I Love The Web

3 things i would like to see on the web, post 2009 election

Apr 23, 2009 Uncategorized

The elections have come and gone and we have witnessed the most ‘robust’; to borrow
from the political term of the day; election campaigns I have seen since 1994. Top price
goes to the ANC in terms of the most improvement in utilizing the web in their election
campaign. They did many things right including the use of the big 3 (sms, Facebook and
of course Twitter). What is more significant to me is how the ANC and other parties will
continue to use the web to enhance the political process. So here is my3 things I thought
of immediately that political parties should do on the web after the elections frenzy dies
off.

1. Inform

   I would like to see an informative process where my member of parliament lets me know, via
   the web, the various activities that they may be involved with in matters of parliament.
   This should include the various stages in the policy development process from problem
   identification through to benefit realization of policy legislation. This can be done
   through many means including news letters, twitter updates and various visualization tools
   to help me understand the process.

2. Engage

I speak under correction here but I think, the channel of choice within the ANC for a
bulk of issues that eventually make it through to policy in parliament emanate from the
ANC structures on the ground. Often I have heard references to ‘criticize from within’;
creating the perception is that you need to be an ANC member and raise issues from within
the structures before your issues get any attention. No doubt this is a tried and tested
method for dealing with matters, however i think it misses an opportunity to address the
concerns of those who have no interest at all in joining the ANC. I think accessibility
can be improved by an online presence that invites participation, in a non partisan way,
from many participants.

3. Educate

I will be the first to admit that I still do not understand as clearly as I should, the
political process in general. Something tells me that the political process is more than
just formulating policy. I think service delivery is in there somewhere as well as public
participation. With a bit effort I can find out more. The thing is I am already used to my
daily newsletters over the years. I am familiar with the short , easy to digest daily
update from many websites I follow. I would like to see daily newsletters that educate
me about the ins and out that make parliament work.

For an example, I am already aware of a site called Parliamentary Monitoring Group. I
subscribed to a service where they send daily updates of the the various bills making their
way through parliament. What is lacking, is the story behind the bills. Where do they come
from, what were the issue. It is all too formal and I think it is geared towards
journalists and academics.

I must make special mention of the DA. I think their web presence has probably set the
tone and I particularly like the personal touch feel to the newsletters that Helen Zille
sends out. They remind me very much of the old Thabo Mbeki newsletters, even those were a
bit long and hard to read sometimes.

So there it, the 3 things I would like to see on the web. I will pay more attention to
this and I think this will become more important with the local service delivery elections
coming up in two years time. Anyone that wants my vote in two years will pay attention to
what i have spoken about here.