[Campaigns-l] Fwd: Wiki the Vote (and stuff for your blog/diary)

Tue Nov 7 17:05:35 UTC 2006

Another excellent resource is Project Vote Smart at http://www.vote- 
smart.org/.  This organization is in an excellent position to  
collaborate with various wiki movements.  They've got almost 15 years  
of tracking political data on thousands of U.S. candidates and  
elected officials.

Here's an excerpt from their main home page:

Thousands of candidates and elected officials. Who works for you? Who  
is seeking your vote? Project Vote Smart, a citizen's organization,  
has developed a Voter's Self-Defense System to provide you with the  
necessary tools to self-govern effectively: abundant, accurate,  
unbiased and relevant information. As a national library of factual  
information, Project Vote Smart covers your candidates and elected  
officials in five basic categories: biographical information, issue  
positions, voting records, campaign finances and interest group  
ratings. What would you like to know? Access our library of  
information through either the menu on the left hand side or the  
links above.

Regards,
Steve Nieman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Nov 7, 2006, at 6:42 AM, Chad Lupkes wrote:

> Another wiki looking for help tracking the US elections today.   
> Everyone is working towards the same goal, which is participatory  
> politics.  I've contacted Conor, and we'll figure out how to work  
> together after this election.
>
> Chad
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Conor Kenny <conor at sourcewatch.org>
> Date: Nov 6, 2006 2:53 PM
> Subject: Wiki the Vote (and stuff for your blog/diary)
> To: Conor Kenny <conor at sourcewatch.org>
>
>
> Hello, I'm Conor Kenny, the editor of Congresspedia.org. I'm  
> writing because we're going to "wiki the vote" this week and we'd  
> like to get your help and also show you how we can promote and  
> facilitate your own writing.
>
>
> If this is the first you've heard from me, we found your email by  
> combing the Internet for citizens that write about national  
> politics on their blog, website or a place like DailyKos or  
> RedState. Congresspedia is a great place to both find information  
> and put up your own research on Congress, but we also see fostering  
> citizen journalism on other sites as a large part of what we and  
> our friends at the Sunlight Foundation are trying to do. To that  
> end, here's all the info you need on the "wiki the vote" effort as  
> well as some of the various ways we can help you with free tools,  
> promotion and guidance.
>
>
> First the election stuff: Congresspedia, the wiki-based "citizens'  
> encyclopedia on Congress," has seen a huge influx of visitors (on  
> the order of 60,000-80,000 a day) trying to find information on the  
> election. To serve that need we've decided to "wiki the vote":  
> state-by-state listings of all the people running for seats in  
> Congress this year and profiles of the challengers with a decent  
> shot at winning (we're up to about 100) to compliment those we have  
> on each member of Congress. We'd like to get you involved in  
> helping us document the winners of the races as they come in as  
> well as helping us flesh out the profiles and create new ones for  
> the challengers we haven't gotten to, yet. All the information you  
> need is here:  http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php? 
> title=SourceWatch:Election_2006
>
>
> The free (as in speech) promotion stuff: Each profile on a member  
> of Congress or 2006 challenger has a section on "local blogs or  
> discussion sites" that should include your blog or diary if you  
> post about that person fairly often. While Congresspedia sticks to  
> documenting facts in non-partisan language, opinion and rhetoric  
> are important parts of the political process. So, whatever your  
> politics are, add your blog to the list (if it isn't already). I  
> can do it for you if you email me with the information or,  
> preferably, you can just take advantage of the wiki platform  
> Congresspedia is built on and add it yourself. The homepage is the  
> best place to start:  http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php? 
> title=Congresspedia
>
>
> The free (as in beer) stuff: The Sunlight Foundation, which co- 
> operates Congresspedia along with the Center for Media and  
> Democracy, specializes in using information technology to change  
> the relationship between citizens and government. Fostering citizen  
> journalism is a big part of that effort and to that end they have  
> developed several useful tools (all free and open source) for your  
> use. The affiliated Sunlight Network, which organizes for greater  
> transparency in government, also has several programs that may be  
> of interest. Follow the links:
> * Sunlight Labs ( http://www.sunlightlabs.org / ): Free web-based  
> tools, including the popular "Popup Politicians" and "Earmark Map,"  
> which mashes up Google Maps with congressional appropriations.
> * Sunlight Foundation (  http://www.sunlightfoundation.com/ ):  
> Original muckraking by professional and citizen journalists.  
> References and guides for online journalism. Free PR services for  
> citizen journalists with scoops.
> * Sunlight Network ( http://www.sunlightnetwork.com / ): Advocates  
> for greater transparency in government. Currently offering a $1,000  
> "Punch Clock" bounty for getting members of Congress to agree to  
> post their daily schedules online and  $5,000 prize for the best  
> user-submitted video theorizing how members of Congress spend their  
> day.
>
>
> If you have any questions or comments, please email me back (this  
> is my real address). You can also reply if you'd like to be removed  
> from this list.
>
>
> best,
> Conor Kenny
>
> ________________________________________________________________
> Conor Kenny | Editor, Congresspedia.org | Center for Media and  
> Democracy
> 202-742-1520 x223 | ckenny@ congresspedia.org
>
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