April 29, 2005
BBC Innovates With Interactive Election Coverage
With UK polling day arriving next Thursday, wired voters are searching in droves for the best election news and information. Lucky for them, online media has never been so comprehensive; and in the case of the BBC, so interactive.
The BBC is keeping good on its promise to deliver 'the first truly interactive election coverage’ offering an imaginative and absorbing section, according to a review by Journalism.co.uk. An animated Peter Snow hosts a raft of interactive tools including a quiz, seat calculator, and poll tracker - while the real Peter Snow provides video instructions on how to use the interactive swingometer.
Here you can also share your own views on dozens of important issues through the site's Have Your Say online debates. Blogs are likewise playing a larger role on the website this year, offering first-hand reports from around the country, as well as the best of the newspapers, web, and e-mails.
Much of the BBC online coverage is available via email, RSS feeds, and mobile/PDA’s.
BBC Election 05
Complete UK Election Coverage
More:
A Guide To Election Information Online
The Battle For The Best Election Coverage
Posted by Buzz Webster at 05:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 28, 2005
Congress – From Web Forms To Worse
Contributing Editor Eve Fox just passed on some alerting news we should all be concerned with:
For some time, most members of Congress have refused to accept email messages directly, requiring their constituents to fill out ‘web forms’, instead, in an attempt to both cut down on the volume of online communications they receive and to code them by issue area to make sorting and tallying the comments easier for staffers. Up to now, advocacy groups have gotten around this by using software with the ability to bypass these web forms, collecting the user info they need to automatically fill in the required fields, keeping the user’s experience quick and painless.
But recently, activists have begun receiving messages from several Senators’ offices (at least five that we know of) informing them that their comments will be ignored because they came through a third party web site. It’s not that they can’t receive the messages, it’s just that they refuse to acknowledge them once they’ve received them, citing unprompted letters and unsolicited spam as their rationale.
This situation raises some interesting questions:
- How can we work with Congress to improve communication?
- Is email a dead medium for this purpose?
- Does this new development mean faxing will become the new email? And if so, how long before faxes become totally obsolete?
- Is the “hit Reply to take action” option offered by most advocacy software packages really a curse in disguise? This feature, originally designed to make taking action online even easier is likely the cause of many of the “unprompted letters” from constituents who hit reply, accidentally taking action without meaning to or being aware that they have done so.
- How can we improve the quality of mass communications to Congress? Does the advocacy community as a whole need to come up with standards for these communications? Ideas include: always using constituent matching so that only a member’s constituents are contacting him or her, targeting your messages to include only decision-makers who have a stake in the issue you’re working on (no more ccing all of Congress!), making editing a message and subject line a requirement instead of an option, collecting names and comments via email and delivering them via a printed petition, etc.
- Does the advocacy community also need to stop relying so heavily on email? Phone calls, faxes, in person visits, printed letters, etc., usually carry more weight though they tend to lack the same volume of participation.
- Do software vendors need to change the way they deliver these messages to allow for easier tabulation and sorting on the Hill end of things?
- Should email campaigns be considered more of a simple “voting “ model, rather than asking people to write long letters?
- Is there a need for a massive education effort aimed at the Hill? Members are chronically understaffed and dealing with millions of emails (many of them form letters) is surely a thankless and time-consuming task, yet it is quite literally their job to accept comments from their constituents so to say point blank that they’re ignoring your letter seems a little brazen and out of touch with reality.
Resources
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Congressional Management Foundation
Open Government Data Exchange
Eve is Senior Consultant & Deputy Directory of eCampaigns at M&R Strategy Services.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 05:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Trips - Everyone's Taking Them
Chuck Muth pointed out this morning that everyone's doing the sponsored trip thing these days. "Amid questions about House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's privately funded trips, PoliticalMoneyLine has completed a study that shows members have taken $16 million worth of free trips during the last five years." -- Columnist Jon Ralston, Flash, 4/26/05 [EDITOR'S NOTE: Check out your own member's whirlwind travel exploits by going to FECinfo.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 05:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
BetPoll Forcasts UK Election
BetPoll is a new service reporting betting prices as forecasts. Visit www.betpoll.com each day to see our forecasts of the key outcomes in the UK General Election. Some of our forecasts at midday on April 27th:
• Overall (Labour) majority: 87
• Turnout: 64 per cent
• Labour seats: 363
• Conservative seats: 194
• Liberal Democrat seats: 65
Enquiries: press@betpoll.com
Posted by Buzz Webster at 05:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 27, 2005
Youth Policy Action Center
You may remember last year Capitol Advantage celebrated its 18th birthday by announcing a Youth Award program for non-profits involving young people in advocacy
-- well, they've been working with several of the winning groups for a few months as they've come together in a really great way and then grown to over 30 groups working together.
