opolitics

18 Doughty Street is a new web based internet TV channel. They won’t hide its rightwing agenda. I wonder if it will be Fox News for the UK. Discussing politics is always good for democracy in an age where civil liberties are compromised for the Anti Terror crusade. I am looking forward for the 10th of October to watch the channel. I tend to the left and currently live overseas. Good luck to the 18 Doughty Street team.

David Cameron, Conservative party leader, has launched his own vlog (video weblog) to try to get his message across to young people. Blogging is the latest PR and marketing weapon for political parties, trying to look fresh. David Cameron shows his domestic charm in the kitchen, dining room, the car and in the office. The question is will Web 2.0 help Cameron win the next elections.

A must read:

Geek activism has not taken off yet, but it should. With the gamers recognizing the need for a louder voice, EFF gaining momentum and Linux taking on the mainstream on the one hand and recent severe losses in privacy, freedom of speech and intellectual property rights on the other, now seems to be the best time to rally around the cause.

Israel. The war against the Hezbollah in Lebanon and bloodshed are having their toll on the population. The majority of the Israeli general public support the war and numbers haven’t declined since it started, 3 weeks ago.

The other day Gili challenged me and asked me if I could help her with an online petition. I said that I don’t write code, but I could help her and find a solution.

Orit and Gili have been petitioning the government for a ceasefire and needed way to collect signatures in an easy way.

The WordPress Blogging software is very easy to skin. You can create and design your own theme very easily if you have basic knowledge of HTML and CSS (PHP is also usefull).

How to create a petitioning software with Wordpress?

1. I used the default WordPress theme Kubrick and changed the commenting system and internal instruction to a form for adding names, emails and addresses. I shortened the comment field and labeled it as the place for entering the address.
2. I added a Page template that creates a list of all the signatures collected.

Basically this is it. The first version was in Hebrew I started working on English one adding a printer friendly version and thinking of other features.

Shortly, I will post the Wordpress Petition theme \ code on the internet and share with others.

Here is the English test site and the Hebrew working version of the petition, calling the Israeli government for a cease-fire and the opening of negotiations with Lebanon.

LazyGov is based on the LazyWeb concept and the RFC (Request for Comments) process. The LazyWeb claims that “The idea that if you wait long enough, someone will implement that wacky idea you had… (or already has!)“. civil society take waky ideas and try to persuade government to implement them as laws. Usually this is a long process and at times involves protest.

On the other hand, politicians take ideas and make them into policy, after getting feedback from their constituency. Participation and peer review help discuss ideas and build a constituency.

LazyGov only works when people discuss ideas and help each other improve government.