MyDebates - MySpace and Politics

As much as I dislike MySpace*, they've launched an interesting new site called MyDebates.org that aims to help people choose their candidates based on the issues and to provide educational resources, as well. Rather than summarize the site extensively, I recommend you read Ars Technica's review instead.

I found the site looks nice, is a little bloated and runs slowly on my system, but overall has a decent interface that should make it easy for people to use. It also raises a few issues (of course).

First,  the way the issues are presented tend to be in pretty detailed, specific ways that assume a fair amount of knowledge. Because I'm a political junkie, I knew what all these details were about, but if the site's audience is supposedly undecided young people (the idea of a quiz-style interface to help one choose implies indecision), I think the issues should be either presented more generally or, at least, in clearer terms. A lot of the options read like straight policy statements. I imagine they're trying to be neutral and present the candidates's positions as they state them, but it doesn't work. Barring a simplified explanation, the links to more information should be more prominent. The "More Info" links are not immediately apparent, which, if the main purpose is education, they should be.

Further, I'd like to see, rather than unexplained policy proposals, a more detailed list of questions that could lead people to answers through interactive education. I mean, rather than offsite links to more information, use the quiz format to break the proposals down into parts and explain them on the site. That way, the interface would stay consistent and the informative content would integrate with the decision-making content more seemlessly.

Also, while I like the focus on issues divorced from candidates (the candidate is only identified with an issue after you answer), the style is a little reminiscent of choosing items from a menu. That is, it suggests that political decisions are consumer choices. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing, but if it succeeds in making some people decide their votes based on a more rational and informed consideration of issues, then I can't see how it's ultimately bad.

Still, these are quibbles. I like the idea of the site, so I'd like to see it done better.

Second, and probably more interesting for most HASTACkers (is that a term?), the idea of the site itself is intriguing for the ways it links technology, pedagogy, and civic/political issues. Based on the general demographics of MySpace and the results from the National Stats tab, which show the support for each candidate based by state, the audience for the site clearly skews heavily toward younger people. Almost every state is for Obama according to these stats. Since we know from internals of national polls that young people overwhelmingly favor Obama, MyDebates.org seems to be reaching its intended audience. (Gallup tracking polls consistently show Obama with an almost 2-1 lead over McCain among 18-29 year old.) Of course, I have no idea how many have responded to the site's questions yet, so much of this could be noise.

The results, though, are less interesting than what this and sites like it can tell us about technology-enabled pedagogy, which is why I paid attention more to the interface than the idea. Can they help? Or is MyDebates.org more a gimmick than a useful tool? My suspicion is that it's somewhere in between, but that better site design and more interactive quizzes could be adapted effectively to many different areas. We know, for instance, that maximal retention of new information occurs if it is reinforced around the time that it starts to fade from memory. That is, repeating a point of knowledge too quickly doesn't help much; repeating it at too long an interval similarly doesn't help as much. If the goal were to teach, say, rhetorical concepts or Latin conjugations, a series of questions that repeated based on correct responses and length of time since last asked might help students retain the information better. That's not really the sort of thing one can do systematically in a classroom because of the varying demands of schedule and the arbitrary time intervals between class meetings.

Anyway, since I just discovered this site today, my thoughts about the whole thing are pretty sketchy, but I thought folks might find the site itself and the ideas motivating it interesting and relevant.

*Not because I'm a curmudgeon, but because their horrible site design and coding practices offend my tech sensibilities.