Washington, D.C. — April 18, 2005 — More than 30 of the country’s leading national advocacy organizations have launched an unprecedented partnership to raise awareness and generate support for children and youth policies through political activism.
Visit the Youth Policy Action Center Web site: http://www.youthpolicyactioncenter.org.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 06:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Webby Award Nominees
Have you seen the 2005 webby award nominees for activism, government and politics?
Activism
IFAW
http://www.ifaw.org
The Great Divide Website
http://www.retrovsmetro.org
The Migration Information Source
http://www.migrationinformation.org
Voices of Civil Rights
http://www.voicesofcivilrights.org
World Citizen's Guide
http://www.worldcitizenguide.com/
Government
Connexions Direct Website
http://www.connexions-direct.com
National Cancer Institute Web site
http://www.cancer.gov
Scottish Parliament
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk
The Cool Spot
http://www.thecoolspot.gov
United States Mint H.I.P. Pocket Change Web site
http://www.usmint.gov/kids
Politics
Center for Responsive Politics
http://www.opensecrets.org
KQED: You Decide
http://www.kqed.org/youdecide
Mother Jones
http://www.motherjones.com
Public Agenda Online
http://www.publicagenda.org
Weapons of Misdirection
http://www.weaponsofmisdirection.com
Posted by Buzz Webster at 05:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 25, 2005
Labour Has Top Election Website
Labour couldn't be happier a Usability Company study named it as having the best political website.
Silicon reports Labour as having the slickest website in a study - which assessed both usability and accessibility of the campaign websites. This might be good news for the PR department, but Conservatives appear to be the real winners. Articles last week showed conservatives with the most traffic and the winners in a pre-election poll.
For the lastest UK online election coverage visit PoliticsOnline.com.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
April 22, 2005
China-Japan Controversy Flares Online
Weeks of strained ties between China and Japan has prompted large-scale online activism. The virtual organizing and protests stem from Chinese anger over Japan's quest for a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council to a maritime dispute over drilling rights for natural gas in the East China Sea, and the wording of Japanese school texts on its role in China during its occupation between 1931 and 1945.
China began shutting down anti-Japanese website's Friday, after Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi issued an apology for the wartime suffering Japan inflicted on Asian countries. Despite the blocking, Chinese bloggers and other protesters are still getting through, with some websites calling for massive demonstrations on May 1 and May 4 in Shanghai, Nanjing, Wenzhou and Chongqing cities.
Anti-Japan activist Lu Yunfei of china918.net, an Internet petition against Japan's Security Council campaign, expects to add 6 million more signatures to the already 24 million by September.
Japanese government websites came under cyber attack last week, amid reports a Chinese website was calling for the jamming of Japanese servers.
More:
China Shuts Down Anti-Japanese Websites Amid Fears Of More Protests
China `Welcomes' Apology Made by Japanese PM Koizumi on War
Chinese Bloggers' Reactions on Recent Anti- Japan Protest
Posted by Buzz Webster at 02:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
UK Election Activism
The UK's National Autistic Society and Treehouse charities are running an online campaign of its own during all the election action. The Autism Counts website, http:www.autismcounts.org.uk, has been built using Campaign Express's suite of online campaigning tools. It enables supporters to lobby or petition their local candidates by email. They simply visit the site and register their name, email address and postcode. The latest technology identifies the visitor¹s constituency and local candidates. A list of petitioners and their email addresses will be emailed to candidates to encourage a dialogue on key Manifesto issues. Supporters can also register online to receive regular newsletters about the election campaign. They will automatically be told when a local candidate has signed the Manifesto. It is estimated that over 535,000 people have autism in UK This is an amazing campaign that we hope has a lot success, and I encourge everyone to contribute more stories like these.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 02:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 21, 2005
An Email Box For All Of Israel
Electric News Net reports Israel approves e-mail communication scheme:
The Israeli government has approved a scheme to enable secure online communication between the government and its citizens. Israeli newswire Y-Net News reports that approval has been given to a "safe deposit box" programme, an initiative that aims to allocate a secure e-mail inbox to every citizen in order to facilitate communication with the government. The idea behind the scheme is to allow the authorities to send official permits, agency forms and other messages directly to individuals or businesses. In addition, citizens who request information or official forms over the web will receive a response via their e-mail account. In order to use the system, which will be voluntary, users will have to purchase a smartcard and smartcard reader and will be required to register an electronic signature. The government said it will continue to provide services over the phone and in person for people who do not wish to avail of the scheme.
An email box for every person? It's a novel idea and quite feasible with only 6.2 million citizens. Washington state has about the same population, I wonder if it would be possible for them.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 02:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Conservative Glo-cal Politics
RightMarch.com recently sent out an email on behalf of the European Conservative Union (ECU) asking American's to help conservatives in Europe. It's an interesting thing to see conservatives around the world unite around political issues. I think most would agree this typically happens moreso with Green or Liberal parties, but with the rise of the internet anything is possible.
