Just took a quick look at Gordon Brown’s new website which was launched today to coincide with the start of his bid for leadership of the Labour Party and by default also Prime Minister (for the benefit of my non-British readers, yes I know this is ridiculous!).
Apart from the bizarre alterations to the RSS feed icon identified by Simon Collister at eDemocracy Update, the first thing that strikes me is the photo on the homepage. At first, I wondered if the photo had been doctored. That’s certainly what it looked like on Gordon Brown’s campaign site. However, when I saved the image and uploaded it to my own site it looked absolutely fine.
Not quite the scoop I was hoping for, but a demonstration of the generally dismissive attitude of British politicos to the Internet and technology.
Correcting this error would not have taken them much effort. Instead, Britain’s Prime Minister in waiting kicks off his campaign surrounded by a whiff of scandal and looks amateurish and unprofessional.
How long will it be until we see a political version of the celebrity tracker website, Gawker Stalker? Although celebrities consider such sites an invasion of privacy, could they be beneficial in politics?
The lives of congressional members are already mapped out in minute detail. One of Senator Jon Tester’s (D-MT) first acts on arriving in Washington was to publish his schedule online. It’s not a great leap from publishing written daily schedules to publishing daily schedules on maps. The advent of Google My Maps makes this easier than ever for congressional staff.
Some congressional members would no doubt be squeamish about revealing so much publicly, but many others would welcome the opportunity. It is possible to imagine a group such as the Open House Project taking up this cause and publishing the map on their website. Those congressional members who initially refuse to take part will ultimately be forced to in order to remove the air of suspicion hanging over them.
Could this be the best method of restoring accountability in Washington?
Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) took matters, and literally the camera, into his own hands yesterday when he announced he would produce the first video “of a committee hearing from the chairman’s perspective.” Markey, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, made the announcement before a startled audience at the beginning of yesterday’s hearing, titled Digital Future of the United States: Part V, The Future of Video, featuring YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley.
Thanks to Andrew Noyes at National Journal’s Tech Daily Dose who pointed out a great innovation by Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE). After returning from a recent tour of Iraq, which the Senator helpfully explains is called a CODEL (congressional delegation - getit?), the Senator used Google’s ‘My Maps’ and Google Earth to inform constituents about the tour. Instead of merely recording his experiences on a blog the Senator added blog-like entries to his Iraq CODEL map, including photos and videos.
Mapping devices such as Google Maps, Mapquest and Yahoo Maps have been wildly successful because they provide visual context. Sen. Nelson’s Iraq CODEL map is a terrific example of this. Showing constituents where he has been and what he has done is far more powerful than merely telling them.
Crucially, Sen. Nelson’s Iraq CODEL map also provides accountability, a particular concern in the post-Abramoff era. In the wake of super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s conviction there was a lot of criticism of the many trips taken by congressional members, particularly those funded by lobbyists. A majority of the public perceive these trips as frivolous, but many congressional members argue strongly in favor of them because they see them as important educational opportunities who find it tough to escape the beltway bubble.
There is some truth to this, but with public trust in politicians at an all time low they are reluctant to accept this argument. Sen. Nelson’s Iraq CODEL map provides a way of justifying such trips whether they be at the expense of the taxpayer or lobbyists. By detailing his trip so extensively constituents can be confident Sen. Nelson’s trip was worthwhile.
Kudos to Sen. Nelson and his staff for recognizing this and taking this important step towards open government.
Abi Tatton profiled the map on CNN’s The Situation Room.
Funny viral videos featuring American politicians are nothing new. However, they have mostly lampooned politicians and not one has been created by a politician themselves. Consciously creating humorous viral video is very hard. Could Democrat presidential candidate Bill Richardson be the first? 88,456 views, 260 comments, 15 honors on YouTube later and still going strong…
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