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October 08, 2008, 12:21 PM ET
Don't Like the Candidate's Policies? Change 'Em!
Who’s your idea of the perfect presidential candidate? Maybe it’s not John McCain or Barack Obama — maybe it’s someone who can really claim to be a “man of the people.” Maybe it’s Julian Polonius Foley Marcos DeWiki III.
Senator DeWiki’s campaign Web site, created by a team of graduate and undergraduate students at Cornell University, explains what sets his candidacy apart — anyone can contribute or edit content, making additions to the candidate’s already-extensive biography or changing his positions on issues like immigration, free trade, local food, and network neutrality. The fictional candidate’s biography, in particular, is worth a read, and not just for the rumors about his father’s affair with Imelda Marcos or his family’s connection with the Dolly Parton hit “Jolene.”
The Cornell students who created the site are studying online civic participation, according to a university news release. “I’ve been impressed by the amount of pro-social content,” said Josh Braun, a graduate student in communications who helped develop the site.
“Because of edit wars surrounding political issues on Wikipedia, people told us that designing a Wiki dedicated to politics might be stepping right into the deep end,” he said. “We’ve seen a little ugliness, but there are thoughtful articles and instances where users build from each other’s ideas—and even proofread each other’s work.” —Lawrence Biemiller
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