Acción Democrática's Turn

URL: http://www.acciondemocratica.org.ve/

Updatedness: 2 out of 20.
"Latest news" are from April, party documents, for the most part, are 1 and 2 years old.

Interaction possibilities: 0 out of 20
There aren't any.

Meaningful positions: 9 out of 20
Lots of teary-eyed looks at the AD glory years, but too many documents are truncated.

La modernización de Venezuela promovida por Acción Democrática, se puede sintetizar con la creación de una sociedad abierta y democrática, fortalecida económica, política y socialmente, en el marco de una economía capitalista con fuerte presencia del Estado en materia social y cultural, con tolerancia, pluralismo y compromiso con la prosperidad y el progreso económico y social, con la creación de espacios para el ejercicio de la ciudadanía y la mejora continua de la calidad de vida de los sectores tradicionalmente excluidos de la sociedad.

La construcción de la modernidad en Venezuela está ligada, además del ejercicio mismo de la democracia representativa, con la labor pedagógica que la práctica democrática implica y con el ejercicio libre de la actividad de los partidos políticos modernos. Acción Democrática ha sido la organización pivote de dicho proceso.

Web-Design: 10 out of 20
A glorified blog, it is nonetheless readable and would make it easy to find information, if there was any information in it to be found

Contact information: 1 out of 10
The "contact" link doesn't work. A map shows regional contact information for some states but not others.

Local Goodness: 1 out of 10
Contact information for a few states.

The Verdict: 23 out of 100
Just another unloved, unused, uncared for party website.

Primero Justicia on the Web

URL: http://www.primerojusticia.org.ve/

Updatedness: 16 out of 20
Near-daily news updates, but too many links still send you to "Under Construction" pages. Also, the activities page is out of date.

Interaction possibilities: 20 out of 20
The "Inscríbete" link is prominent, and allows you to sign up as a party member or sympathizer quickly and easily. Links to the PJ network on Facebook and to its YouTube channel are prominent, as are chances to help out as a volunteer.

Meaningful positions: 13 out of 20
A Doctrine document is far more metaphysically oriented than the norm, and although it doesn't explicitly reference it as such, harks back again and again to mainstays of the Catholic Church's Social Doctrine, emphasizing human dignity and solidarity:

La construcción de la Justicia Social obliga a que la vida social se articule desde
el valor de la solidaridad y el principio de la subsidiariedad para poder atender con
una visión humana la diversidad y pluralidad de nuestra sociedad.

En virtud de la solidaridad, Primero Justicia afirma que todos los ciudadanos y
todos los grupos deben contribuir al bien común de la sociedad. Por otra parte, la
subsidiariedad supone que el Estado no deberá jamás sustituir la iniciativa ni la
responsabilidad de las personas y de los grupos.

En tal sentido, reafirmamos a la familia como institución primaria de la sociedad.
En ella, los seres humanos reciben el don de la vida y la formación que habrá de
capacitarlos para el ejercicio de su libertad y la contribución que harán a la justicia
social.

Specific policies are thinner on the ground, and the party platform is not online.

Web-Design: 19 out of 20
Clean, clearly branded and functional

Contact information: 10 out of 10
Detailed, state by state contact information. Very detailed information on how to get in touch with specific party officials at all levels.

Local Goodness: 3 out of 10
Better at letting you know how to get in touch with the local party than at telling you what it's doing.

The Verdict: 81 out of 100
The only Venezuelan party that really gets Web 2.0. An excellent web-page that, nonetheless, contains some serious gaps.

PPT-sur-Web

URL: http://www.ppt.org.ve/

Updatedness: 3 out of 20.
It looks like the site was pretty scrupulously maintained...until last April!

Interaction possibilities: 0 out of 20.
There aren't any.

Meaningful positions 14 out of 20:
The Quienes Somos link makes a fairly creditable stab at describing PPT's ideology, and explaining both what it is and how it differs from others':

Nosotros queremos un Estado que forme parte consustancial con la sociedad y, por tanto, con la idea de nación, de Patria. Sólo así podrá realizarse el ideal del Estado-Nación que hoy se intenta borrar del mapa mundial, con la avasallante ola económica, política e ideológica que motoriza el plan de globalización o mejor aún, de totalización del dominio mundial por un capital financiero, desalmado, y de una voracidad insaciable. Íntimamente, vinculado a este postulado, está el hecho de que, para poder desplegar una política económica extranjerizante, el neoliberal tiene que acompañarla de una política excluyente, que, al desplazar fracciones importantes del capital nacional que se había formado a lo largo de varias décadas, lanza también a millones de seres a la pobreza. Y aquí no tenemos que apelar a ejemplos ajenos, cuando vivimos la experiencia en carne propia.

Web-Design: 14 out of 20.
Good, functional web design. Clear, readable and easy to find your way around. On the other hand, a bit dull, and badly let down by too little content and too many broken links.

Contact information: 0 out of 10.
They got nothin'!

Local Goodness: 3 out of 10.
A lot of the material included is very local in nature, but useless, because it's months out of date.

The Verdict: 34 out of 100.
A well designed website, slowly dying of neglect.

Cuanto vale el leak?

Quico says: We break from our regularly scheduled set of website reviews to bring you this bizarre, titilating, alarming, and apparently true story:

The secret-spilling site Wikileaks announced this week that it's acquired thousands of e-mails belonging to a top aide to Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. But don't look for them online. In a departure from its full-disclosure past, Wikileaks is auctioning off the cache to the highest bidder.

Wikileaks began soliciting bids from media organizations on Tuesday, for what it describes as thousands of e-mails and attachments from 2005 to 2008 that provide insight into Chavez's management, CIA activities in Venezuela and the Bolivarian revolution.

