If you want to get in the book, you better get on the site NOW!!!!

31st December 2008.

Yes, that's the deadline for getting your entry into Who's Who in the Lib Dems Online and then in the book. I will be pulling everybody's entries of the database after 31st December and pulling together all the info for an actual hardcopy book to be available at the Spring Conference.

If you are not on the website then you cannot be in the book; that's it! My final offer!

Plus, I certainly recommend to all of you who want to be known only by Mr or Cllr at the top of your entry and therefore remain largely anonymous to those of us perusing the site (who didn't read the instructions then?) that you change it to something more traditional; like your name.

Of course, you will still be able to add yourself to the database and update your entry as and when but those additions and changes will not be reflected in the printed version.

If you've forgotten your username and/or password, that's fine...there's two links to help you out just underneath the log in section.

You can also subscribe to Who in the Lib Dems Online as well!!

Who's Who in the Lib Dems Online is open for subscription

The response to Who's Who in the Lib Dems Online at conference was great. It was a marvellous opportunity to reach those members who were neither in the 2006 book or have found out about it on the blogosphere.

People seemed to genuinely get what a great resource it can be, as long as enough of us put our entries up.

Of course, not many new entries got placed during conference but I am hopeful that with a bit more prodding and the number of people who took away leaflets, we will get it up to my target of a thousand in no time.

Anyhow, the ability to subscribe to Who's Who is now live...it's£12 for Lib Dem members (same as the last book, but so much better)and £30 for non members.

If you already ahve an entry you can just log in and subscribe!

Have fun!!

And you will find details and sometimes even me on the PCA (Parliamentary Candidates Association) stand.  It’s opposite Lib Dem Image, I believe.

There’s going to be a laptop on the stand where you can come and register and all sorts of help.  If you want to question me about something (related to either who’s Who or being a Parliamentary Candidate), I do tend to spend a lot of my time on the stand in any case, persuading people to stand for our various parliaments and assemblies, BUT I will also be getting people to sign up and register there and then for Whs Who in the Lib Dems.

If I’m not there (apparently if you want to be taken seriously in this party then you have to speak at least once in a debate) then I will be leaving a ‘book’ where if you write down your contact details I will do my best to link up with you during the conference.

Things to remember:

We check the membership database to make sure you are a real Liberal Democrat Member and therefore the details that you enter have to be exactly the same as those on the membership database; if you are having problems you can email the membership department at membership@libdems.org.uk.  This might be particularly the case if you live overseas. 

Be really, really careful with the email address you send us and make sure you spell it correctly.  We send you a link to activate your registration to that email address and if it bounces you will never receive it!  It should come through pretty quickly so if it doesn’t then try looking at your spam filter!

If you register successfully and are told you’re going to receive an email then you should receive that email within a few minutes to your email account.  If it doesn’t arrive then drop me a line.

Once you’re in please, please cast your eyes of ‘Completing your entry’ as you may think you know what should be put in each field but you might be wrong!!

If you had an entry in the 2006 version then you will not find it already there.  Alas, I am forced to earn a living and therefore was unable to spend the preceding 5 weeks writing in everybody’s entries in for them seven days a week.  Instead I will have sent you a copy of your 2006 entry in word and you can cut and paste the relevant sections into the relevant fields on the online form.  You have to do it one section at a time, though.

If you have any questions or queries please pop by the PCA stand at conference where I can hopefully answer your questions.  Alternatively you can email me at editor@whowholibdems.org.uk.

Some of these things are already in the FAQs but I will be updating them; not that anybody seems to be reading any of the FAQs….or am I just whinging?

 

 

The new Lib Dem website is up: the good, the bad and the ugly...

Well, on the whole I think the new website is great. I love all the extra functionality around getting involved. I love the fact that all I do is put in my postcode (wow – interactivity!!!) and I get details of my local party and my constituency MP or candidate. And when I do look at a person I get their contact details and the opportunity to offer my help, there and then!

