Starting a Political Career with Open Source? 66
byronmiller desires to get to the root of the following issue: "I have chosen to run for office to represent the people of the 16th district of Pennsylvania. I am looking for software and solutions to help manage a grass roots and budget friendly campaign. What applications are available for everything from district management/contact management solutions to online fund raising and campaign management solutions? We are already rolling out staff PC's running Suse 9.2, OpenOffice.org and of course Firefox. Are there any collaboration suites and mail systems that we can use for calendaring, notes, email and conferencing? Anyone build a campaign using open source technology or is Politics still only putting money where your mouth is? Technology is a major initiative of my campaign and i'm very interested in what political software and civic solutions are available - especially experience and reviews of such."
You could try Hula... (Score:5, Informative)
Thanks.. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Thanks.. (Score:2)
There were a lot of problems in the earlier revisions (pre-40), but at the current time (78) it works quite well, expecially since it hasn't had its first release yet (it is still in Subversion).
I've been doing the ebuilds for it, and I haven't found too many problems with it recently. You should probably know that it IS based on the Netmail codebase, so it isn
GIS! (Score:1)
You might find some GIS (Geographical Information System) tools, such as GRASS http://grass.itc.it/ [grass.itc.it] [grass.itc.it] useful for plotting out/ organising things such as:
*likely voting patterns
*areas of responsibility for canvassing
*local issues (flooding, crime?)
*Junk mail shots... (if you want to go there!)
*And maybe a spot of gerrymandering!!
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&client=firefo x-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=define:+gerry mandering&spell=1 [google.co.uk]
Technology is... (Score:2, Funny)
That's my district! (Score:3, Funny)
That said, I suggest you go 100% Microsoft. Outlook does wonders. Switch your phones to Skype. Distribute your press releases on Kazaa... Hope that helps.
Re:That's my district! (Score:2)
Scribus (Score:3, Insightful)
In Addition to GnomeMeeting... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:In Addition to GnomeMeeting... (Score:1)
Re:That's my district! (Score:2)
Re:That's my district! (Score:1)
GIS (Score:1)
You might find some GIS tools, such as GRASS (http://grass.itc.it/) [grass.itc.it] useful for plotting out/ organising things such as:
* likely voting patterns * areas of responsibility for canvassing * local issues (flooding, crime?) * Junk mail shots... (if you want to go there!) And maybe a spot of gerrymandering!!!Re:That's my district! (Score:2)
Keep your eye on the ball (Score:5, Insightful)
Getting a vote in Congress probably won't help anyone either, since the leadership of the majority party can do whatever they want. But at least there's a chance that you could do some good down the road if you win.
Do what you can to win. Don't focus on things that aren't directly related to winning. Winning is hard, and if you don't focus on it, you will probably lose.
Winning might include open source -- if you want to set up community web sites to bring people into your campaign, for example, open source might be the way to go. Take what you can from Joe Trippi's Dean campaign.
But don't get hung up making people type letters in open office, because it won't help you win.
Re:Keep your eye on the ball (Score:4, Insightful)
That's exactly what *everyone else* is doing and see what's happened? Focusing on winning with no interest in *why* you're winning or at what cost, leaves the whole exercise pointless. The poster may as well not stand at all if they're just going to do what everyone else does.
Re:Keep your eye on the ball (Score:2)
Absolutely. If you can't answer why you're running (and be able to answer briefly) you shouldn't be running at all. That said, our open source candidate friend here is already making a common mistake most candidates make. Right n
Re:Keep your eye on the ball (Score:4, Insightful)
If you spend less money on software for your staff to use, does that not leave you more money for more/better staff? If you spend less money on software for designing posters, does that not leave you more money to print more posters?
Does how efficiently your representative spends your money not effect who you choose to represent you?
I say go for it.
-2A
Re:Keep your eye on the ball (Score:4, Informative)
That said, here's what this guy's up against [opensecrets.org].
Re:Keep your eye on the ball (Score:3, Insightful)
Wrong! Anyone interested in real sweeping changes in the government needs to realize that it won't happen overnight. Our next president will be a Republican or a Democrat, so will the next.
