THE ISSUES User Manual
Contents
1. ISSUES CANDIDATES v PARTIES v ASK A QUESTION Lannister Party Hear me roar A Lannister always pays his debts The Lannister party is one of the great parties of the country as well as one of its richest and most powerful families and oldest dynasties Historically the Laninister party s stronghold for support comes from the western provinces The party s symbol is a golden lion on a crimson background and their house motto is Hear me roar which is rarely mentioned Their unofficial motto which is as well known as the official one is A Lannister always pays his debts There are just two goals for House Lannister firstly to defend the Lannisters secondly to defend their blood They believe that the house that puts family first will always defeat those who put the whims and wishes of individual nations first A good man does everything in his power to better his familys positionregardless of his own selfish desires The Lannister party is an aristocracy Ultimate power resides in the hands of the Lannisters However any member regardless of birth may climb the ladder to help govern the house Their ascension to positions of power is based on their skill and willingness to better the house Service to the house will be rewarded with House Lannisters immense wealth titles lands and lordships but ultimate power resides within the Lannister blood Remember a Lannister always pays his debts FB Page Twitter Game2. THE ISSUES User Manual 0 IN UN VI 4 NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTE DemTools by NDItech 1 Acknowledgements The Issues User Manual v 1 1 last modified 11 18 2014 The National Democratic Institute is a nonprofit nonpartisan nongovernmental organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide NDItech assists NDI partners and staff members around the world integrate technology into democracy assistance programming in innovative and sustainable ways The Democracy Toolkit DemTools is designed to provide easy to use webapp solutions empowering civic groups and political institutions to be more effective at their organizing and communication for democracy and human rights The development of the tools described in this manual was supported by a grant from the National Endowment for Democracy NED The Issues DemTool manual was written by Meron Menwyelet with contributions from Christine Schoellhorn Leslie Dudden Mahvash Taqi and others Of the many people who contributed to this project we would like to specially thank Michael Murphy and his team for their hard work patience and collaborative spirit Google s excellent YouTube Townhall was the inspiration behind this project To learn more about NDI and DemTools please visit demworks org demtools and follow us on Twitter at NDI and NDItech In the physical world our headquarters are located at 455 Massachusetts Avenue
3. 8th Floor Washington D C 20001 All material not otherwise copyrighted 1s licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 4 0 International License To view a copy of this license visit http creativecommons org licenses by sa 4 0 or send a letter to Creative Commons 444 Castro Street Suite 900 Mountain View California 94041 USA 2 The Issues User Manual Table of Contents 1 Introduction 2 Overview of Features 3 Accessing Your Account 4 Navigating the Site 4 1 Issues Tab 4 2 Candidates Tab 4 3 Parties Tab 4 4 Ask a Question Tab 4 5 View All Link 5 Admin Features 5 1 Content Management 5 2 Submitting a Question 5 3 Submitting an Answer 5 4 Managing User Submitted Questions and Answers 5 5 Managing User Submitted Comments 6 Setting Up New Candidates and Parties 6 1 Creating a New Candidate 6 2 Creating a New Party e 3 1 Introduction Information and communication technologies for development ICT4D are powerful tools for organizing and advocacy The Issues platform was launched as part of NDI s Democracy Toolkit DemTools DemTools provides basic and easy to use solutions for common tech problems in the democracy and human rights space that are accessible to programs that lack funding for sophisticated software development Of course the right political and program factors still need to be in place along with adequate funding for implementation and partner training The Issues pl
4. At the bottom of the page visitors will also see the following two links Learn more about the candidates and Learn more about the parties which will take them to the candidate and party pages represented within the videos displayed on the issues page In the example below human rights was selected as the issue of interest The corresponding question on the subject asks candidates or political parties to describe how they would tackle human rights abuses and social inequality as a member of government As you will see both Ned Stark and Joffrey Baratheon have uploaded a video response which viewers can like and or share via Facebook Twitter and Google a The Issues Q Tech4Dem ISSUES CANDIDATES PARTIES ASK A QUESTION ABOUT CONNECT WITH US Human Rights M f c 5g Please explain how you would tackle human rights abuses and social inequality One of my major concerns in the upcoming elections is that of social inequality both pyc domestic and foreign Here at home would put forward that there is clear class distinction between the wealthy businessman and politicians and the hard working proletariat However my concern goes deeper as many of our allies abroad nave question submitted and 3 terrible records of human rights abuses am hoping our next elected official will votes cast have a strong stance on these problems we face in our society today SUBMIT A QUESTION VIEW ALL Ned