[hat tip: JayDee.]

Un Nuevo Tiempo-am-Web

URL: http://www.unnuevotiempo.org.ve/cms/

Updatedness: 18 out of 20.
Updated almost daily, the site is definitely looked after.

Interaction possibilities: 11 out of 20.
A quick sign-up allows you to register and participate in a Forum, however the forum doesn't seem to be very active. There's no simple way to sign up as a party member, volunteer, or to donate money.

Meaningful positions: 11 out of 20
We get a clear, full throated defense of liberal democracy coupled to a strong rejection of the authoritarianism that hides behind calls for radical democracy.

En Venezuela, la futura democracia política deberá abarcar: una soberanía popular sin interferencias autoritarias, una auténtica tolerancia pluralista, la eliminación de dogmas ideológicos oficiales, la separación y descentralización de los poderes públicos y la independencia de la judicatura, la institucionalidad de la fuerza armada, la garantía de la seguridad personal y publica, la lucha contra la corrupción, como iniciativas imprescindibles para la existencia del Estado de Derecho. Un Estado de Derecho y de Justicia, donde impere la Ley y se respeten los acuerdos y contratos, donde el sistema de administración de justicia sea transparente y eficaz, es además el mejor piso para impulsar nuestro proyecto de desarrollo justo, equitativo y centrado en el ser humano.

On less abstract matters, the document descends into platitudes.

Web-Design: 13 out of 20.
The web design looks expensive, and there's certainly a lot of content, but there's also a hell of a lot of clutter, too many distracting moving graphics, and just too many colors.

Contact information: 7 out of 10
You get a general contact link and a press contact link. UNT gets special kudos for making their internal organization chart available, but loses points for not telling us how to contact the people in it.

Local Goodness: 9 out of 10.
A very cool Regions' Map guides you directly to locally relevant info. A few local politicians host blogs about what they're up to.

The Verdict: 69 out of 100.
A good, strong website, clearly looked after and fuzzed over, that doesn't quite dare to ask its readers to do something for the party or the country.

PSUV-upon-Web - UPDATE

UPDATE/WARNING: The website described below apparently contains some nasty malware. Be sure you have updated anti-virus software before clicking on it.

URL: http://psuv.org.ve/

Fun cybersquatter: http://psuv.org/ (Partnership Society for USA and Venezuela)

Updatedness 0 out of 20: A bunch of PDF files from 2006 and 2007.

Interaction possibilities: 0 out of 20.
The site is totally static.

Meaningful positions: 4 out of 20.
More or less what you'd expect from the Chávez cult-of-personality party. You get jewels such as,

Hemos odo [sic] lamentablemente voceros y no precisamente de la oposicin[sic], diciendo que estn[sic] de acuerdo con el pensamiento nico[sic] y quin ha hablado de eso? Nadi [sic] hablado [sic] del pensamiento nico, [sic] `no! pensamientos de lo ms diverso, flexibilidad, amplitu [sic] visin [sic] holstica [sic] integral, sistmica [sic]; es una nueva conformacin. [sic]

Web-Design: 6 out of 20.
Red, very red. Mismatched fonts. Designed for tiny screens only. Image of Chávez faces the outside of the window.

Contact information: 7 out of 20.
You get a toll free number (0-800-PSUV-000), and a single email that, alarmingly, has the date 2007 slapped on it: salapsuv2007@gmail.com

Local Goodness: 1 out of 10.
A few region-specific documents, but like everything else, they're years out of date.

The Verdict: 18 out of 100.
PSUV's website bears all the hallmarks of a site nobody really thought through, nobody really updates and nobody really uses on a regular basis. Two year old content. No meaningful chances for interaction. About as useful as an ashtray on a motorcycle.

How web-savvy is your party?

Quico says: From today, both Juan Cristobal and I will be out travelling: he has a business trip, I'm going to a conference.

To keep the blog active, we've prepared a series of posts reviewing the websites of Venezuela's main political parties. A new review will appear each day.

The Internet is proving to be a powerful weapon in the politics of our time. It seems like tapping the power of the Internet is fast becoming a crucial factor in making or breaking a candidate, a party or a platform. Are Venezuelan politicians (from all sides) paying attention? Have they grasped the importance of the Internet?

We'll be reviewing websites to try and find an answer. Websites will be judged on six criteria:

Updatedness - 20 Points.
You can tell a lot about how much people care about and use a website by how up-to-date it is. And, of course, nothing's more useless than a topical website with 6-month old information. Our first criterion, therefore, is how often the site is updated, how "news-y" it is. We award extra points for use of recent web-video.

Interaction possibilities - 20 Points.
A party web-site should be about more than just pushing information down to passive recipients; it should be about empowering people to use the website as an organizing tool. This criteria tries to capture how much of the whole Web 2.0 ethos has filtered down to Venezuelan party webmasters, and to what extent the website is used as a tool to catalyze off-the-web action.

Meaningful positions - 20 Points.
Every party website has some doctrinal material on it (well, at least they should!). But can an actual ideology be discernible when you are being drowned by a tsunami of clichés?

Web-Design - 20 Points.
How hard is it to find what you're looking for? How attractive are the graphics? Points here go to "clean" web-design that's elegant, balanced and functional, and are deducted from overly loud or cluttered designs.

Contact Information - 10 Points
Is the website helpful in getting in touch with specific people filling specific roles within the party? Or do you just get one or two all-purpose contact points? Is there any contact information at all?

Local Goodness - 10 Points.
With state and local elections coming up, it's especially important to provide locally relevant information. Does the website allow you to find out what the party is doing in your specific location? Or is it as Caraco-centric as the Venezuelan media?