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openoakland / opendisclosure

THIS PROJECT IS UNMAINTAINED - SEE: https://github.com/caciviclab/odca-jekyll AND https://github.com/caciviclab/disclosure-backend-static
http://opendisclosure.io/
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Election countdown clock - "34 days until the election" #224

Closed evanwolf closed 10 years ago

evanwolf commented 10 years ago

static text to go under the masthead.

elinaru commented 10 years ago

I like this idea -- can we do it?

elinaru commented 10 years ago

Others seem less enthusiastic. What do people think of #184 (count down to fresh data)?

lla2105 commented 10 years ago

I think it is unnecessary information that isn't part of the public data we are trying to open and expose tot he public. It is more of a style feature and not absolutely necessary so it is just one more thing to develop, maintain, and fix if it breaks/malfunctions somehow. I say we close this issue. If we want to get this information across the @OpenDisclosureO Twitter handle can always tweet something like: "15 days util the election check out opendisclosure.io!"

evanwolf commented 10 years ago

I disagree, @lla2105. This is completely relevant. It's vital context for the information we're presenting. If you aren't aware of the days left, you can't assess the impact of war chests and spending. It's really different to have $100K at 60 days; another at 6 days. Countdowns also improve the sense of urgency and immediacy.

lla2105 commented 10 years ago

@evanwolf if you want to build it, submit a pull request, we can view what you've developed and we can all discuss it as a group next Tuesday to decide if we want to implement it on the site. I worry that it might look too tabloid-press-blog like with a countdown image in the header. So I'd prefer that if we put that information on the site it look very tame and neutral, not sensational - if that makes any sense to anyone.

mikeubell commented 10 years ago

To be blunt: why cater to the least informed? I don't think it is worth our time to help someone out who does not even know when the election is. Why are they even looking at this then?

On Oct 1, 2014, at 9:27 AM, Phil Wolff notifications@github.com wrote:

I disagree, @lla2105. This is completely relevant. It's vital context for the information we're presenting. If you aren't aware of the days left, you can't assess the impact of war chests and spending. It's really different to have $100K at 60 days; another at 6 days. Countdowns also improve the sense of urgency and immediacy.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.

evanwolf commented 10 years ago

@mikeubell: To be blunt: why cater to the least informed? I don't think it is worth our time to help someone out who does not even know when the election is. Why are they even looking at this then?

About the customer: We're doing this for all Oaklanders. Not just the wonks and politically alert and the ten percent who follow politics like others follow sports.

Most people don't tune in to a mid-term election until the week before election day. Most people don't even tune in to local elections. Most people who visit us will never have seen a campaign finance site before. We're doing this for the newbies, the naive, the curious.

And to clarify, the Date Bar isn't just for telling people about the first Tuesday in November. It frames the rest of the site. It grounds people in time-thinking. Campaigns and campaign finance are all about the election calendar and the cycle's reporting deadlines. There's a reason campaigns seek "early money" and hustle with fundraising emails in the days leading to a deadline. The campaigns manage cash flow every day until the election is over, trading off lawn signs vs. facebook ads vs. mobile phones for phone banks.

Even political insiders want to know that our snapshot of the data is rooted in their reality. This is fast, easy, and useful.

mikeubell commented 10 years ago

I think your last paragraph contradicts your first. That is a very wonky analysis that most folks will not intuit by us just reminding how far off Nov 4 is.

To also state the obvious: While if you can get someone to do this, I will not stand in the way, but I don’t think its important enough for me to work on it. There is more data that we can expose that is not available from a calendar.

On Oct 1, 2014, at 2:55 PM, Phil Wolff notifications@github.com wrote:

@mikeubell: To be blunt: why cater to the least informed? I don't think it is worth our time to help someone out who does not even know when the election is. Why are they even looking at this then?

About the customer: We're doing this for all Oaklanders. Not just the wonks and politically alert and the ten percent who follow politics like others follow sports.

Most people don't tune in to a mid-term election until the week before election day. Most people don't even tune in to local elections. Most people who visit us will never have seen a campaign finance site before. We're doing this for the newbies, the naive, the curious.

And to clarify, the Date Bar isn't just for telling people about the first Tuesday in November. It frames the rest of the site. It grounds people in time-thinking. Campaigns and campaign finance are all about the election calendar and the cycle's reporting deadlines. There's a reason campaigns seek "early money" and hustle with fundraising emails in the days leading to a deadline. The campaigns manage cash flow every day until the election is over, trading off lawn signs vs. facebook ads vs. mobile phones for phone banks.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub.