage?

- Are the two major parties in the election really striving for the sake of Hong Kong people?

- The hottest political topic now in Hong Kong is the universal suffrage.
Both the Democrats and DAB promised to try their best to reach this goal. In the district council election, the democracts use "2012 Universal suffrage" to draw more attention and vote. Meanwlie, the DABs use "2016 Universal suffrage" to fight back, saying that they are more realistic.

- Cooperation in the Democratic Camp: Despite negotiations, in 7 districts there will still be more than 1 democratic candidate competing against each other. What will the result be? Will the DAB or Liberal Party benefit from this?

- using the DC elections to encourage new political talent in HK:
here are some detailed questions or confrontations for the story:

What are the advantages for the young political talents in HK to go up the ladder toward higher position in the government comparing with other ways to enter the government?
With the increase of youth power in the district council, will the political culture in HK change accordingly? What influece will it exert on HK?

- As a newcomer, is it better to join the District Council or just a political party to be a well prepared/well regarded future Hong Kong politician? However, is it a MUST for the new blood to join the political parties in order to win the DC election?
If YES, then people are voting for the political party or voting for the CANDIDATES?

- Anson Chan on Saturday said District Councils need to be given "a real job of work" to do before they can be taken seriously. By dismissing the councils, do democrats risk losing a huge chunk of their potential support base to the DAB?

- will there be more support for parties supporting universal suffrage?
- what will Anson Chan's impact be on the DC elections? will her running for the legislative council by-election influence more voters to vote for pan-democratic district councilors?

-Financial significance of DC elections for political parties

- "Weaker" candidates in smaller parties: Are they happy with this cooperation?

- Does the outcome of the District Council Election depend on the candidates/ political party's campaigns run before? How was it in previous years? Who are the helpers that help running the campaigns? Students, volunteers, ideologists, etc.?

ECONOMIC AND LABOR ISSUES
- According to The Standard a discussion about minimum wage has started. People were protesting at several fast food restaurants at Tsim Sha Tsui yesterday. Minimum wage could also become a topic at the DC elections. How would this discussion affect the outcome of the election?

- according to a HKU POP survey of the district council elections for 1008 persons (interviewed by telephone), 54% said that livelihood issues should be the first problem to be tackled. How will candidates take this into account on top of the 25% who said that district problems should be attended to first? Who will monitor the district councillors when they are elected, to ensure that things are done for the majority? What if the things they promise during the elections fails to materialise? How will that affect the reputation of the candidate should he contest for the seat again?

- Every current event could have an affect on what is going to become relevant for the campaigns. Changing taxi drivers fares could become an issue for example - whether taxi drivers should still be allowed to offer a private service on lower rates or not ("taxi discount gangs").
Next to covering the on going discussions, it might also be interesting to do a general story about how much current events affect the election. Are current affairs more important than timeless topics, or long-term issues? How was it in previous years?

-A "back up" plan has been proposed incase minimum wage doesn't happen in Hong Kong which implements a statutory minimum wage for security guards and cleansing workers. Why only these two categories?

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

- What initiatives can District Councillors implement with regard to conserving the environment, how can each district make a difference at a local level with regard to recycling, air quality, water conservation?

- Recent news article on 9 October from the South China Morning Post shows a finding that the pollution levels in Guangzhou has decreased dramatically over the past few years as compared to a mild increase for Hong Kong's side. Are the individual districts doing enough to educate the people about roadside pollution? Will building projects affect airflow, and in a way making pollutants even more difficult to disperse? Are the district councillors doing enough and cooperative on this matter in order to have a more profound impact to influence policies and decisions pertaining to environmental issues?

-The Air Pollution Index reached the highest it has been this year on Saturday, October 6 partially because of Typhoon Krosa from Taiwan, thus making it an even hotter issue. What other issues might Typhoon Krosa have directly or indirectly raised in the upcoming District Council elections?

HERITAGE & DEVELOPMENT
-Are residents in districts getting the space they need? According to this site, some aren't. How does this affect who gets elected?