So, all that I am about to say below needs to be taken in the context that it is infinitely better than what it has replaced which was dull and old fashioned and really rather hard to navigate around. Because this new web site is so much better at presenting information about who we are and what we are saying, it highlights the gaps and our blind spots so much more effectively.

I liked the tag list on the right hand side (although I prefer the aesthetics of a tag cloud) but I did notice once again that while we had room for all sorts of esoteric tags we have no room for anything on Women, Equality, Diversity or even more specific topics such as Domestic or Sexual Violence. Do we really have nothing to say on these issues as a party? We talk a lot wanting more diverse people to come and join us and put themselves forward for election both in elections and internally within the party but if I were somebody interested in those things coming to the Lib Dem website, I would think that we don’t seem to be that interested in women, diversity or highlighting important issues like rape and domestic violence.

We have however managed to find room for tags on ‘Older People’, ‘Families’ and ‘Children’; I wonder sometimes if we use the word ‘families’ as a euphemism for ‘women’, which of course if you’re like me, 37 and you don’t’ have kids, it is not and I do not take kindly to those who conflate the two groups.

It makes us look like a party of well, mostly white men. It’s something I noticed whilst I was browsing the Scottish Lib Dem website the other day (putting Who’s Who in the Lib Dems Online together takes you to the most surprising places); having photos up is great, really good and the way to go, but gosh doesn’t it reinforce the idea that we are a party dominated by white men? Of course, it’s not true, 40% of our membership is female but boy, you wouldn’t know it to look at the web site.

It cannot be too hard a thing to make the effort to look a bit more diverse, surely? I mean, the Tories who pay lip service to this idea are much, much better at looking like they care, even if they don’t. Having just had a quick look at our, Labour’s and the Conservative Party Website, ours is definitely the best now (beams with pride) but the Tories’, amazingly, looks the most diverse. I say: if you have to do two scrolls down to see a female face in our list of MPs then ditch the alphabetical order.

Having a lot more contact details of course makes it more obvious when peers people think that they are above providing a way to get in contact with them electronically. I have to say, my Who’s Who is pretty light at the moment on Peers just because they are so hard to get in contact with. When they do give an email address half the time it bounces. This is of course a generalisation and some of them are very easy to contact.

I like the photos of the staff. But really, all that hierarchy? Defining everybody by whether they are senior management or middle management? Yuk! How old fashioned! I think everyone’s photo should be on their irrespective of how the hierarchy favours them.

Lastly, the colour! Now, I’m no fan of our Lib Dem yellow or gold at the best of times but does this website have to be quite so orange?

So really, this is less a criticism of the website as a channel and its functionality but more of the content and the lack of leadership we have in certain areas.

What would I add? Because this does look like a structure that it is easy to add to; which, again, is great!

I like to profusion of pictures even if they do highlight out lack of diversity. However why just stop at elected representatives and staff? What about putting up pictures of those who are on the various party committees, SAOs, AOs, regions and working groups? After all, they put in a lot of hard work all absolutely for free! They don’t even get an allowance and putting up their photo on the website may not compensate for all that time but at least recognises their contribution which can be greater than those who have been elected at times. Plus it would make it easier for the rest of us to recognise them.

I’m not sure why Lib Dem Voice has been left off the other sites…maybe I just didn’t see it. I would add Lib Dem Voice.; didn’t there used to be a link on the old website?

Can there be a link to Who’s Who in the Lib Dems Online…or is that just too cheeky?

I would also put in a section for Lib Dems in the media. Lots of Lib Dems write in various media whether local, press, online or on the TV. For example, James Graham regularly writes in Comment is Free and is billed as a Lib Dem, as is Olly Kendall. I am billed as a Lib Dem when I do a regular slot on Sky.Com News (even though what I go on to talk about is rarely about the Lib Dems). This need not be set up as a feed and the web site could be selective about what it puts up. Of course, not all Lib Dems are open about their membership and I think they would have to be asked but raising our profile in the media shouldn’t just be about our elected representatives.

