Citizen 2.0

A week in e-Democracy: 2012, Twitter election?

2012, Twitter election?
While Mitt Romney won the Florida primary in the U.S., an article of The New York Times explains the importance of Twitter in the way his team is to influence the debate. We learn that the tweets from journalists are particularly monitored, like all subjects of controversy which might affect the candidate. But Twitter is also used as an offensive weapon to criticize the opponent.

Barack Obama dialogue with citizens on Google +
Imagine five people selected from tens of thousands, calling on the President live from the webcam installed in their living room. This is what happened last Monday when five Americans citizens, who participated in an interview with YouTube and Google+ to discuss his State of the Union Address. For this "first online conversation to happen at the White House in real time -- ever" as called by the White House, more than 227,000 people had taken time to participate -- submitting questions for the President to answer or voting for their favorite.

Francois Hollande flour-bombed also on the web
It is the charm of the Internet: its ultra responsive. It did not take 24 hours for the misadventure of the socialist candidate for president turns into a small video game online. He was victim of a flour attack by a woman just as he prepared to make a speech. The incident had raised a lot of questions about the protection of presidential candidates. This did not prevent an Internet user who is a young right activist to create during the night a little online game very simple: flour a maximum time of Francois Hollande in minimum time. A classic in these little games on the net. To play log onto fh-2012.com.

Internet creates wider venue for political threats
The U.S. Secret Service are on alert, estimating the level of invilité against politicians especially high during an election campaign seen as very aggressive, both within the Republican camp than against President Obama. A police sergeant from Arizona has been removed from patrol and assigned to desk duties pending an internal investigation because he appeared in a photo posted on Facebook with weapons and what appears to be a bullet-riddled image of Barack Obama. According to USA Today, if political incivility is nothing new, the Internet is making more of the venom public, and it has changed the nature of incivility by allowing people to spew insults anonymously that can reach millions of people. That is why the Internet threat desk, set up within the secret services since 2000, pays particular attention to identify, among the bluster, the real threats.

The French net-campaign viewed on the other side of the Channel
How our neighbors across the Channel perceive the beginning of the French presidential campaign on internet? UKauthority.com, an online publication that specializes in the use of digital tools in the public sector, provides an interesting overview on the subject, partly inspired by Citizen 2.0.

A week in e-Democracy: SOPA/PIPA vs lobbying 2.0

SOPA/PIPA vs lobbying 2.0
Have we seen this January 18 the first victory of the web players web against the major traditional pressure groups accustomed to the corridors of power in Washington? Mobilization of key pl a yers against anti-piracy law SOPA and PIPA (what you need to know by CBS news), has created the first digital strike of hundreds of websites, including the English version of Wikipedia or the blogging platform Wordpress. It has been successful since a score of members changed their minds. The debate is not only American, and websites like Reporters Without Borders took part in the digital blackout. As emphasized Philippe Aigrain, founding member of the Quadrature du Net (French website on rights and freedom on Internet), "we must consider these two texts as symptomatic of a general trend of legislators around the world to set up tighter control on the Internet in order to enjoy economic interests at the expense of individual liberties. "

Obama Administration Responds to We the People Petitions on SOPA
The White House used the e-petition website, "We The People" to try to defuse a controversy more and more threatening. The petition against SOPA has earned tens of thousands of signatures and the White House took the pole to its position, explaining that the proposal is not satisfactory, and urging users to take direct action to improve "Don’t limit your opinion to what’s the wrong thing to do, ask yourself what’s right. Already, many members of Congress are asking for public input around the issue. We are paying close attention to those opportunities, as well as to public input to the Administration. The organizer of this petition and a random sample of the signers will be invited to a conference call to discuss this issue further with Administration officials and soon after that, we will host an online event to get more input and answer your questions"

In South Korea, the opposition leader elected head of his party by mobile phone
The year 2012 will be an election year in South Korea with general elections in April and presidential election in December. In the country which was the first in the world in 2002 to elect a President with a lot of supporters on Internet, it will be interesting to study new IT uses. It has also started on 15 January. Former South Korean prime minister Han Myeong-sook was elected chairwoman of the liberal main opposition Democratic United Party for a mandate of two years, with 24.5 percent of the vote from a 800,000-strong electoral college. What makes this election unique is that people has been allowed to cast votes through their mobile phones, a method no other political institution in the world has tried before. The leadership election was based on votes cast by party members, party delegates and ordinary citizens who had voluntarily signed up to cast their ballots. Some 90 percent of them voting by mobile phone. The introduction of mobile voting, unprecedented in a party leadership election, has played a "revolutionary" role in encouraging mass participation. Lee Cheol-hee, vice head of the Institute for Democracy and Policies, called the experiment part of the evolution of Korean party politics. He said political parties, criticized for being insular and isolated from the public, are expanding their turf by reaching down to the grass root.

In Canada, Election laws changing to reflect Twitter reality
Faced with new practices, some laws appear increasingly obsolete. This is the case of the law which prohibits to disseminate to the public the result of an election in an electoral district before the close of all polling stations. This is the case of Canada. This rule is "outdated and inapplicable" and will soon disappear. Canada did not actually afford to retain information in a country with no fewer than six time zones. Because when Canadians located west of the country voted, the results are already known on the east. In France, this situation will inevitably resurface during the next presidential election. In a few months, French people - whose millions are on Twitter - will be called to the polls to elect the President of the Republic.

A week in e-Democracy: the last 100 days

France, USA, Russia ... voters in these three countries are going to the polls this year. Is Internet will play a role i these elections?

