the internet and the 2010 election putting the small ‘p’ back in politics?

Described variously as a non event, the dog that didn’t bark and a flop, the UK’s first net election shocked all but the wise and sober in failing to refashion the landscape of British electoral politics

That was Stephen Coleman talking about the 2001 General Election in the Hansard Society’s Cyberspace Odyssey: Elections in the age of the Internet. Nine years on, has much changed? Twitter, Facebook, blogs: 2010 was supposed to be Britain’s first ‘internet election’, but, in the end, it was the televised leaders’ debates that really captured the public imagination. There  was no pivotal moment at which we entered the age of internet politics but the 2010 election shows how the internet has become a ‘business as usual’ space for people and, with this, for politics and campaigning.

Join the Hansard Society and our panellists for an interactive conversation about what really happened online and behind the scenes in the digital election.

Thursday July 29 2010 6.30pm to 8.00pm

Portcullis House, Houses of Parliament

The panel includes:

            Andy Williamson, Hansard Society (Chair)

            Rachel Gibson, University of Manchester

            Matthew McGregor, Blue State Digital

            Helen Duffett, LibDemVoice and former LibDem candidate