politics, web 2.0

Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales, celebrated the 4th web 2.0 style by launching Campaigns Wikia, a social wiki for political campaigns. (For those not familiar, a Wiki is a community edited online encyclopedia, in this case open to the public.)

I look forward to seeing Camapaigns Wikia develop into an online discourse that takes a look at the issues, candidates' platforms, and the parties' strategies, aside from the 2-dimensional PR posturing. Though there are other nonpartisan camaign trail sites, few have the interactive power to leverage large communities. Wikia can be a space to lay down the facts, sort out histories from rumor, and keep track of all the double-talk that candidates think they can leave at the union rally as they drive-off to meet the suits of the industrial lobby.

But as he says in the mission statement, an open letter to the political blogosphere:

I will frankly admit right up front: I don't know how to make politics healthier. But, I believe that you do. I believe that together we can work, this very election season, to force campaigns to use wikis and blogs to organize, discuss, manage, lead and be led by their volunteers.

Wales writes,"The candidates who will win elections in the future will be the candidates who build genuinely participative campaigns by generating and expanding genuine communities of engaged citizens." Let's hope he's right.