From: jlohrmann@igc.apc.org
Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
Subject: MIT Presidential Info Project
Date: 16 Oct 92 19:45:04 GMT
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Organization: ?
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu

From: loeb@psyche.mit.edu (Eric Loeb)


 MIT Puts Campaigns Online 10/08/92
 CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U.S.A., 1992 OCT 7 (NB) -- Starting 
 Monday, October 12, you will be able to read and respond to 
 campaign documents from any major Presidential candidate through 
 the Internet. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of 
 Technology and University of North Carolina are offering, as an 
 experiment, a file server containing full campaign documents. 
 They have asked the campaigns of Clinton, Bush, Ross Perot and 
 Libertarian candidate Andre Marrou to participate in filling it. 
 To get information on the program, just send mail to 
 info@campaign92.org. 

 In addition, a representative of the Bush campaign told 
 Newsbytes, he can respond directly to questions posted on the 
 system simply by using computers and software at the Bush-Quayle 
 '92 general committee. Rich Phillips, who is an information 
 specialist in communications with the Bush-Quayle '92 General 
 Committee said "We're very happy MIT has decided to do this. We 
 think it's important that people have free access to this kind of 
 information on the issues." 

 Phillips said that online conversations with voters represent 
 just one of the many high-tech methods the Bush campaign has for 
 getting its message out. "We pride ourselves on our use of 
 technology. We're doing daily satellite feeds, and we produce 
 video news releases as well as press releases. The fax list has 
 actually become famous, because both sides are sending messages 
 to the press and to key supporters." Some faxes to the media, 
 like a series of "talking points" from Bush campaign chief Mary 
 Matalin, have turned into news stories on their own. 

 Added Phillips, "We'll offer fact sheets, talking points on 
 issues such as health care, selected speeches, and the 
 President's 'Agenda for American Renewal,' a detailed economic 
 plan for the next four years. "We will try to respond to those 
 messages that people want to address to us directly. We 
 understand that this is an experiment conducted by MIT, and we 
 think it will be useful to people." He added that the needed 
 information is already on the Internet at a variety of sites, and 
 merely needs to be captured by the MIT group to be useful.

 Eric Loeb of MIT, who set up the experiment, with help from Phil 
 Jones at the University of North Carolina, writes that the idea 
 is to test the reasoning behind "sound bite" politics, and give 
 voters a chance to learn more about the candidates. Patrick 
 Winston, head of the school's Artificial Intelligence lab, is the 
 faculty sponsor.  Loeb will survey people who use the system in 
 hopes of learning whether they indeed read the position papers, 
 or use the e-mail system mainly to argue on behalf of their 
 candidates or positions, as is usually found on commercial 
 services like CompuServe's VoteForum. "I suspect that the 
 tendency to use 'sound bites' is a natural consequence of our 
 processing limitations, and that efforts by participants to 
 persuade other participants will result in the use of brief 
 slogans," he writes. 

 The experiment also conforms to MIT's "human subjects rules," he 
 adds. "People need to be able to quit at any time, give informed 
 consent, and there are provisions for anonymity." Loeb warns that 
 any use of the public system to leave messages for all users 
 creates a public message which may be subject to uploading and 
 downloading throughout the internetworked world, which includes 
 millions of people around the world. Disclaimers are posted on 
 all surveys, and subjects may quit their participation at any 
 time by using the "remove" option of the program's contact 
 module. 

 Speeches posted on the system can be searched by keywords, using 
 the Wide Area Information Server, or WAIS, developed at Thinking 
 Machines in Cambridge.                        

 In other news from the campaign, all four candidates who are on 
 the ballot in all 50 states can be addressed at the CompuServe 
 network, Loeb says. Ross Perot's campaign can be reached at 
 71511.460, and the Internet identification would be 
 71511.460@compuserve.com. The Internet-style address for Gov. 
 Clinton's campaign is 75300.3115@compuserve.com, for President 
 Bush 75300.3116@compuserve.com, and for Libertarian candidate 
 Andre Marrou 75300.3114@compuserve.com. The addresses listed 
 above can also be reached from most major online systems, 
 including GEnie, MCI Mail, America Online and AT&T EasyLink, at 
 regular online rates. 

 (Dana Blankenhorn/19921008/Press Contact: 
 INTERNET:loeb@psyche.mit.edu) 

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Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive