UK general election 2010 on the Web Jennie Grimshaw, British Library spoke on the UK general election 2010 on the Web. Focusing on the work of the British library in web archiving selected key Internet resources

1. The UK General Election
2010 on the Web
J.M. Grimshaw
May 28th 2010
1

2. What were we trying to do?
• Demonstrate use of the web for:
• Communication of policies by parties and
their candidates
• Influencing of policy by interest groups
• Promotion of public participation
• Enable comparison with use of the web for 2005
general election
2

3. Selection guidelines
News and Local and
Representative comment – national
sample of traditional political
candidates media, parties
sites, including political
social media blogs, polls
MC900056434[1]
Pressure
groups,
Public professional
engagement – societies,
interactive sites charities
3

4. Sources
• Candidates’ lists and links on party websites
• British Government Politics on the Internet,
Keele University
• Search engines – main source
• Suggestions from colleagues
4

5. Barriers to Success
• Narrow window of opportunity
• Permissions issues
• Technical challenges – crawling 540 new titles
when the normal monthly target is 30!
5

6. Overcoming time pressures
Collaborate –
help from
Include sites
National
already
Libraries of
identified for
Scotland and
2005
Wales +
election, eg
Commons
political
Library
parties
Start selecting
in advance of
the campaign
6

7. Overcoming permissions issues
• Getting attention of candidates and parties during
the campaign is challenging
• But we do not normally archive sites without
formal written permission to avoid breaching
copyright
7

8. Overcoming permissions issues
Exercise due diligence – first seek formal
permission to archive site
Demonstrate failure and move to
notice & take down
Not displayed as a collection due to sensitivities around
8
consultation on e-legal deposit

9. Overcoming technical limitations
First use of group scheduling
(archiving large number of
titles in a group, so that only
one schedule is needed)
9

10. A Tour of the collection: candidates’
sites
• Some make full use of
all social media – Nick
Clegg is on Facebook
& Twitter as well as
running a campaign
website
10

11. A tour of the collection: candidates’
sites
• Others use their local
constituency party site
• May have little election
content
• And a focus on local
issues!
11

12. A tour of the collection: national
parties
• Includes selected
minor as well as three
main parties
• Compare 2005 and
2010 election sites and
manifestos
• Maintains left
wing/right wing and
religious/secular
balance
12

13. Minor parties
13

14. A tour of the collection: interest
group sites
• Encourage activism
• Use video and social
media
• Offer manifestos and
briefings
14

15. A tour of the collection: interest
group sites
• Trace change of
approach and policy
between elections
• Compare EU
Elections, & 2005 and
2010 general elections!
15

16. A tour of the collection: election
blogs
• Academic/think tank
• Party political
• Journalistic
• Candidates
16

17. A tour of the collection: news and
commentary
• Focuses on BBC News
coverage
• Other news sites not
gathered due to
sensitivities around
consultation on e-legal
deposit
• Includes full
transcripts of TV
debates
• Archived daily 17

18. A tour of the collection: public
engagement
• Encourage activism
• The Straight Choice
collects and mounts
election leaflets
photographed and sent
in by the public
• 5715 leaflets added on
May 18th
18

19. A tour of the collection: public
engagement
• Encourage
interactivity
• Who should you vote
for? - answer quiz
questions, and then
the site will compare
your views with those
of main political
parties
19

20. A tour of the collection: public
engagement
• Social media are
prominent
• UK 2010 general
election on Twitter –
offers tweets from
politicians, journalists,
media, voters
• Archived daily
20

21. Collection presentation
• Organised into subject categories
– Research centres and think tanks
– Regulation and guidance
– Public and community engagement
– Election blogs
– Interest groups
– News and commentary
– Political parties – local and national
– Candidates
21

22. Visual presentation of results
• Visual analysis using
tag clouds
• Used to show most
frequently used words
in political party
websites in 2005
election
• Coming soon for 2010
election!
22

23. For future enjoyment!
• UK general election 2010 collection
– Over 700 sites
– All available in the UK Web Archive
– http://www.webarchive.org.uk/
– But not yet presented as a collection due to
introduction of sub-categories – requires
technical adjustment
23

24. In the meantime …
use title or keyword search!
24

25. Contact
Jennie Grimshaw
Curator, Official Publications and Social Policy
British Library
96 Euston Road
London NW1 2DB
Email: jennie.grimshaw@bl.uk
25