Utah Senate Race - Decided By A Wiki?

From the Linux Insider, we have an interesting story about a US Senate race that a wiki could make or break...

A computer entrepreneur from Utah is launching a campaign to unseat incumbent Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) next year -- in what may be the most heavily Internet-reliant campaign to date, using blogs, chats and the "Wiki" open-source model.

Peter Ashdown is the founder of Xmission, Utah's oldest Internet service provider (ISP). His Web site includes a blog and a monthly live chat session. But Ashdown's site takes public participation on his campaign Web site one step further -- opening his platform to all. The site is based on the "Wiki" open-source model made famous by Wikipedia.

Now, I have fairly strong political opinions (few of which are adequately satisfied by either major party, BTW)but my interest in this race has nothing to do with the politics of either candidate. I am rooting for Mr. Ashdown in his quest to unseat Sen. Hatch for the sole reason that he is using a wiki to publicize his stand on various issues AND engaging voters to contribute their thoughts, concerns and money.

A telling statement from the article could spell trouble for Mr. Ashdown, however...

This is a campaign a computer nerd would love.

I'd be less concerned about the computer nerds and more focused on the voters he's looking for who have never heard of a wiki. If he's gonna win, the non-nerds better love it, too. This goes to the heart of what I write about in this blog - wiki acceptance and prominence will occur only when it gets out of the computer nerd world and into the real world.

   

So far, that has not happened. To his credit, Mr. Ashdown refers to it as 'Collaborate' on his website instead of 'Wiki'. To the non-nerd public, this is a more understandable terminology. In fact, I don't recall seeing the word 'wiki' on the wiki site itself.

   

I want to see this work, again not because I support his politics, but because this can be a significant means in raising awareness of the effectiveness of using collaborative tools to effect change (be it Democrat, Republican, or any other political platform).

   

Make sure you check out Mr. Ashdown's web site AND the wiki site (oh, and the blog, too).