Getting independent information about the election

During the 2005 General Election the bloggosphere was relatively new, and as a consequence it was fairly easy to trawl for interesting commentary sites on the election campaign. Because the big players, both in the parties and the media have woken up to the power of the Internet, it is much more dificult to find indeendent analysis. This is not because they don't exist, rather that they are overwhelmed by the sheer number and the search engine ratings of the big players.

Although presented by a newspaper, I found this FT panel interesting because it includes three party back-room staff who look at the communication issues each week of the campaign. Moroever as communciation professionals you get more of analysis and less of yah-boo sucks.

My colleague Paul Baines at Cranfield is presenting both research and commentary on the elections which provides a more academic interpretation.

Prior to the eelction City University had a very interesting debate about the possible impact of new media on the campaign.

Some more academic commentary can be found here

The UK General Election site provides a place for interested people to get involved in polls and discussion forums, but lacks a commentary cutting edge.

For academics looking to conduct research on party and candidates communications, this site at Bristol University may well prove a worthwhile source.

I was amused to note that Angie Hobbs is constructing a Cabinet of philosophers, though personally I prefer Monty Python's philosophers song

Nottingham University's blog on the election provides postcripts to some of the happennings of the campaign.

One interesting question for lobbying groups, especially charities, is how do they get a look in during the campaign and have their voice heard. This site explains research which may help answer this question.

I also note that De Montford University has a PhD scholarship available for a student to look at the role of the Internet in the 2010 General Election. I am slightly lost how someone can start after the campaign, too much information will be lost.

Also focusing on the communication aspects of the campaign is Darren Lilleker's blog