Election 2004.
That's the simple label on a folder I created to help me make some sort of decision on whom to vote for come June 28. There are two sub-folders, one for links to Constituency Candidates and one for links to National Parties. There are also links to pundits, columnists and other observers in the main folder.
Initially, I set out to see what ideas were being floated that I could identify with. I wanted to know which individuals in my constituency, as well as what National Party, I identified with, if any. Instead, what I found myself studying was the over all ineptness of most of the candidates and parties to present themselves well on the internet.
The world wide web is an information junkie's dream come true. Anything there is to know about a given subject (okay, I exaggerate, there's a lot missing from the web, and I'll also concede that not everything that a user reads on-line is necessarily accurate - caveat emptor) is available at a person's fingertips. It's just a matter of time until the OED adds google, (v.) to its pages. We all do it. Sitting at computers across this country are likely thousands of people, all taking the same steps as me in an effort to make an educated decision. What an opportunity to get a message out, people are looking.
But I don't see it happening. For the most part, the national party sites that I visited were well laid out and presented. It was easy to find information on most of the basic topics that a constituent might want to know. I would like to see sitting candidate’s parliamentary voting records, though. Although they have since added a candidate finder, I found the NDP's lack of such a tool surprising. Five days in to the campaign, 1/7th of its overall life span, and I am just now learning the name of the candidate for North Vancouver, my constituency.
Even at that I am going out on a limb in saying that his name is John Nelson, because the Page for that riding has only a generic greeting from the candidate. His photo is missing and his name appears only in an email link. Who knows, maybe I just fired off a message to his campaign manager.
John Nelson's page doesn't tell me anything about John Nelson. There is a message from the candidate saying how he and Jack Layton are going to work together to 'present' the people of North Vancouver. The exact same message can be found on many of the other NDP candidate's website. How will we be presented? Wearing knickers and a bow on our head?
The Liberals and the Conservatives each managed restraint in the use of their respective party colours on their websites, although the Conservative's index page could probably stand to be a little less blue. The NDP on the other hand has far too much of their party colours on display. That's a lot of orange and green, not to mention a lot of Jack Layton. And speaking of green, the Green Party of Canada, like the Liberals and Conservatives, also does a fine job of presenting itself online.
Each candidate and party should be looking at the web as a remarkably inexpensive way of getting a message out. There is no material cost, as there is with flyers, and candidates don't have to rely as heavily on volunteers going door-to-door to disseminate campaign information.
I would think that a well-organized political party would have enough foresight to see the value in assisting their candidates communicate online. It's important to get the message out and the message has to be the same coming from everybody's mouth. All of the national party websites I visited had a brief bio supplied by each candidate. But there seemed to be little room for personalization. "Here's my message and a picture. See you in a few weeks."
Some candidates did have links to their own personal websites, but because there seems to be no coordination within the party for this aspect of communicating the message, these personal websites range in quality from clean to comical. This one step, out side of the official Liberal web domain, is a perilous step though.
Many of the individual candidate websites could use a little fine-tuning. In the case of some sites, though, an overhaul seems the only solution. Don Bell's is particularly dodgy looking. At the very least, get the red right; it looks like he is selling tomatoes. Mind you, every liberal site uses a different shade of red.
And e-mail. I sent an e-mail to Ted White, my local MP. It went like this:
Hello,
Is there a website that I can visit to find out more about Ted White?
Thank you in advance.
Cheers,
John MacDermid
North Vancouver
I was looking for his personal website. I knew that he had one, I just couldn't remember the address. I could have easily googled him, but I wanted to find him using Conservative party links. There aren't any, at least not beyond his candidate page and even then only a ground and e-mail address is given. It's an aol address at that.
Thank you Mr. White for your enlightening reply:
May 27/04
Good Morning John
The address for my website is on every election sign in the riding, but if you have specific questions about me go ahead and ask them.
Regards
Ted White
I'll just shut things down here and go for a walk through my neighborhood looking for one of your signs. If I'm lucky I'll also come across an NDP election sign and confirm that indeed it is John Nelson campaigning in my constituency.