What we need is to get in at the ground floor. 1 or 2 3rd party members in congress won't do a lot, but when that number grows to 10% of the floor, then they have some power.
Re:Keep your eye on the ball (Score:2)
Yes. A dangerously large amount of power - because 10% could be enough, (along with one of the Big Two), to constitute a majority. It's worse in the 10-20% range where one of the majors *must* court the minor in order to hold a majority.
When that happens, the '3rd party' holds power all out of proportion to it's size. The tail star
Re:Keep your eye on the ball (Score:2, Insightful)
And wait, a smaller party working together with a bigger one so that they have a majority, where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, it's called a coaltion and it's absolutely normal in most democracies.
Re:Keep your eye on the ball (Score:2)
That depends on your definition of 'no problem'. Most people don't consider walkouts, constant compromise bills, gridlocks, and other ills to be 'no problem'. Don't mismark me, the goverment continues to function, but there more to 'no problem' than simply continuing to function.
Re:Keep your eye on the ball (Score:1)
And from that point of view, I think it's pretty safe to say that a system with two parties has far more problems and disadvantages the a system with more parties. Of course too much parties is another problem.
I'd say that everything between 3 and 5, maybe 6 parties is rather "safe". By the way: 2 parties is much better then 10. I give you that any day.
I think the germans are handling it pretty well: two major parties and up to 3 (depends on which level) smaller
U.S. not set up for coalition govermnents (Score:1)
Re:U.S. not set up for coalition govermnents (Score:2)
You seem to be confused with our actual elections, which don't require a simple majority. When the outcome is based on a plurality, a strong third party does throw power to the big party with which its voters are most likely to disagree. We saw that in the 1992-2000 elections.
Unfortunately, thir
Re:Keep your eye on the ball (Score:2)
Politicians have to do what it takes to win. Ideals take a second to that.
That's all for now. Don't have mod points, but I gotta give ya some props for speaking the truth.
Re:Keep your eye on the ball (Score:2, Insightful)
Hey (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.advokit.net/ for voterfile, campaign management and voter relationship managemnet.
http://www.civicspacelabs.com/ is based on drupal, and provides a great way to make an interactive community driven site for your campaign.
ShadyDial, a predicitve dialer add on for asterisk.
You should also check out http://www.personaldemocracy.com/ for general commentary and discussion on techonology and software in politics.
~Nathan
you're screwed is more like it (Score:1, Insightful)
Your best bet is not to worry about what operating system is runnign your campaign website or other computers, but rather what your political platform and campaign slogan will be.
Re:you're screwed is more like it (Score:3, Insightful)
--LWM
clark tech corp / dean space (Score:5, Informative)
wired article [wired.com]
I for one welcome the possibility of an open source advocating/understanding overlord =P
(Granted the dean and clark campaigns weren't a political success, but dean's online campaign was considered initially a social networking success... until he ARRRRRRGGGGGD himself out of the race...)
Good luck!
e.
Howard Dean (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.civicspacelabs.org/ [civicspacelabs.org]
Collaboration software (Score:3, Interesting)
Use an internal wiki for discussions (the problems of public Wikis in political situations should be fairly obvious
In what way ... (Score:5, Insightful)
In what way is "technology a major initiative of your campaign"? We've heard candidates state the same things before, at all levels of government, but what does it really mean? While it's obvious that technology cannot be the sole focus of your candidacy, does it mean you are going to be pushing some form of Open Source adoption or what? Are you going to pushing digital rights legislation? There are a myriad of technological concerns that are being pushed into the political realm, where the people most likely to legislate are the ones least likely to be informed. Is this focus on technology merely a way to get low-cost assistance at pushing the same old non-tech issues?
So, again, how is technology a major initiative of your campaign?
Why not read me website.. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Why not read me website.. (Score:2, Troll)
This is such an odd concept. You see I pay for the public school system through property taxes and Federal income taxes and I DON'T HAVE ANY KIDS. Why exactly should you be exempted from paying taxes for public schools, or get vouchers, so you can defray the cost of sending your kid
Re:Why not read me website.. (Score:2)
Interesting that you bring this up. Our school district last year claimed soon-near-bankruptcy, and put a funding
Please speak english (Score:4, Interesting)
" * Continued investment in and support of broadband infrastructure & access."
