Labour Party new website preview

Labour.ie is to be relaunched with a new look and feel this Monday by Tommy Broughan TD and Candidate and Cllr. Eric Byrne.

I've been part of a the Web Advisory Group in the party which has looked at improving the use of the Internet as a tool for the party. One of the first things we looked at doing was reorganising the already excellent Labour.ie into the undisputed champion of Irish Political Party websites. The launch can't come at a better time and will show that Labour is the party of the Knowledge Society.

1. Labour Blog
Key issues will now be presented using a blog interface on the front page. Articles written specifically for the web (i.e. not press releases) will highlight the issues being promoted and dealt with by the party. Constituents will be encouraged to comment and provide feedback provided they are willing to register with the site. Labour representatives will also be able to blog from within the new site. This means that forthcoming Labour bloggers can choose between using outside blogging platforms like blogger or typepad or they can use the website facility

2. Google Maps

Google maps have been incorporated into the site to help constituents find their local representatives using an interactive map. Constituency pages will also include a map of the constituency with the boundary marked using a custom overlay. Geo-tagging will be used to help constituents find information specific to their local area. This will be done by linking blog articles, press releases, local press releases, Flickr photos, and other information to geo-tagged local areas. The Party Leader’s tour will also be mapped with images and news available within Google map info windows.

3. RSS Feeds
RSS feeds will be provided throughout the site to allow constituents subscribe to content that suits their needs. Initially there will be feeds for blog articles (main site and local rep blogs), press releases (main site and local rep releases), events, a global feed covering all of the above, del.icio.us links, and Flickr photos. Over time it is planned to provide feeds for content geo-tagged with local areas. An aggregate Labour blog will also be developed incorporating all blogs based on the Labour site as well as Labour blogs hosted elsewhere.

4. Flickr Photos
There are 5,500 images on the Labour Party Flickr account documenting the party’s work over the last couple of months. Utilising the Flickr API each candidate / representative's page will have a gallery of photographs which can be viewed either as a slideshow or they can click and be taken to the individual’s Flickr photographs.

5. del.icio.us Links
Links from the Party's del.icio.us account will be incorporated into the site using the del.icio.us API. This will allow for the display of lists of related links on pages showing information that has been tagged appropriately.

6. Tags
Tags, or keywords, will be used throughout the site to link different types of content that deal with similar subject matter.

7. Mailing List
While this is not a new feature, a lot of work will focus on developing and growing the Party mailing list. The aim being to develop it into a campaigning toll rather than a one-way information push.

Future Developments
Future development will include support for Microformats, investigation of the 'upcoming.org' api, and user-centred research to track the success or failure of the new features.

Look and Feel
With the launch of the new website Labour will be ahead of all the other Political Parties in Ireland offering a real way for voters to use the Labour.ie website. Using Google maps will give much life to the constituency section, which for many party websites is a much under used section of their websites. Openness and Transparency are what the public demands more from elected officials. Allowing the public to post comments on articles and press releases will be a hugely positive step forward.

The General Election 2007 will see the use of the Internet coming into play more and more as it did in the US Presidential Elections 2004. By enlisting the voluntary assistance of Zack Exley and the tactics of moveon.org, Labour intends to win the election in the ubiqutous Inter-web by using the Internet as a mobilising tool.

Last week at the PES Congress, Labour recieved strong support in the form of commitments to travel to Ireland and canvass for Labour in the General Election from Swedish MEPs in the Social Democrats, ECOSY members and numerous PES Activists.

Moving forward into the new year and the last few weeks of electioneering in 2007 no other party will be capable of installing a website of similar standards in time for the election and to make use of the internet for discussion and debate on policy. Labour has shown it will bring progressive change and not just talk to the table. When we talk about a Knowledge Society where people will have access to high speed broadband at affordable rates, where there will be no waste of tax payers money to store inaccurate E-Voting machines - we mean it!