Top Eight Ways to Spend Election Day Online

by Emily Gertz

Published November 03, 2008 @ 04:51PM PST

I've been trying to write something for this blog about what comes after the next president of the U.S. is elected -- but I'm stuck on the edge of my seat, waiting to see how this torture-by-democratic-process ends. "Be here now" wrote Ram Dass. Seems like good advice for getting through a day that also promises to be a historical pivot point.

Tomorrow's televised tracking of the vote is going to be paradise for politics junkies. And online, heavy hitters of the traditional news media like The Caucus blog at The New York Times, CNN Politics, The Washington Post and National Public Radio will offer impressive continuous coverage, and online tools for tracking state-by-state returns.

There are also more diverse voices to be heard, and opportunities to create the day's news and views. Here are my top choices for where to spend at least part of your Election Day online:

1. The Morningside Post -- produced by the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University -- is gathering public policy experts from schools in the U.K., France, Singapore, Russia, Brazil and Japan to liveblog the election. Coverage runs from 12 noon to 12 midnight ET.
2. Voices Without Votes is gathering what bloggers and citizen media from around the globe are saying about the U.S. election. Hopefully there will be frequent updates on Tuesday.
3. Feet in Two Worlds: Telling the Story of Today's Immigrants will be blogging reports from polling places in immigrant and ethic neighborhoods around the country.
4. WFMU's Electile Dysfunction '08 will be a walk on the lighter side of the day's news. In its own unique and exuberantly liberal voice, this Bronx radio station will host "a separate webstream to appease our most politically-obsessed listeners, [featuring] political music, comedy, commentary, and audio art. And when the first polls close at 6pm, we'll bring you live election returns coverage..."
5. Twitter Election -- already tweeting at a breakneck pace -- will likely be insane.
6. Need even more social media info overload? Link up your Twitter, Flickr, blog and other online feeds at Social Median
7. In collaboration with PBS Vote 2008, YouTube Video Your Vote is harnessing the power of sousveillance and the participatory panopticon -- voters are invited to submit video documenting "the energy and excitement" of Election Day, as well as problems at the polls.
8. In the same spirit, The Polling Place Photo Project (founded for the midterm elections in 2006 --[[here's my contribution from that year]] by independent designers, and now a project of The New York Times) is inviting voters to contribute to what might become the largest online repository of Election Day photographs. Even better, all photographs contributed will be under a Creative Commons license, which will allow them to be used easily and widely on other sites.

Image: "Vote Aqui: Voting in Texas; photo by Jennifer Idol."  Source: Polling Place Photo Project