Tuesday, December 09, 2008

Poll: The Impact of Technology on Politics

Yesterday I wrote about the Orange/Future Laboratory report on how technology will impact politics over the coming years. I am about to go to speak at a lunchtime event at the House of Commons on the whole issue and Total Politics is about to poll all elected politicians in the country on some of its conclusions on behalf of Orange. The poll will be broken down by party affiliation.

Just as a bit of fun (Orange are not paying for this, by the way), I thought I'd give my blogreaders the same six poll questions, and see how they differ from the answers given by politicians. It'll take you 2 minutes to complete...

Vote HERE.

7 comments:

graybo said...

I'd add a question 4a - "Do you think this is necessarily a good thing?", to which my answer would be "probably not". I fear that a vocal, media-friendly and well-publicised minority could dominate, and it would further entrench soundbite politics and knee-jerk law making.

Anonymous said...

The dumb assed nature of this poll is that it does not allow anyone to disagree with any of the leading question assumptions.

Technology? Politics?

Most people cannot set the video recorder.
Does being obsessed with super mario or electronic suduku or grand theft auto correlate with political acumen?
Does a hologram of Kaufman telling bare faced lies in parliament make it any cleverer than the real thing?

BrianSJ said...

Sorry Iain,
Those are really terribly badly set questions and answers. Are we the first people you have tried them on? How did the user trials go?

T England. Raised from the dead. said...

I'd say technology would have more of an impact if more politicians could use it!
Let's take Harriet silly knickers Harman! She is a prime example of how technology is "understood" by the MAJORITY of Labour MP's & although the Tories are alot better (who cares about the Liberals?)many of those as well.

I'm still waiting for Britains unelected leader & his band of muppets to start telling us how to secure our browsers! ROFL!

Hey! WV=bansplog!

Enlightened Despot said...

We need to distinguish between innovations that will make policy and delivery processes more efficient and that that will stimulate new interest in contributing to government. The Orange ideas, which in many cases are similar to those of the 2006 Power Commission, are all excellent but will, I suspect, make it easier for those who are already engaged to participate in debate. Whether they will improve trust in the way we are governed and in the delivery of public services is debatable, however.

Unknown said...

The Lords will debate the broader issue on December 18 on a motion of Lord Norton of Louth that reads: Lord Norton of Louth to call attention to the case for enhancing Parliament’s ability to communicate with members of the public; and to move for papers.

lauderdalelad said...

What is the difference between a holographic Blair or Brown telling porkies and the real thing telling porkies.

NuLabour would love holographic MPs; it would be so much easier to programme them.