TubetheVote.com

TubetheVote.com, a next-generation, non-partisan website that presents both sides of the issues being debated in the presidential campaigns, launched today. An online platform that aggregates media- and user-generated coverage of the campaigns and candidates, TubetheVote.com's side-by-side layouts and ease of navigation empower voters to see the most important election issues in one place, and decide for themselves what the "truth" really is.

"TubetheVote distills the innumerable daily news stories and endless spin about each campaign into the most telling summary of the day's events, as judged by citizen journalists," said Michael Maier, co-creator.

TubeTheVote combines the best of new media, pulling content from YouTube, Twitter, the blogosphere and other new media sites to create the
first web 2.0 political magazine. Students and scholars from journalism departments at Michigan State University, Florida A&M University, University of Texas, and Midwestern State University are active participants in providing editorial content, along with several interns.

"We created TubetheVote.com not to create news but to assemble traditional and nontraditional coverage from both sides of the political aisle," said co-creator Eric Sinoway. "With such significant differences of ideology in play, we felt it was important that people be able access and respond to what's been said by the candidates, media, and even by citizen journalists. After seeing all sides, users can make their own, more fully informed decisions in this historic election."

TubetheVote.com is updated daily, offering a fresh take on existing internet content, with sections including:

• Top or Flop - Recounts the most memorable event of the day for each campaign - both the good and the bad
• 100% Biased - Shows the most skewed coverage on both sides of the aisle
• Twitter - Highlights user-generated "tweets" about the most popular election topics
• Sleeping with the Enemy - Exposes party insiders as they publicly criticize their own
• Best Parody - Highlights the silly, fun - but telling - comedic impressions of the campaigns
• Quote Quiz - Tests voters' knowledge of their candidates: who said what?
• User Videos - A platform for anyone to upload or view a favorite video of campaign 2008.

 

TubetheVote.com is not a business. It accepts no advertising and has no profit motive. It is a non-partisan platform that brings the unprecedented interest in the US election - and massive public discourse about it - to a new level. The project was conceived at the inception of the 2008 campaigns by entrepreneur Eric Sinoway and European journalist and Blogform founder Michael Maier. The pair recognized that although the internet would play an unprecedented role in the election, there seemed to be no single online resource where voters could monitor both sides of the discussion in a simple, user-friendly manner.

TubetheVote.com has a sleek, 3-D design built in Flash and uses open API technology to stream material from YouTube and Twitter to the site. The design of the site is intuitive, and feels more like the iPhone than a traditional website.

For more information, please visit http://www.TubetheVote.com.