Will you support the right of communities to provide free wifi and create local broadband networks? Yes or no.
" * Stronger recognition of consumer rights in the digital world."
Will you protect fair use? Yes or no.
" * Legitimate copyright protection & enforcement."
Will you restore due process? I.E. Media companies must get court orders to track user IP addresses? Yes or No.
" * Modernization of patent laws to protect innovation and technology."
What heck do you mean by that?
" * Technology assurance programs, including product liability to ensure consumer protection." Again what the heck do you mean by that?
" * Technology & protocol standardization - open system specifications, common infrastructure, and unified industry adoption."
So the government is going to make system specifications the LAW? Good grief I can not think of many ideas worse that than one.
What about funding research in to new Nuclear reactor technology like the Pebble Bed?
What about a solar roof program? Requiring each new home to have a small solar voltaic panel tied to the grid? Even 100 watts to start with? Just enough to to increase the production of solar cells. In the future the required size could be increased as the cost comes down.
What about increased funding for NASA?
What about a bio-diesel program? Maybe giving bio-diesel a bigger tax break.
I found your site short on specifics. Since you have jumped into the frying pan let's crank up some heat.
Re:Please speak english (Score:4, Informative)
Yes.
?? Will you protect fair use? Yes or no.??
Fiar use has no meaning. Fair use is like the clean are act, it sounds good but has no bite because the meaning doesn't PROTECT your freedoms afforded to you via copyright laws. We have to stop the UNFAIR business demands taking away our rights or come up with bills that define them to be easily understood and inclusive of all media types (digital/analog/printed...).
??" * Modernization of patent laws to protect innovation and technology." What heck do you mean by that??
Exactly what I mean. Modernization of Patent laws to protect innovation and technology - not prohibit such. Patents are used for the wrong reason and prohibit small businesses from innovating in many ways. We Need to be a bit more proactive in setting precedence for what could be patented and for what reasons instead of applying with the hopes (or lobbying for support of) getting approval on some unknown review process. (or the skill of your lawyer)
??" * Technology assurance programs, including product liability to ensure consumer protection." Again what the heck do you mean by that???
Take fair use and give it a law with Bite. Take consumer rights and make them known. What do you mean with or interpret as "fair use"? How do you know what to do with software you buy? Songs you purchase? Dvd's you own? Can you copy? Can you resell? Can you transfer license? What happens when your using something that advertises "secure online banking" but your information is exposed through a vendor mishap or lax security - why should YOU be punished for using a service sold to you as secure? How are you protected in such instances where your computer/network is unkowningly used to attack or break into others? What rights do you have as to what is running on your PC? Can you sue Spyware companies because they're breaking into your PC or is it assumed the risk we take is warranted and we shouldn't do anything to assure net access, net security, licensing protections and corporate awareness of consumer rights? I'm about consumer advocacy and awareness.
Technology & protocol standardization - open system specifications, common infrastructure, and unified industry adoption."
So the government is going to make system specifications the LAW? Good grief I can not think of many ideas worse that than one.
I beg to differ. Every industry has a standard protocol of acceptance, qualifications and industry standards. Medicine, Healthcare, Global Trade, you name it they all have rules, standards and laws to define them.
I'm not asking the government to enforce specific technologies but to create an environment that strives to create industry acceptance of such as a standard.
IT is being highly commodotized, in order to trade on the open market and to remain useable and accessible by all laws have to be created to set precendence on the industry, standards and adoption of such.
Re:Please speak english (Score:2)
Fair use is easy. If I buy a cd or dvd I own the rights to listen to that movie or music. If I want to convert it to a different format.
Here is one where I really have to disagree. The government has no more place deciding what file formats or communications protocols a program uses then it does
Re:Why not read me website.. (Score:2)
Re:Why not read me website.. (Score:2)
eGroupware (Score:1)
eGroupware is an excellent product that has become very mature in the past couple of years. It is all web-based and works great in Firefox.