Well done Mark, well done everybody involved!!!




Put your entry on Who's Who in the Lib Dems Online...now!! (please)

Thanks to the hard work of Chris Phillips and Bob I can now announce that of Who’s Who in the Lib Dems Online is ready for you all to add your entries.

Putting your entry on Who’s Who in the Lib Dems is entirely free and the only requirement we have is that you are a member of the Liberal Democrats. If you’re not you would like to join you can do so here.

For those of you who are already Lib Dem members then please go ahead and place an entry here.

No, doubt a number of you will have already had an entry in the 2006 print version; if you did and you don’t want to start from scratch then email me here and if I haven’t done so already, as I am about to start sending them out to all those who have been registering an interest, I will send you out a copy of your old entry. Unfortunately, I cannot update your old entry for you; you have to register with your postcode, email and membership number and I won’t know those. However, this does mean that you can update it, when things change, as soon as they change. Plus I have to actually earn a living at some point.

We will be launching the subscription service at the September Conference so the sooner you add your entry on Who’s Who in the Lib Dems Online, the more often people will read about you then. And anyway, there’s plenty of opportunity for you to tell people about your blog there!

Do not worry if you are not going to conference, you can still subscribe and we will let you know when you can.

One of the reasons I wanted to put Who’s Who in the Liberal Democrats Online rather than just print it in hard copy once again is that I though a searchable Who’s Who would be an invaluable resource for all of us, whether campaigning, creating policy or looking for experts in a particular subject. The more people sign up and add entries the more valuable it becomes. Who’s Who in the Lib Dems is not just for Parliamentarians and the great and the good, they are already covered in the Lib Dems website (and even better on the new Lib Dem website that will be coming soon and I’ve had a sneak preview of). No, Who’s Who in the Lib Dems is also for the rest of us, who whilst happy to do our bit and deliver focuses, would like the rest of the party to know that we can do more than that and our experience , skills and knowledge outside the party may be of use, if only somebody would listen! Well, here at Who’s Who in the Lib Dems online, we’re listening. So please, add an entry, whether you’re a parliamentarian, a member of staff, a councillor, a party office, a blogger, an activist or a member who wants to stand up and be counted.

And if you’re sitting there, reading this you can be sure that you are just the sort of person that people will want to read about in Who’s Who in the Lib Dems online!

Who’s Who Online is published by the Liberal Democrats Parliamentary Candidates Association; a print version will be published in 2009.

Who's Who in the Lib Dems Online

Just a quick note to tell you about Who's Who in the Lib Dems Online and the 2008 edition of the book that I am editing (Aargh!! No, no, it will be fine...proper project manager, me, not like those Terminal 5 amateurs)

Seriously though, if you would like to register your interest in having an 'entry' then please do so here. We’re looking to increase the number of entries from Liberal Democrats like never before; you may think you’re a small cog in the big Lib Dem wheel but you’re really interesting to us and to our Who's Who Readers. So, please sign up to be included! We want everybody, councillors, MPs, local party officers, bloggers, any sort of candidates, party leaders, blog readers, leaflet delivers...everybody!!

Back in early 2004, when I first became active in the Party I was sent a form to complete, via Liberty Network, of which I was a member. I didn't think that anybody would be interested in little ol' me as I hadn't done much in the Lib Dems..big mistake! What you've done for the Lib Dems is of course interesting but what you've done elsewhere, including in your professional life, could be just as interesting!

Only Lib Dems can have an entry (doh!) and if you want access to Who's Who in the Lib Dems Online then you will need to pay a subscription, with non-Lib Dems paying a higher subscription. We will be putting the same information in the book, as we always do, and anyone can buy that for the same price, Lib Dem or not.

The difference between the online version and the book is that it will be searchable and of course when something changes in your life you can update it!

Who's Who in the Lib Dems Online and the 2008 print version is edited by me and published by the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidates Association; if you would like more details about the PCA you can find them here.