Good advice on using ICT

It is common to view the US and Northern Europe ahead in their professionalism when approaching election campaigning. However while political communication can appear professionalism, the thinking that goes on behind the scenes can often be questioned. In the UK parties often seem to act like magpies, stealing all that looks shiny from commercial organisations but without considering how appropriate corporate communication tools and styles are for politics. Hence it is interesting to see comments from elsewhere in the world that show strategy is being far better thought through than it appears that it is here.

Later this year Kenya is to witness a general election, and for the first time it is suggested that ICT is to play a key role. Presidential candidates are trying to mirror the success of their US counterparts in trying to both gain funding as well as support by turning to the Internet. In an article by Kairu Kamuri in Kenya's The Standard presidential hopefuls are advised:

Those who will be using these tools must also not forget to pick on those that will serve them well. The best consideration should be based on factors such as cost, the area to be covered and ability to reach out to the anticipated people. It would be unnecessary, for example, for a councillor in a remote part of the country to campaign using the Internet and sit back pretty hoping to win the election. In the same vein, no serious parliamentary aspirant presenting himself or herself for this year’s election does not have a website to sell his or her ideologies and vision because this is the way to go.

As Kamuri points out the Internet is not a catch-all mode of communication, neither is it always appropriate. Such rules apply as much to the UK as to Kenya. Will the right publics access the website, do they have unfettered access, and will they use the Internet to gain political information are questions that need to be asked; then in designing the web presence it is important to consider the actual purpose, fundraising, interacting, building an image etc. Too much currently appears to try to be all things to all visitors but missing on all bases. As the Internet increases in importance as a communication tool, the strategy must also increase in sophistication.