The Internet is carrying the campaign strategies of all three major political parties in the run-up to next month's Ontario election, albeit in different ways and to varying degrees. In Part 2 of our Ontario Politics 2.0 series, Toronto-based writer Lydia Perovic looks at the availability and diversity of Web 2.0 features in the context of e-communication and online campaigning.
Previous page: An online kaleidoscope of campaign features
It will be interesting to watch how the incumbents transition from constituency, public service-type information dissemination to full-out campaigning in their newsletters, and whether the transfer of contacts from one to the other is in any way regulated by Elections Ontario.
There are many ways to massage the constituency-related information into electioneering, as I'm sure many an MPP is in the process of realizing. Even during the regular times of incumbency, any communication with constituents - including e-communication like newsletters and Web sites - is a balancing act between MPP and party-related information and the public service riding information.
The old Liberal Party site used to redefine stodgy. The new one that was placed online recently is a different story. Although some of the candidates' pages still lack crucial contact information, most of them have it, and some effort has been made to diversify and personalize content for each of the candidates.
The platform is there, and the central policy is housed under the "Our Agenda" drop-down menu on the home page.
Perhaps prompted by the Tories' strong embrace of social media, the "Community" menu offers a "Latest Online" page which urges: "Check back daily as we will be sharing with you, videos, blog entries, Facebook postings, campaign photos from across the province, and other interesting links." No postings so far.
There is also a promise of two campaign blogs (under HQ), but so far the space has been used to post the usual campaign material - photos in one and ad airing announcements in the other.
The Ontario NDP has not designed a campaign site (as of publication), but the party has been adding some electoral content to the old party site very slowly. The only part of the site regularly updated is the party's press release roll.
Until yesterday the list of 2007 candidates was difficult to find and it contained only names and e-mail addresses. Now the "Team" link contains pages for each candidate, but they appear to have been only half-done, with still only e-mail for contact information in many, links that do not work, and biographies that begin with the same four paragraphs.
A negligible number of candidates have their own campaign Web sites. Among the incumbents, only Cheri DiNovo has both a campaign Web site (in the form of a blog) and a constituency Web site available. The Michael Prue and Howard Hampton campaigns have recently opened YouTube accounts.
The party has not created place-marker sites to be filled later with content (which is what the Liberals have done with their candidates' sites) and there is very little in the way of blog activity among candidates. Paul Ferreira maintained a blog when he ran municipally, and Ward 14 Councillor Gord Perk's main constituency Web site is a blog; so it is not unheard of within the party.
The Ontario NDP site has an "E-mail Your Local Newspaper" list, which is part of what seems to be a very under-utilized "Take Action" page. There are never any events in the "Events" calendar.
Some potentially interesting content can be found under the "Campaigns" menu, but the issue pages are brief, rarely if ever updated, and seem to presume that the petitions on various Liberal broken promises are the be-all and end-all of political action.
And this brings us to the next e-campaigning issue. In Part 3 tomorrow, we'll examine the actual use of these innovative Web features for citizens.
Related content:
Read Part 1: Politics 2.0: Web campaigning in the Ontario election
Read Part 3: Web campaigning for Elections Ontario: What's in it for me?
Political parties tap IT for election advantage
Gearing up for the Ontario election
Tory's Tories: The Ontario PC Party's Web sites
The Ontario Liberal Web site: Kodachrome or black and white?
Election? What election?: The Ontario NDP Web site
Would-be Toronto mayors reaching new voters with YouTube
Ryerson students leverage YouTube popularity
Toronto elections campaigning for transparent funding
Liberals (e-)challenged
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