The last 100 days
We enter the last hundred days of the electoral campaign for the first round of the French presidential election of April 22. A timing that will take us to June 17 for the second round of parliamentary elections, a long time to explore and analyze all that officials are imagined to mobilize voters online. Reuters published an interesting file (. Pdf, in French) questioning the role that Internet will play in this election.

French Socialist candidate adopts the Obama method
To mark the 100 days of the campaign,  the socialist candidate team sends e-mailing inviting French people to "become a volunteer for Francois Hollande," inspired by the successful campaign of Barack Obama in 2008. During the socialist primary, nearly 700,000 email addresses were collected before being qualified by a team of twenty people, late December. Today, they are asked if they wish to take action closer to their home, going door to door, putting up posters or organizing dinners apartment.

To be a hero of the web will be enough?
Ron Paul, "the young and the Web hero" as the title of an article in the French magazine "L'Express", failed to win the New Hampshire primary, in United States. Those were based on analysis of "AllFacebook.com," which pointed out that data from three different companies highlight this influence of the candidate on the web, to bet on his victory are for their expenses. But with over 20% of the vote in Iowa and in New Hampshire, the Texan remains a phenomenon to follow.

Opening of Putin's website campaign
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin launched his website campaign for the presidential election of  March 4. Putin2012.ru shows, of course, his biography and his proposals but offers a particular section, "Changing Russia together," where visitors can make their own proposals. It did not take more than a few hours, as reported by The New York Times, for the initiative turns against him, much comment inviting him to step down now.

A global study minimizes social networks influence
A study conducted in 31 countries by KPMG revealed that while 86% of people are connecting regularly on social networks, only one third admits to being influenced in their decisions. However, the study was conducted to measure the influence of advertising on the purchasing activities of users of social networks (. Pdf).

The 5 myths of Arab Spring
The Washington Post publishes a contribution of a professor at Stanford University, Fouad Ajami, who write about "the five myths surrounding the Arab Spring", a year after the revolution in Tunisia. Among them, the idea of ​​"Revolutions Facebook and Twitter." "Mohammed Bouazizi, the young Tunisian street vendorwho set himself ablaze, didn’t have a Facebook page. He had a sense of righteous anger and despair. We should rein in the technophilia: Internet penetration in the Arab world is still modest" Ajami writes, explaining that revolutions took place in a conventional manner. But his interpretation minimizes the crucial role in mobilizing people by sending photos and video during the events. Without Internet, it is likely that these revolutions were crushed without being aware of it, here in occident.

Politics goes mobile

According to survey published by the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, more than a quarter of American adults used their cell phones to learn about or participate in the 2010 mid-term election campaign. Of those cell owners, 71% use their phone for texting and 39% use the phone for accessing the internet. More results on the Pew Internet website.

 

Whare are the best e-practices to win an election?

18 months ahead of the presidential election, French political parties are starting to get ready, preparing their campaign strategies. The Internet will obviously be an integrated part of the candidates’ strategies. It remains to be seen whether the digital strategy will be at the heart of their campaigns or not. Bearing in mind that the young people voting for the first time will be the first voters of the Net Generation (also known as Generation Y), we should expect to live exciting moments.

But what if we took a leaf out of what’s happening around us? The British have just experienced an election campaign with an unexpected result (a Centrist/Conservative coalition government) whereas the Americans are getting ready to vote in midterm elections beginning of November.

During the World eGov Forum, Phil Noble, Director of PoliticsOnline, will bring together a group of British and American specialists to present the latest examples of election campaigns. The session will take place on October 13th at Cisco Systems Headquarters in Issy-les-Moulineaux.

French presidential election in 2012: new vibes for the political Web?

French people noticed that the Summer schools organized by their political parties took place against the background of the preparations for the presidential election of 2012. The Web strategies were of course part of these preparations.

New websites will be launched in the following months by the Communist Party, the centrist MoDem and the conservative UMP (namely its own social network), mobile applications for the Socialists, video site for Europe Ecologie etc., all this using mostly militant tools.

A website to keep track of one’s political opponents

It is called the "Accountability Project" and its website has just been launched by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) to fight "against misinformation, lies and double-speak". The idea is simple: citizens can document Republican candidates and their claims and public statements at local events, as well as their campaign tactics. They are encouraged to film with anything that can record video - from a cell phone to a video camera - what candidates say at public events, and then submit the videos to the DNC-run site. In playing a complete transparency everyday citizens can see what their Republican candidates for office are saying and candidates themselves will see that there’s a cost to their dishonest statements.

Lady Gaga at the rescue of candidates in the Belgian elections?

Few days away from the Belgian general elections on June 13th, which are seen as crucial for the future of the country, the candidates encourage the voters to take interest in the poll, either by using humor, like the Ecologists or by taking inspiration from infamous stars, such as Lady Gaga. But the on-line campaign doesn’t seem to better revive an already dull atmosphere. As a journalist of RTBF pointed out, "on the Internet as well, the campaign will be played out in Flanders". On Sunday, 44 Percent of the Belgian voters will use electronic voting machines to express their preferences.

To want at all costs to make an Obama-like campaign is foolish.

The election of the new British Parliament, on May 6, was supposed to be the country’s first "e-election", that of the social networks, online videos, Twitter and iPhone. Following an election which gave birth to a new coalition government, what lessons can we hold regarding the role of the Internet in the electoral campaign? In fact, most of political Web specialists are harsh with the British political class, accused of not having adapted itself enough. But to say that the Internet had no impact on the campaign would be false.

Internet to be used again in US mid-term elections

The United States of America are preparing for the mid-term election campaign which, next November, will renew the House of Representatives, a third of the Senate and thousands of other seats at the state, county and city level. On April 26 Barack Obama kicked off the 2010 campaign season with a video on YouTube, just like in the 2008 presidential campaign, calling for a mobilization of his supporters.