QUESTION - Will Open data change the elections and encourage more youth to vote?
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QUESTION - Will Open data change the elections and encourage more youth to vote?
 
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All;
I just got an email from a journalist asking if I could speak to how open data tools and their affect on elections and if youth would be more engaged as a result. I responded that I would talk with her but that since we have no mechanism in place to measure the effectiveness of these tools, nor am I aware of any website stats on how many users there are for these elections sites, I cannot objectively state that I can attest to a difference. The best I think I can do for her, is suggest that the nature of the conversation is changing. Any other insight? Does someone else want to be interviewed instead of me? Cheers t -- Tracey P. Lauriault 613-234-2805 |
Re: QUESTION - Will Open data change the elections and encourage more youth to vote?
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Hi Tracey,
I might be able to speak about this somewhat, being
that I am relatively young (only 33) and have been historically uninterested in
voting, yet when I came across the atrocious "open data" situation of the
federal travel and hospitality budget, I was inspired to get involved and make a
difference. I can't speak for everyone but I could perhaps at least
elaborate more on my personal situation and interest in it, which is probably at
least a cross-section of the population on some level.
Anyway, feel free to forward my contact information
to the journalist in case she's interested in hearing more about
it.
Cheers,
Drew Mcpherson
902-448-2463
From: [hidden email]
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 1:32 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [CivicAccess-discuss] QUESTION - Will Open data change the
elections and encourage more youth to vote? I just got an email from a journalist asking if I could speak to how open data tools and their affect on elections and if youth would be more engaged as a result. I responded that I would talk with her but that since we have no mechanism in place to measure the effectiveness of these tools, nor am I aware of any website stats on how many users there are for these elections sites, I cannot objectively state that I can attest to a difference. The best I think I can do for her, is suggest that the nature of the conversation is changing. Any other insight? Does someone else want to be interviewed instead of me? Cheers t -- Tracey P. Lauriault 613-234-2805
_______________________________________________ CivicAccess-discuss mailing list [hidden email] http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss |
Re: QUESTION - Will Open data change the elections and encourage more youth to vote?
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In reply to this post by Tracey P. Lauriault
Here are some ideas I just wrote up on this topic
that kind of turned into a bit more, but I thought I'd post it anyway just for
fun:
Voting just doesn't feel like it makes much of a difference. It's like ordering a hamburger and the question is do you want cheese or not? Well, I'm not allergic to cheese, so either way is fine with me, it's still a hamburger, I might not even notice if it has cheese on it if I'm distracted with something else at the moment. Young people like me need to have outlets whereby they can provide their input in more creative and concrete ways. They need to feel like they are actually affecting the world around them in a positive and unique way. By providing them with open data which they can use to augment and inspire their society, they will get involved and be an active part of society. I believe the main purpose of voting is to actively engage the population and have them feel like they are an integral part of society. For a lot of young people who have taken a statistics course, this illusion feels like a complete and utter waste of time. We'd much rather spend our time doing something which we can put effort into, work towards a goal and actually see the beneficial effect of that progress. We don't necessarily want to work for the government full-time, but spending a few minutes at the poll to vote just feels completely useless. We'd much rather provide positive input into our society through business or a personal hobby. Not all business has to be about making as much profit as possible. Sometimes business can be focussed on improving the health, happiness and well-being of people and society in general. This is the general principle behind a business and social architecture I call equilism. It's a restructuring of individual and social principles to shift popular perception away from the valuation of capital and more towards valuing health and happiness and social harmony. Capitalism is good, but anything out of balance can cause problems. The common capitalist problem right now is greed, and that I believe is the fundamental flaw which has resulted in the recent economic downturn. I also believe this to be the root cause of many recent health epidemics of strange diseases of imbalance that aren't caused by any infectious biological agent, but rather by an infectious psychological agent - greed.
Drew Mcpherson From: [hidden email]
Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 1:32 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: [CivicAccess-discuss] QUESTION - Will Open data change the
elections and encourage more youth to vote? I just got an email from a journalist asking if I could speak to how open data tools and their affect on elections and if youth would be more engaged as a result. I responded that I would talk with her but that since we have no mechanism in place to measure the effectiveness of these tools, nor am I aware of any website stats on how many users there are for these elections sites, I cannot objectively state that I can attest to a difference. The best I think I can do for her, is suggest that the nature of the conversation is changing. Any other insight? Does someone else want to be interviewed instead of me? Cheers t -- Tracey P. Lauriault 613-234-2805
_______________________________________________ CivicAccess-discuss mailing list [hidden email] http://lists.pwd.ca/mailman/listinfo/civicaccess-discuss |
Re: QUESTION - Will Open data change the elections and encourage more youth to vote?
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In reply to this post by Tracey P. Lauriault
I'm not aware of any hard data linking the two. However, that doesn't meant that the argument can't still be made: there's an abundance of evidence linking civic engagement to being well-informed. Given the media habits of youth, putting more information online is a no-brainer if you want to make it more accessible. That was very much our logic behind Citizen Factory. Tracey - sorry I didn't reply more quickly. If it's still relevant, feel free to put the reporter in touch with me or anyone from Apathy is Boring. Cheers, Bernard Bernard Rudny Programs Coordinator :: Coordinateur des programmes Apathy is Boring :: L'apathie c'est plate [hidden email] 514.844.AisB (2472) :: 1.877.744.2472 3831 St-Denis :: Montréal, QC :: H2W 2M4 www.apathyisboring.com / www.lapathiecestplate.com www.twitter.com/apathy_isboring Apathy is Boring uses art and technology to engage youth in democracy. Help support our work. www.apathyisboring.com/en/about_us/donate « L’apathie c’est plate » passe par l’art et la technologie dans le but de sensibiliser les jeunes sur la démocratie. Aidez-nous à faire notre travail. www.apathyisboring.com/fr/about_us/donate On 18-Oct-10, at 12:32 PM, Tracey P. Lauriault wrote:
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Re: QUESTION - Will Open data change the elections and encourage more youth to vote?
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Thanks Bernard! That is useful!
I also showcased all those projects at open access carleton today. It is interesting when we get out of our circles how great all these projects are again. It is good to be reminded that this is not mainstream. Cheers t On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 5:23 PM, Bernard Rudny <[hidden email]> wrote:
-- Tracey P. Lauriault 613-234-2805 |
Re: QUESTION - Will Open data change the elections and encourage more youth to vote?
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All;
Here is the results of the interview: http://www.capitalnews.ca/index.php/multimedia/#/democracy-theres-an-app-for-that vote.ca, apathy is boring, How'd they vote, are featured in the video. I really wanted her to feature Represent Me (http://representme.ca/) as it includes municipal election information and demographics. I thought Tanya would have put all the links into the story, but alas, no! We visited all the sites listed in this conversation, above, and her initial question was very different than the one featured in her story. She also grabbed a headline from an Ottawa Sun Article for her article here. I would have liked to see a bit more, but so be it. I wonder if more youth Cheers t On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 10:04 PM, Tracey P. Lauriault <[hidden email]> wrote: Thanks Bernard! That is useful! -- Tracey P. Lauriault 613-234-2805 |
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