2008 Woodie Awards
Group serves as 'multi-partisan' news source
Gentry Lassiter
Issue date: 4/9/08 Section: News
The Associated Student Government executive elections began yesterday, and one group is organizing information to serve as a source for what it refers to as "multi-partisan news" related to the elections.
GDI Consulting, an organization founded by a UA student, has begun conducting a series of polls to investigate the visibility of each campaign within the popular realm of Facebook, according to the GDI Consulting: ASG Election Central page on the social networking site.
"I didn't want to endorse one person I've worked with over another person I've worked with," said Will Watson, ASG Chief of Staff. "The thing is, as far as I'm aware, there never has been a poll to keep track of how students are active in the ASG elections."
Watson conducted his research by observing the profile picture of every member of each candidate's group on Facebook and recording the number of profiles currently representing the candidate by visible mention in their profile picture, he wrote on the group's Web site.
"We have no political expertise, but we can look at how groups on Facebook can grow," Watson said. "No [ASG campaign] has any indicator how hard they might have to work before the results are released."
Campaigns could benefit from the information provided by the GDI Consulting: ASG Election Central group. Watson said he'd like to see an exit poll to generate an even better indicator of how the election is progressing.
While the information on Facebook is useful, it is not perfect, Watson said. "Facebook is not a perfect indicator. It's a good indicator, but it's not perfect," he said.
Watson said that, while he is a member of ASG, the recreational research he is doing is separate from the organization.
"With this GDI thing, I don't want it to come across as a part of ASG. Most of the things I've put out … I've been doing that on my own," he said.
The concept for the election central began as a conversation with Eric May, listed as a senior partner for GDI Consulting, Watson said.
GDI Consulting, an organization founded by a UA student, has begun conducting a series of polls to investigate the visibility of each campaign within the popular realm of Facebook, according to the GDI Consulting: ASG Election Central page on the social networking site.
"I didn't want to endorse one person I've worked with over another person I've worked with," said Will Watson, ASG Chief of Staff. "The thing is, as far as I'm aware, there never has been a poll to keep track of how students are active in the ASG elections."
Watson conducted his research by observing the profile picture of every member of each candidate's group on Facebook and recording the number of profiles currently representing the candidate by visible mention in their profile picture, he wrote on the group's Web site.
"We have no political expertise, but we can look at how groups on Facebook can grow," Watson said. "No [ASG campaign] has any indicator how hard they might have to work before the results are released."
Campaigns could benefit from the information provided by the GDI Consulting: ASG Election Central group. Watson said he'd like to see an exit poll to generate an even better indicator of how the election is progressing.
While the information on Facebook is useful, it is not perfect, Watson said. "Facebook is not a perfect indicator. It's a good indicator, but it's not perfect," he said.
Watson said that, while he is a member of ASG, the recreational research he is doing is separate from the organization.
"With this GDI thing, I don't want it to come across as a part of ASG. Most of the things I've put out … I've been doing that on my own," he said.
The concept for the election central began as a conversation with Eric May, listed as a senior partner for GDI Consulting, Watson said.
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