Imagine a farmer in Idaho donating $40 online to the ECU, so that the organization can create a stronger conservative Europe; A Europe that is more welcoming toward Bush when he visits this May.
That's what the ECU is purposing, and with RightMarch's network of over 2 million folks, it just might make a difference.
Although the ECU states is was founded in 2001, it's not very easy to find on the web. In fact, I couldn't find a website at all, but wonder if they're some type of PAC for the Conservatie Group For Europe or Conservatives In The European Parliament. RightMarch didn't have anything about the group on it's website either.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 02:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 20, 2005
Online Freedom Of Speech Act
There was some good news [last] week for bloggers and their fight to stay as free and unregulated as they wanna be. The only problem is, hardly anyone was paying attention.
It's called the Online Freedom of Speech Act, introduced by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, a Republican from Texas.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 02:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 16, 2005
European Review Of Political Technologies
There's a new report available on Political Technologies.
From a list I'm on:
I am pleased to share with you our inaugural volume of the European Review of Political Technologies (ERPT) Governance and Democracy in Cyberspace [http://www.politech-institute.org/review.asp].
ERPT is a unique pan-European periodical and instrument bridging the converging domains of Political Technologies: ePolitics, eDemocracy, eParticipation, eDiplomacy, eCitizenship, eGovernance and eGovernment.
Each issue is divided into 3 sections, namely Research and Policy Shaping, Case Studies and Technological Demonstrations and Current Debates to provide readers with a wide range of perspectives from leading stakeholders. Our ERPT Honorary and Scientific Committee is composed of renowned international and European experts, practitioners, leaders and public officials. Peruse the current volume.
Our upcoming volume eCampaigns, with editorial by Mr. Andre Santini, former French Minister, Member of the French National Assembly, Mayor of Issy-les-Moulineaux and President of Global Cities Dialogue, will be published on our website in June 2005.
We would be pleased to receive your perspectives on Governance and Democracy in Cyberspace and other issues concerning political technologies in your arena to be published in future volumes in addition to your thematic suggestions, abstracts and articles that contribute to ERPT's primary objective and scope. Please view ERPT submission guidelines.
Please feel free to refer this message to colleagues and other interested parties.
Best regards,
Daniel van Lerberghe
President and Executive Director
POLITECH Institute
EuropeanCenter of Political Technologies
This first volume Governance and Democracy in Cyberspace explores how ICT is enhancing representative democracy and public governance. Europe's challenges for the XXIst century, emphasized by the EU recently revised Lisbon Agenda, to boost
Europe's competitiveness and innovation, central drivers to build a knowledge based economy and the new EU Constitutional Treaty, setting the political and democratic stage of the new European polity; have both fostered good governance and democracy as key enablers for success.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 02:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 15, 2005
Special Report: UK Elections Online
The United Kingdom has launched into its first internet intensive election, much like what witnessed during the United States 2004 election season. With a 30 day election season Conservatives, Labour and other Parties are using rapid response tactics of the internet to mobilize and persuade voters.
From vote swapping to political blogging everything is being laid on the line for what is expected to be a very close election.
PoliticsOnline will be tracking all the latest online election news and information until Election Day through our websites and newsletters. Visit our UK Election page for comprehensive coverage of the elections online. Also check out our new UK section of the e-newsletter.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 02:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
April 13, 2005
Online Interview With Steven Clift
Steven Clift, e-democracy strategist and public speaker, talks with PoliticsOnline about the UK Local Issues Forum and the impact of the internet on the upcoming election.
Audio and Transcipt available. Click here for the interview.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 05:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Trust In Journalism
From MediaChannel:
RESTORING TRUST IN JOURNALISM" WEBSITE LAUNCHES
The one-year 'Journalism and the Public: Restoring the Trust' project is "designed to help journalists, academics and the public begin a change process to build greater trust between journalists and the public."
Posted by Buzz Webster at 05:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 10, 2005
Vote For Freedom Of Expression Blog Award-winners!
Reporters Without Borders is calling on Internet-users to vote online for award-winners from among 60 blogs defending freedom of expression. There are six categories: Africa and the Middle East, the Americas, Asia, Europe, Iran and International.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 05:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 09, 2005
How To Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else)
With the privacy of bloggers and their news sources coming under fire in the court system (see, e.g., Apple v. Does), it's crucial that web writers know how to express themselves without risking their jobs or social lives. Yesterday the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) released "How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else)," a how-to guide for bloggers worried about protecting their privacy and free speech.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 05:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 08, 2005
Best Of The Web Call For Entries
The Center for Digital Government and Education have issued a call for entries for their 10th annual Best of the Web contest and Digital Government/Education Achievement Awards.