It has email, shared calendaring, shared todo's. User is in control of what users can see/add/edit their appointments etc.
A default install comes with FAR more applications than you will need, but you can prune it down to do just what you want.
Check out eGroupWare [egroupware.org]
I would love to know what you and your staff think about this product.
disclamer: I am not affilia
Collaboration/email systems (Score:1)
It's quite stable, permits document and project management, as well as individual/group scheduling, and contact management.
Re:Collaboration/email systems (Score:1)
Re:Collaboration/email systems (Score:2)
They have an online demo [novell.com].
CivicSpace/DemocracyInAction (Score:5, Insightful)
Tim
Re:CivicSpace/DemocracyInAction (Score:2)
OpenACS... (Score:2)
Greetings (Score:2)
A wee bit offtopic (Score:2, Interesting)
Good luck, man! Hope it all works out for you.
Re:A wee bit offtopic (Score:2)
CivicSpace (Score:5, Informative)
While the people who support CivicSpace mean well, I ran it for several months and found it all bark and no bite. PHP apps are so brittle, it is foolhardy to attempt to run large scale projects on them. And too many PHP libraries are not threadsafe. Although it seems more and more (I would assume inexperienced) democratically oriented political organizations are starting to use CivicSpace. This concerns me.
I think the main reason CivicSpace has caught on is that it takes little skill to set up. That part of it is extremely democratic, and first impressions are everything. Then folks start doing the things it can do out of the box, like blog, and blogging a campaign does not make (actually, it distracts from an actual campaign).
Note that although CivicSpace came out of the Dean *grassroots* campaign, it took nearly the whole campaign to make it even minimally usable (although there were a lot of "skins" for it early on to make it look nice), and even then not many sites of any consequence were running it. The actual Dean *professional* campaign ran on a grab bag of proprietary and open source software (Convio, Moveable Type, roll your own PHP) that never had a single sign on and seemed to change every few months as a new person would get an audience in front of the right campaign official and convince them that some new software would solve all the problems of the old software, which had been the new software only a few months before. Each successive generation seemed to go downhill a bit as folks who were supposed to be more qualified took over from folks who had supposedly reached the limits of their usefulness.
At one point there was a tour by some software folks from the professional Dean campaign office that claimed they would come to your town and talk about open source software and leveraging technology to people interested in it. I was too busy with CivicSpace (then DeanSpace) at the time to mess with being a host, but I went to the whistle stop functions for the tour in my town when some other people did host it. There wasn't much talk about actual software or content management or leveraging technology. Just a lot of jumping up and down about what a good time the campaign people were having on tour.
Be forewarned, when I used CivicSpace, it required PHP Safe Mode to be turned off and would not run in a PHP hardened environment. It is not secure enough for real campaigns.
If anyone reading this is a CivicSpace advocate, this is not meant to discourage you. If CivicSpace is serving your needs, by all means have at it. This is just my experience. Dealing with the hype and pressure to use CivicSpace in my activist network pretty much set us back the entire campaign.
Also, avoid Voter Activation Network at all costs. It's .Net, so you probably won't even consider it to begin with. Slow. Inflexible.
Anyway, I've found that rolling your own with a *robust and scalabe* open source CMS like Plone works best for me. There are value add companies [cignex.com] that have very quick (< 2 month) turn around to provide something custom built on top of open source platforms to your needs. This is going to take you a lot farther than something free out of the box, supported by college students on Instant Messenger when they happen to be around, with a smorgasboard of common PHP message board functions.
Finally, remember that althought CMSes sound democratic, there are complex social patterns to successfully deploying a CMS your community will actually use and contribute content to. People will fuss to get things on the web. Then when you actually give them the tools to do so, they will still try to pass all the content creation off on the webmaster, creating both a bottleneck and a political problems (why is a webmaster the most qualified person to shape political messages? why is the webmaster supposed to know finance law? why is the webmaster suddenly in charge of scheduling and managing your rally?). You will need to devise a
Too Transparent (Score:1)
Drupal (Score:1)
http://www.drupal.org/ [drupal.org]
lots of modules, active devs, php and free.