- Although there are not much controversial issues in Tuen Mun District, there are still some local social, environmental and transportation issues that the candidates should think about. For examples, the housing development in Tuen Mun Area 18, heritage in Tuen Mun, the recommendation of the expansion of Tuen Mun cross boundary ferry service, the improvement of West Rail and Light Rail Services…ect.

- The Urban Renewal Authority has been considering allowing residents to initiate redevelopment plans to minimise tensions. If this really works out, how will it affect the responsibilities of the district councilors?

- Starting from January 2008, district councilors will receive training to help them get involved in community and minor public works. Is this step helpful in enhancing district councilors' responsibilities?

- An issue at a district level: Can local councillors implement policies regarding apartment building appearance and maintenance in order to improve the amenity of local districts? Would apartment organizations such as body corporates work in Hong Kong?
- Pet projects and propaganda. After perusing some of the meeting agendas, it appears the district's budget is treated as just a money grab. The words most often seen are: "Application for DC Funds... ". I'm having trouble finding items related to making any significant improvements in the community. Perhaps the lack of media attention at this level of government has allowed some bad habits to settle in.

- From a local point of view, urban renewal and preservation of antiquities will also be a controversial issue, particularly in Central Western District where many of the local people are concerned about the policy of Urban Renewal Authourity. Many district councilors like Kam Nai Wai and Ada Wong have been fighting for long alongside with the local residents. Both topics may generate some interesting debates during the council election.

- Key issue:air pollution, cultural heritage & development, reforms on medical system and facilities

MEDIA COVERAGE:
- story of the story: Is the spirit of political apathy being perpetuated by Hong Kong news media in the case of the DC elections? the reasons behind the scene of very little in-depth coverage on the DC elections.

- Why the local media doesn't cover district council elections very much
- DC election vs. Legco by-election

- some efforts have been done to increase the publicity of the district council elections, like inviting pop singers (Joey Yung, Hins Cheung, EO 2) to attend the opening ceremony. Do you think celebrities should participate in publicity work of district council elections? Do you think this choice is effective and approrpriate? How else can we promotes the awareness of district council elections?
-----------------

Online election
-- Nowadays the internet has played an important role in political election. In US there is a Youtube version of presidential debate. In Poland, the youth are making online cartoon to promote election. So how about HK politicians?What do they think about the online for their election?

stylistic devise: a "round- table discussion", where
politicans and journalists can have a moderatet debate about their opinions

A lighter side to the District Council Elections – could Batman become an election issue! The Standard had a story concerning the Wanchai and Central District Councils. It reported on Friday 21 September: “workers and residents in Central and Western should be prepared for chaos when Batman arrives in Hong Kong in November.” The next Batman Begins sequel called The Dark Knight will be filmed in various Hong Kong locations including Central Mid-Levels escalators and parts of Queens Road Central. As a result Hong Kong residents can expect roads and other areas to be closed during filming. It raises the issue whether a district council should allow its electorate to be greatly inconvenienced by road and area closures, etc, and how much permit money will be paid by the film makers and who will it go to and how will it spent. How much will the District Councils have to spend on crowd control during the filming? Will the District Councils be paying the electricity bill for power needed to light night time film sets? Will the process between District Council and film maker be transparent? On a lighter news side, it’s possible that some enterprising voters could dress up as Batman to draw attention to particular issues. If that’s the case, then it will make for a good picture story and add some “colour” to the election coverage.

- The question of prostitution: is it a relevant issue in the upcoming election, especially in the Wan Chai district. Might be a longshot since not much information can be found though. More about this here.

- one week after the DC election: did most people realize, what was going on? a short survey in central or wan chai, with some voices and pictures about the result of the election. in addition some "light" facts: how much money was spend for posters and flyers...

- The clash between east and west, Hong Kong as a gate between China and the western world. One more specific approach might be to investigate the Hong Kong dollar that is now binded to USD. What if they abandon the peg and bind it to RMB? Maybe too global an issue again to concern district councelors though. Anyway, more info here.