The contest and award programs are open to state, city and county agencies and educational institutions. All entries are due June 1.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 01:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 07, 2005
Cyber Smackdown On DeLay
Tom DeLay has seen better days, as many in the online world mobilize against.
The DNC has a special online “casefile” telling on the adventures of “scandalman”
Blogs are bustling on DeLaygate too.
True Majority and MoveOn.org have letter writing campaign humming
The DCCC is sendng emails and capitalizing on the opportunity to raise money for congressional campaigns.
And madkane even wrote a song about it, like to hear it, here is goes
Ode To Tom DeLay (Sing to "To All The Girls I've Loved Before")
Posted by Buzz Webster at 04:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 06, 2005
Gore TV Partisan Free?
From Washington Times:
Al Gore announced yesterday that his long-awaited cable network -- dubbed Current -- will debut Aug. 1.
"Young adults have a powerful voice, but you can't hear that voice on television ... yet," said Mr. Gore, who has aimed the 24-hour news channel at 18- to 34-year-olds who are preoccupied with the Internet.Mr. Gore was adamant his endeavor was ideology-free.
Ok sounds good, but I'm not sure everyone believes that, even if you did event the internet. More on the internet:
Collaborating with the online search engine Google, programming will "buck conventional news practices" by reporting topics "people are actually searching for right now," the network noted.
Speaking from Current's new San Francisco offices, Mr. Gore claimed he wanted to lend "a national platform to those who are hungry to help create the TV they want to watch."
Young viewers are "collaborators," he said, and have been invited to submit their own videos and ideas to the Web site (www.current.tv).
Collaborating with the online search engine Google, programing will "buck conventional news practices" by reporting topics "people are actually searching for right now," the network noted.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 06:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
April 04, 2005
Pope's Death Told Via SMS Text Message
It took just minutes for the Vatican to alert the world's media of Pope John Paul's death -- using text messages and email so the 2,000-year-old Church could meet the new demands of real-time news, according to Reuters.
The Global Language Monitor, which scans the Internet for the use of specific words or phrases using Roman characters, found 35,000 new stories on the pope in the 24 hours after his death Saturday. That compares with about 3,500 new stories on Bush within a day of his re-election and 1,000 new stories on former President Reagan within a day of his death last year.
35,000 New Stories on Pope After Death
Pope Loved Tradition & Technology
Pope's Parting Message for Media
Vatican Used SMS, Email to Announce Pope's Death
Posted by Buzz Webster at 07:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 03, 2005
U.S. State Legislatures Webcasting
From the Webcasting Community DoWire:
If you want to see how a number of local US governments are using the Granicus streaming solution this link will provide over 40 jurisdictions what stream and archive public meetings and public service announcements.
Granicus, Inc. provides comprehensive solutions for creating, managing and distributing live and on-demand streaming media content to support and enhance public meeting communications, internal training and public education programs for local government.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 04:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 02, 2005
Online Political Ad Auction Success
PoliticsOnline took part in an online political first when it began running ads in its newsletters on Friday. The ads were auctioned through eBay to the highest bidder, which happened to be NGP. It's the first time we know of that political ad space has been auction this way.We love the transparency of the transaction and the idea that people are paying what they want for the ad, or at least the market rate.
The folks at NGP tell their side of the story on how they won the bid, which is pretty interesting.
Next eBay ad space auction begins April 11, 2005.
Click here to sign up for PoliticsOnline ePolitics newsletters.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 06:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 01, 2005
POL Exclusive: Podcast Interview With President Bush
Here's President Bush's first ever podcast recorded exclusively here:
http://www.PoliticsOnilne.com/podcast/bush/ape_reel_phools
Posted by Buzz Webster at 08:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Online Campaigning Breaks Loose In UK
The UK elections are heating up online, with much of the same strategy used in the 2004 US elections being employed. One of the most controversial tactics to unfold this week, was Britain’s Labour Party announcement that it has hired former Kerry campaigner Zack Exley as an Internet consultant.
Labour also blasted out its first star-powered email this week penned by best selling author John O'Farrell, who encouraged members to get out and volunteer.
The UK’s Conservative Right is similarly turning to popular American online campaigning techniques, such as the recent launch of a blog promoting support tax relief, withdrawal from the euro and pre-emptive action against terrorists. Conservatives aim to use new media activism to revive the party and overcome what it sees as opposition from the “metropolitan Establishment.”
A new online tactical voting campaign also launched this week, catching voters’ attention.
MoveOn.org Man Helps Tony Blair's Election Campaign
Tories Plan To Beat ‘Bias’ By Bringing In Bloggers
Tax Relief Gets Centre Stage On Tory Blog
'Vote Swappers' Aim To Wipe Out Leading Conservatives In Internet Campaign
Posted by Buzz Webster at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
