Today’s Good News: Citizen Journalists Wiki Up To Cover Congressional Elections
A new project called “Wiki the Vote” will empower citizens to fill the all-important role, usually neglected by mainstream media, of reporting on the FULL RECORD of every candidate running for Congress, well before the primary elections.
As any savvy employer will tell you, past performance is the best predictor of future performance. Most political reporting doesn’t even touch on candidates’ records. Now comes Wiki the Vote to the rescue. Wiki the Vote is a
As a wiki, the content on Wiki the Vote can be drafted and edited by anyone with an Internet connection, but all additions will be held to a high standard of fairness, accuracy, and strict referencing. The standards are enforced by the community of citizen editors, three paid editors, and participating external experts.
More than 280 basic profiles of confirmed 2008 congressional candidates have been created and will be expanded and updated by those who know them best: local citizens from the candidates’ districts. When the OpenSecrets.org 2008 congressional campaign contributions database goes online in a few weeks, the profiles will also display live feeds tracking the money race and who is funding it.
In true open-source fashion, candidates and campaign volunteers are free to contribute documented information about both challengers and incumbents. They are asked, however, to identify themselves when making such edits. “Contributions to Congresspedia are judged by their accuracy and sourcing – not who made them,” said Conor Kenny, managing editor of Congresspedia.
The Congresspedia project contains nearly 2,000 citizen-authored articles on legislation, lawmakers, committees and congressional procedure to give a comprehensive picture of how — and why — Congress operates as it does. The articles benefit from being part of the more than 30,000 articles that make up CMD’s SourceWatch.
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