The Political Weblog Project is a collaborative effort designed to encourage MPs, Councillors and other elected officials to communicate more effectively online via the intelligent use of weblogs. Elected officials who wish to take part in this scheme must follow these simple rules that exist primarily for your own benefit:Rule #1 - You must own (or be ready to purchase) your own domain name.
Rule #2 - You must use the technology to engage in two-way commmunication
Rule #3 - You must fund/source the weblog with your own money or resources.
Those who pledge to follow these rules will be provided with all the necessary assets and expertise at an extremely competitive rate.
What is a weblog? | Why two-way communication? | Why do I need my own domain?
More politicians need to be using weblogs properly. Maybe you can help.
PRIMARY NAVIGATION
Main Page
Starting and Running a Political Weblog
Information for Councillors
Information for Members of Parliament
Information for Cabinet Members
WEBLOG PACKAGES
(withdrawn)
CONTACT DETAILS
manic AT bloggerheads DOT com
If you click on any of the 'Blogs' categories below, you will find that these entries have been individually backdated to correspond with the launch date of the blog that entry references (in order to provide a categorised and sequential history of these blogs).
CATEGORIES
Blogs: All (31) Blogs: Campaign (2) Blogs: Councillors (Labour) (1) Blogs: House of Lords (1) Blogs: MPs (Conservative) (1) Blogs: MPs (Labour) (5) Blogs: MPs (Liberal Democrat) (2) Blogs: Proxies (20) Designers and Providers (4) Education and Seminars (2) Fighting Ignorance (6) General (1) News (2)« David Miliband weblog wins 2006 N00b Media Award | Main | Test » October 26, 2006 Forget it... they ain't comingOver the past 4 years, I've spent a lot of time trying to encourage MPs, councillors and candidates to join the online community in an open, responsible and sustainable manner. By and large, this time has been wasted. Pissed away. And do you want to know why? Because your average MP, councillor or candidate is far too concerned about what's in it for them and/or too fucking stupid to understand what's in for them... even when this single aspect is explained to them in detail. There are also complete dickheads like Mike Chambers and Dennis Paul who see weblogs as a way to spread anonymous smears and/or pass off positive comments that they've written about themselves as genuine contributions. Nothing new here; representatives from all parties use fake or 'independent' contributors to pepper the letters page of the local newspapers with this view or that... and I'm fed up to the back teeth with it all. I'm equally fed up with the information gap that exists between the partisan crap spewed out by local representatives and candidates, and what actually gets reported in the local/international media. Weblogs are the perfect way to fill that gap... and there is a pronounced need to fill it. Take my shiftless, witless, lying and deceitful MP as a prime example. There's a whole lot of crap that she'd get away with clean if there weren't someone to keep an eye on her, and I am not the only constituent with this problem. It's a job that needs doing... and there aren't a hell of a lot of people around that know how to do it. So I'm going to teach them. In 2005, the folks at the New Statesman blamed the lack of development on a general malaise in the sector. They were wrong; the malaise is in parliament. By and large, MPs have no interest in offering added accessibility, accountability and transparency... so it's up to us to deliver it on their behalf. Watch this space. [Note for Developers - If you are one of the many developers who expressed an interest in the Political Weblog Project and you disagree with this view and/or wish to carry on independently, please get in touch and I'll make sure that MPs who do give a damn know how to find you.] Posted by timireland on October 26, 2006 4:10 PM in the category News CommentsPost a commentThanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out) (If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.) |