Tuesday, February 10, 2009

A Transparent Approach

Wanna see who voted to support and finance Prop 8 in the Bay Area, Orange County and Utah? Well the beauty of google maps meets the ingenuity of using public political donation information that is all a part of the transparent political process has birthed eightmaps.com

This is the most striking example of how information collected through disclosure laws intended to increase the transparency of the political process, magnified by the powerful lens of the Web, has given a powerful jolt to political activists everywhere. But is this the right way to go about educating and using the information disseminated? Could this creative application be undermining the same democratic values that the regulations set up to promote. With tools like eightmaps — and there are bound to be more of them — strident political partisans can challenge their opponents directly, one voter at a time. Yes, I suppose this recent developmental tool for politicos and public alike could discourage people from participating in the political process altogether but it also educates us with a deeper understanding of where political campaigns get the momentum to become a tsunami like force.
Iconic extremes painted upon a google map with zip codes- simply brilliant in examining extremes to which political transparency can be taken. The credit goes underground with whoever the creative activist is that brought eightmaps to light. Preferring to remain completely anonymous is noble, and if you are local- I'd love to buy you a beer and toast you but alas with the application registered anonymously through GoDaddy, I can't imagine the opportunity to buy that well deserved beer but to be sure, this blogger will take a very careful look to ensure my dollars do not support the local small minded and bigoted who helped get Prop 8 pushed through.
I don't consider hate mongering a neighborly value, and will gladly promote any and all information that supports equal rights in marriage. Love shouldn't be legislated.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I find it offensive that this technology will allow others to pass judgement upon my family or business. It will make donating and getting involved politically less of an option for me in the future.

The Buzz said...

On the flipside, I personally find intolerance offensive so I suppose that makes us equal.

Anonymous said...

I too agree that intolerance of any kind is not welcome, so if someone can use google maps to tell a story all the better for me to use the ability to make better choices on where I support local business.