K-Praxis - Topic: Social Networks - Democratic Primaries, Howard Dean, Election Campaign Management, And Information Intelligence

Democratic Primaries, Howard Dean, Election Campaign Management, And Information Intelligence - PART I
December 30, 2003

As the US politics heads towards New Hampshire Democratic Primaries and Clark and Dean emerge as frontrunners, K-Praxis is starting a series on Election Campaign Management and Information Intelligence. This article looks at some of the traditional campaign management solutions. Next articles in the series will look at how Information Intelligence based solutions could be used for campaign management.

Anatomy of a Traditional Election Campaign Management Solution

Apart from the information management involved in the actual voting electronic (or other) voting procedures, the traditional election campaign management on the Net basically meant the presence of the candidate on the Net—official websites, E-mail campaigns, Video Games, and straightforward On-line campaigning/advertising. There were other information intelligences procedures used, and these could, for example, involve:

Tracking volunteers and campaign staff
Managing campaign resources and funds
Targeting voter demographic groups
Managing mail outs, voter letters, contribution requests and thank you letters
Tracking membership and donation funds
Targeting prospective contributors
Making effective use of time and resources
Maintaining clear and accurate overview of campaign success
Elections handicapping and surveys

The Difference the Dean Campaign Makes

It is very well known now that the Meetup.com services that Howard Dean’s campaign used have returned a more or less unexpected advantage for him. The number of supporters has gone up exponentially, and Dean has emerged as an important factor in the race. The campaign woke up the net-users communities, with Howard Dean’s guestblogs on Lawrence Lessig’s own blog in a certain sense endorsing the net-aware nature of the campaign, thus gaining other supporters over and above the support groups formed through Meetup.com.

What should one expect from Information Intelligence based solution?

Over and above what has been managed, in terms of the use of the Net for election campaigns, what may, or should, one expect with special attention to information intelligence? It is already clear that some of the advantage Howard Dean gained will be lost eventually because of the very nature of the support community formed mainly on the Net—such communities, based on a one, or two or three point agenda, tend to dissipate over a period of time. Moreover, other Net users might intervene, and change the directions of such agendas. It is also clear that the Net is much more prone to criticism, since brand loyalty is not really the issue on the Net, as far as such groups are concerned.

What should then one expect? It already is possible to map out certain areas where information intelligence based solutions will be useful to election campaigns. For example, in the Meetup.com, or Friendster type of interaction amongst individuals, information intelligence could help in the following manner.

As can easily be experienced, the transition from a chat-group meeting, or a Net-meeting, to a real-space meeting in a café or a home is rather difficult for most persons (it is quite close, in that sense, to blind-dating, since one does not ‘know’ the person beforehand). An information intelligence based solution could make this transition easier, by providing more detailed profiles of users, their interests etc.

Election campaigns could use the Net itself more meaningfully, as Howard Dean has attempted. Quite a lot of candidates use their own websites as ‘Net-savvy’ electronic copies of their own print brochures (a problem similar to the problems that Internet Yellow Pages face!), thus under-utilizing the full potential of the Net. One of the ways in which the Net could be used more profitably for election campaigns is to form voter-communities. This is important especially for candidates or parties that project themselves as running an issue-based politics. Such communities are formed around issues, and are particularly amenable to issue-based politics.

The Net is a powerful source not only for support, but also for criticism, and campaigns could specifically provide services in this area, inviting criticism via discussion groups or other devices. Information intelligence could be culled from the Net, and using various automated, semi-automated text analytics, campaigns could arrive at a clearer picture of voters’ needs .....(Series to be continued).

	Making sense of online textual information and information management technologies

	Democratic Primaries, Howard Dean, Election Campaign Management, And Information Intelligence - PART I December 30, 2003 As the US politics heads towards New Hampshire Democratic Primaries and Clark and Dean emerge as frontrunners, K-Praxis is starting a series on Election Campaign Management and Information Intelligence. This article looks at some of the traditional campaign management solutions. Next articles in the series will look at how Information Intelligence based solutions could be used for campaign management. Anatomy of a Traditional Election Campaign Management Solution Apart from the information management involved in the actual voting electronic (or other) voting procedures, the traditional election campaign management on the Net basically meant the presence of the candidate on the Net—official websites, E-mail campaigns, Video Games, and straightforward On-line campaigning/advertising. There were other information intelligences procedures used, and these could, for example, involve: Tracking volunteers and campaign staff Managing campaign resources and funds Targeting voter demographic groups Managing mail outs, voter letters, contribution requests and thank you letters Tracking membership and donation funds Targeting prospective contributors Making effective use of time and resources Maintaining clear and accurate overview of campaign success Elections handicapping and surveys The Difference the Dean Campaign Makes It is very well known now that the Meetup.com services that Howard Dean’s campaign used have returned a more or less unexpected advantage for him. The number of supporters has gone up exponentially, and Dean has emerged as an important factor in the race. The campaign woke up the net-users communities, with Howard Dean’s guestblogs on Lawrence Lessig’s own blog in a certain sense endorsing the net-aware nature of the campaign, thus gaining other supporters over and above the support groups formed through Meetup.com. What should one expect from Information Intelligence based solution? Over and above what has been managed, in terms of the use of the Net for election campaigns, what may, or should, one expect with special attention to information intelligence? It is already clear that some of the advantage Howard Dean gained will be lost eventually because of the very nature of the support community formed mainly on the Net—such communities, based on a one, or two or three point agenda, tend to dissipate over a period of time. Moreover, other Net users might intervene, and change the directions of such agendas. It is also clear that the Net is much more prone to criticism, since brand loyalty is not really the issue on the Net, as far as such groups are concerned. What should then one expect? It already is possible to map out certain areas where information intelligence based solutions will be useful to election campaigns. For example, in the Meetup.com, or Friendster type of interaction amongst individuals, information intelligence could help in the following manner. As can easily be experienced, the transition from a chat-group meeting, or a Net-meeting, to a real-space meeting in a café or a home is rather difficult for most persons (it is quite close, in that sense, to blind-dating, since one does not ‘know’ the person beforehand). An information intelligence based solution could make this transition easier, by providing more detailed profiles of users, their interests etc. Election campaigns could use the Net itself more meaningfully, as Howard Dean has attempted. Quite a lot of candidates use their own websites as ‘Net-savvy’ electronic copies of their own print brochures (a problem similar to the problems that Internet Yellow Pages face!), thus under-utilizing the full potential of the Net. One of the ways in which the Net could be used more profitably for election campaigns is to form voter-communities. This is important especially for candidates or parties that project themselves as running an issue-based politics. Such communities are formed around issues, and are particularly amenable to issue-based politics. The Net is a powerful source not only for support, but also for criticism, and campaigns could specifically provide services in this area, inviting criticism via discussion groups or other devices. Information intelligence could be culled from the Net, and using various automated, semi-automated text analytics, campaigns could arrive at a clearer picture of voters’ needs .....(Series to be continued).