Parties square off in cyberspace
Brian Yasui, CBC News Online | May 29

I'm a busy guy - or at least my wife and two children are, therefore, I am. All I know is that between my job and the other "work," trying to decide which party or politicians I want to vote for falls way down the priority list, just below sitting slumped on the couch, eyes glazed over, enjoying the stupor.

There rarely is the time available or the proper schedules in my life to wait for a television or radio newscast or for the next edition of the newspaper to find out, day-by-day, what the parties have to say on this issue or that.

But the Internet is "always on." It seems like the perfect place to find out what the parties think about the issues that are important to me.

My computer skills are, uh, limited. I know what I need to know to check my email and surf the Web. Anything beyond that is clutter as far as I'm concerned, and there's certainly enough of that in my head already. Having said that, I rely on the computer more than any other medium to feed me information. Coupled with my short attention span, I often need to get my information easily, quickly and NOW.

Much to my relief, Neil Lee, an instructor of digital multimedia technology at Red River Community College, says those are probably the common elements that link the various temperaments and personalities of Web users.

“First of all, technically, the text on the computer screen is blurrier than, say, in a newspaper. The screen also emits light, which causes eyestrain, so Web surfers don't have much patience. It hurts their eyes to read for too long,” explains Lee.

“The people themselves are more goal-driven: 'I've got to get in here to find out something, then go off somewhere else.'”

• Simplicity is key •

Neil Lee says the key to Web site design is to be simple and obvious, mainly because the surfer tends to scan the page, not read it.

“I want to get the big picture quickly. I want to see headlines and sub-headlines, which I quickly scan to see if it's going to be worth my time reading the rest of the text,” says Lee. “The message must be clear immediately, or otherwise I might decide it's not worth my time to slog through it, and instead click on something else.”

So, with that in mind, on to the six political parties' Web sites:

At first glance, the three mainstream parties, (Liberals, Conservatives, NDP) have the easiest-to-scan sites. They're nicely packaged, pleasing to the eye, and easy to get around.

On the other hand, the sites belonging to the Green Party, the Communist Party of Canada, and the Libertarian Party of Canada make for more work. There's a lot of text, and not much of it written snappily enough to grab my attention. Besides, there are too many choices on the pages that I need time to sift through.

Based on Lee's contention about “getting the big picture quickly”, score one for the mainstream guys.

• Quick identification important •

Lee says as far as political Web sites are concerned, the parties need to identify themselves quickly.

“I'm thinking they should have their party name, maybe their logo and certainly a picture of their leader at the top,” says Lee. “Then they need to follow up with two or three top issues to explain where they stand, but just the headline and maybe one sentence. I'll click on it if I want to read more.”

Under that criteria, the Greens, Communists and Libertarians fail miserably. Heck, on their sites, it takes clicking on several links, then wading my way through what feels like essays, before I even learn the name of their leaders. I still have no clue what they look like.

On the comical side of things, the Liberals' page has a picture of leader, Jon Gerrard, at the recent Teddy Bears picnic in Winnipeg. Unfortunately, there are other people in the picture, and unless you knew before what Gerrard looks like, you're left wondering if maybe he's the person wearing that cartoon-like costume?

On the Web sites of the Tories and NDP, a picture of the leader dominates the page, although I need to search a tiny bit more to discover that Stuart Murray is the name of the Tory leader. Considering Murray's and Gerrard's relative anonymity with Manitobans, this is a black mark for their sites.

• Out-of-date site a 'lost opportunity' •

As for teasing us with a few of the top issues, all of the parties do it, but the question is who presents them to the point where I want to keep exploring? The Conservatives, Liberals and NDP. I find their issues category easily, they've broken them down by category, and it requires just one simple click.

I have a bone to pick with the Communists on this: Under its headline called, “CURRENT issues”, they list stopping the war in Iraq and a statement about how Sept. 11 "has created a dynamic and powerful new global movement for peace, democracy and sovereignty." Not exactly current, or at the top of the priority list for a lot of Manitobans, and maybe not even in the middle.

Neil Lee says he suspects the Communists' Web site has been largely forgotten by the party – and that can hurt. “It's a lost opportunity at the very least and wilful ignorance at worst,” declares Lee. “The smaller parties need to take advantage of every opportunity to promote themselves because the larger ones have other means – like more money and leveraging mainstream media – to get their message out.”

Image is a large part of any election campaign, so are issues. All of the rest of the parties break down local issues and their positions on them. All of their views, of course, are unchallenged and allow for unrestrained elaboration of the party line.

• Party sites partisan, obviously •

The PC's and NDP occasionally sprinkle in partisan vitriol for the other's "laughable" platform. That's always fun to read and may even offer an alternative view. Yes, it's party propaganda with promises galore, but no explanation about whether new money will fuel the conversion of promises into reality or whether the funding is to come from other areas which might affect the performance there.

Lee says the one-sidedness is not unusual. “When you go to a Web site for a movie, you never see a line that says, 'Don't watch this movie because it sucks.' But the bonus of reading online is that it's easy to find dissenting opinions,” says Lee.

“The question is whether people have the motivation to find the balance in the story. People on the Web tend to have that, mainly because it's easy to jump around to various sites for critical review.”

As for Web site clarity, to me, the NDP offers the best page. It's very efficient and to-the-point. There are only a few links with which to contend. I can spend the least amount of time deciding whether I want to discover more.

It's also the most media-savvy site. If I want to see Gary Doer in NDP television ads – click – I can. If I want to hear his radio ads – click – it's available.

The Tories offer four of their radio ads, but they lose points because they didn't even get their Web site up until the election campaign was a week old. And the Liberals have a page they say they'll be updating with video and audio as the campaign continues – but there's nothing there except a few "Vote Liberal" images, perhaps in case I wanted to make a button for my lapel.

Simply put, after seeing the NDP Web site, none of the other parties seem to fully grasp the opportunity offered on the Web. In my ranking, the Liberals, Tories and the others rank behind.

Oddly, the sites' ranking seems to follow the parties' popularity in the polls fairly closely – or perhaps it's not so odd: Web site design and maintenance is expensive. A popular party can raise more funds, and perhaps has more money to spend on a Web site with all the virtual bells and whistles.