powerful politics

The 2008 election redefined politics - not just because of the historic results - but also because it was the first election that was so widely reported on the Internet. Websites that reported on the election updated their sites minute by minute (in some cases) to share information with interested audiences.

Much like a candidate will not be able to win an election without successfully using the Internet, a publication will not be able to report on an election without an effective website. During the fall semester I took a class titled Digital Campaigns and we studied the Internet closely to learn how publications used the Internet to report on the election. After studying some sites closely, I came to realize what (from a project perspective) I think are some important components to a political site:

Creating a conversation and initiating discourse:

I think it is important for sites to engage their readers - after all, that is one of the beauties of the Internet isn't it? We can share our views and opinions with others by leaving a comment on a site, linking to related articles or uploading our own multimedia work (ie videos, photos, etc). I really liked the CNN iReport site - they still keep this up now, but throughout the election this tool was incredibly effective in allowing citizens send in videos about issues they cared about and their perspective on the candidates. And, for sites as widely followed as CNN, candidates could reference some of this user generated content to address issues that the public cares about.

Be consise and keep the page organized:

When it comes to politics, staying consise is key. I used to reference Talking Points Memo pretty often during the election because while there was obviously a wealth of content to report on during the election, they organized their site in a concise way and I was able to access information quickly. If there was a topic I needed additional information on, I can easily click on a story for additional information.

Use related content, keep it updated, have some 'top stories' and let us search quickly:

These seem like pretty basic features but they really go a long way when it comes to political coverage. I like Chris Cillizza's 'The Fix' blog - he keeps the top stories easily accessible via links on the left pane. He has a search bar that allows anyone to retrieve stories using basic terms (because he catagorizes entries with general words), enables searching by category, links to related political blogs and has an email subscription tool.

And though there are a number of sites with these same components - I just wanted to call attention to a few that executed some effective political projects prior to, during and following the election.