The Wardman Wire

Not a Number

“Beta: A pre-final release version of a product or service”. Mike Rouse argues that beta versions can have health hazards when applied beyond technology.

My experience of ‘cultural beta tags’ taught me that they are just an excuse for bad planning. When it comes to political communications technology there should be no such phrase as “we are in beta” as this immediately consigns the phrase to the culture of the operation, the management and the core of the campaign itself.

Mike Rouse is back. After a break Mike will be continuing coverage of technology in the service of politics. He starts with some reflection on fashion, technology and finance.

As a designer and developer in the political arena I have noticed a sudden spike in interest in web technologies in the past few months. All of a sudden politicians from all areas of the spectrum are talking about Twitter, Facebook and blogging (no link needed for blogging round here).

There’s a renewed urgency and pressure to sort these areas out the likes of which I have not seen since last year’s election that never was when candidates were contacting me because they realised that an election might be around the corner and their website looked like something from 1999 or worse still they didn’t have one at all.

Mike Rouse sets out his view on the decision to build the new Number 10 Downing Street website on Wordpress.

As it’s Friday Free for All here on the ever-growing Wardman Wire I thought I would ask a question instead of an opinion, based on something that somebody asked me in a pub recently:
“I was just starting to get into these blogs, but then I went away for two weeks and I haven’t been able [...]