The Web on the Candidates

It will truly be the first YouTube election. A week after MySpace announced they're hosting presidential town halls across the country, YouTube has announced they'll be co-sponsoring, with CNN, the first of six Democratic debates and are in talks to co-sponsor a Republican debate. There aren't any details on the format yet, but this is certainly a good development in light of the work that Larry Lessig and others have done to ensure that TV footage from the debates is legally accessible online. We'll follow up as we learn more.

In their latest Politics 2.0 column in the Politico, some guys named Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry (they have something to do with a certain technology and politics conference and web site) write about the rise of the netizen, a new breed of citizen-activists who "are mastering the new platforms, tools, information systems and social networks available online and using them to push new ideas or galvanize new communities for change." Presidential campaigns can't dismiss the influence of these "super-empowered citizens," because "unlike volunteers of old, if you cross them, they can hurt you on a national scale. If you embrace them, they may be more valuable than any consultant you can find."

A new study indicates that text messaging can increase youth voter turnout; the Huffington Post/Yahoo/Slate mashup debate is rolling, and it turns out we can use Jumpcut to edit the footage after all, but we're somewhat disappointed with its format and execution; CBC radio produces a great piece featuring an interview with techPresident's Micah Sifry; and will Ron Paul be elected President of Web 2.0?

The UK's Open Rights Group campaigns on issues like copyright reform, electronic voting, network neutrality and online privacy. Ask Executive Director Becky Hogge about their work.

Somewhat astonishingly, for years now the European Union has managed to dole out a giant chunk of its operating budget -- some 40% -- in the form of farm subsidies under its Common Agricultural Policy, intended to help struggling farmers get along but often go to line the pockets of wealth-off growers, while never really revealing just who the €55 billion goes to enrich. But journalists and activists have, under freedom of information provisions, been beating down the doors of member state governments in attempts to get the subsidy data and then, importantly, make sense of it.

Thus, farmsubsidy.org.

British Members of Parliament are using online tools more than ever: but like politicians the world around, they're using more to speak than to listen. That's the major finding of a Hansard Society study conducted last summer and released this week.

According to its authors, the survey and focus groups "confirm that the internet is now a part of the day-to-day life of the vast majority of MPs." But the study also finds that the "MPs’ focus remains largely on promoting themselves through reportage of their efforts in the House or constituency and by linking to ideologically similar commentators or websites."

During the last European Parliament elections in June, almost all different candidates around Europe turned to the Internet to engage voters in their own countries. The European Parliament didn´t want to be left out and launched a 2-2.5 millons euros three month internet campaign with the theme of “If you don´t vote don´t complain.” It was centered around websites like Ucount4EU, which featured information about the election and the roll that EP is playing in the lives of European citizens day to day; Can you hear me? in collaboration with MTV Networks International which focused on young Europeans ; and TellBarroso.eu where the President of the European Comission Durao Barroso asked for opinions about European challenges through an online poll.

Back at the end of June this year, I was invited over to PDF 2009 as one of the Google Fellows to experience the buzz and brains of the Personal Democracy Forum for the first time in person. And it didn’t disappoint.

Every two years, EU Ministers gather to agree on a Ministerial Declaration on e-government (http://www.scribd.com/doc/16546743/Ministerial-Declaration-180907), which is the main European strategic document.

CROSS POSTING FROM Open Declaration Blog http://eups20.wordpress.com

I see many metaphors on government 2.0 around. It’s a good sign we’re doing an effort of self-awareness and shared understanding – very much in line with the Open Declaration. We need to structure our thinking and to communicate it better to government. We need to go from cool project to policy proposals, as we write on the eups20 workshop report.
Here are 4 different visions I came across:

UPDATE: MyConservatives.com now live

The Conservative Party will launch their very own take on My.BarackObama.com (or MyBo for short) later today - MyConservatives.com. Timed to be released ahead of next week’s Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, ‘MyCon’ (or even #MyCon, as it's bound to become known on Twitter) provides a very British take on Barack Obama’s revolutionary approach to online campaigning and organising.

Developed in conjunction with global digital media agency LBI, the Conservative Party will no doubt be hoping the site can achieve the same profile and uptake as its American counterpart, fêted as one of the driving forces behind Barack Obama’s historic win. Equally LBI will no doubt be looking to reach the legendary status of Blue State Digital, the people behind MyBO, in the new media world.

Rishi Saha (Head of New Media at the Conservative Party and speaker at next month’s PDF Europe event in Barcelona) stresses that while drawing on many of the core features of Blue State Digital’s MyBO platform, it has very much been developed with a UK audience in mind.