5. peop e have submitted 1 estion and Ca t 3 votes Body Edit summary ql But what do you think SUBMIT A QUESTION VIEW ALL MOST WATCHED Menu settings Not in menu Provide a menu link Revision information No revision King Joffrey talks about the URL path settings Automatic alias Comment settings Open Meta tags PARTNERS Using defaults Authoring information By mmenwyelet Publishing options Published SAVE PREVIEW c 1 4 5 4 Managing User Submitted Questions and Answers As an administrator you can manage the questions and answers that were submitted by citizens over different systems such as social media on the Issues platform This can be done as follows e From the drop down menu at the top of the page click on Content This will take you to the content management page where you can filter all submitted content by status or type e Next to the drop down menu click on Filter to activate your filter by status or type Mass functions can be performed by checking the box next to the relevant question and then selecting the desired action from the Update Options drop down menu e Click Update to finalize the desired action f Dashboard Content Structure Appearance People Modules Configuration Reports Help Home Administration Content 6 CONTENT COMMENTS FILES Add content SHOW ONLY ITEMS WHERE status any Y Filter type any Y UPDATE OPTIONS Vot
6. Stark Human Rights Joffrey Baratheon Human Rights MOST MOST WATCHED SHARED K 3 uniaue view on d UINUUT VIT U carr COITUDI Bol ccuac f a Daliey 4 353UC5 LUILUIE CUI r Ly n nr resister to post comments ew 0 n nicam 00 Economics farrintinn Palitice nine irri adi CONOMICS LOITUDIIOR POIITICS Duhlir Adminictration Saria Duhlir Ad stration 5 UDIIC AON ctire and justice e 00 6 CESS 0 Tweet 0 0 gt 06 4 2 Candidates Tab The Candidates tab provides visitors with information on candidates that are running in an election Any recorded responses a candidate has uploaded to the Issues platform will appear here Candidates and political parties also have the ability to add links to any social media pages they manage so they can be associated with their campaign In the example below Joffrey Baratheon was selected from the Candidates drop down menu in the navigation bar As you will see the page describes the candidate and provides links to his Facebook and Twitter pages Also on the page you will see a Filter By drop down menu that allows you to search the issues this candidate previously addressed on the Issues platform x The Issues 2 wy Tech4Dem CANDIDATES gt PART m Un 4 ASK A QUESTION Joffrey Baratheon Jai ey Ha fat pg rim F eh PS Pato a rai E sim md mim gt COT
7. answered On this page users can vote a question up or down using the thumbs up and thumbs down icons to prioritize the responses they are most interested in getting In addition to allowing users to vote on questions the View AIF link on the right hand side panel of The Issues homepage directs users to a page where they can comment on a question using the text bubble icon located below each question Users can also ask comment and share questions using the Facebook Twitter and Google icons located below each question as well as use the Connect With Us icon in the right hand side panel to engage with political candidates Ala Tech4Dem ISSUES ALL QUESTIONS BLOCK Advocacy Agriculture Alcohol and Drugs Arts Corruption Crime and Justice Cultural Policy Culture Development and Growth Economics Education Elections Executive System Healthcare Housing problems Human Rights Industrial Organization International Economics International relations Justice Language Legislation Media National Identity Political Economy Politics Poverty Private Business CANDIDATES v JR The Issues PARTIES v ASK A QUESTION What will you do to help save manufacturing jobs Submitted on Thu 03 13 2014 21 51 by Mechanics United Manufacturing is one of the major employers in this area With jobs getting cut we would like to know what you intend to do to help us find new jobs 18 0 6 0 CO Login or regist
8. of Thrones Deleted Scenes Varys amp Little FILTER BY Issue v Region Candidate M Tyrion Lannister Corruption J e n ASK A QUESTION ABOUT CONNECT WITH US GO w question submitted and 3 votes cast SUBMIT A QUESTION VIEW ALL MOST MOST WATCHED SHARED ne lotrey has a unique view on n Ig JOrTiTey 85 a Unique view or corruption wll anamirc fn dinn Economics Corruption Politics Bote A dua E a DE Public Administration Socia ssues Crime and Justice Views 166 Naa Crark takoe tha laa 460 Stark takes the lead on Rob from the Stark party shares his views on winter and what it means for the North ssues Culture Cultural Policy Socia ranamic Beri riiltire conomics Agriculture Social ae AA Ne c 6 ark and n natinn 55065 Work 800 0 Daenenvs Targarvan is not afraid uct erys arga yor i5 NGL ai ald to battle corruption Culture Cultural Policy raneamicc Ca Dalitiec Economics Corruption Politics Ce blic Administration Soria ubiic A ministration 5oCia iceiiac rime and luctira 55065 LIME and justice Views 116 inc Inffrav talke ahnit the NIng Jotirey talKs about the annncitin opposition e 9 4 4 Ask a Question Tab The Ask a Question tab allows citizens to engage with candidates and political parties by asking questions about issues that are most important to them The Submit a Question link located on t
9. E OLT OE E arid CANE E DOW LIDODI 3 1 EI E Party Baratneon Party FB Page Twitter FILTER py Es Culung AT sakara Peli Laeguaqe Belgian o ee Begin ei ee Be tl and reek Heuiins piabemi Induiteial Organizes Intematianal Ececomiti Piregrty Prowate Priwatiraban Il e grrassena 21 Human Rights Nazional identity Raelagtans wh feighbzss Securit ABOUT CONNECT WITH US a ei brmen z bE E Y F an i zrallable remper and E pene i z ha ays Hames rhe problem on others rather than taking re wiry Despire being willful he is a ri g io crual and nor ery intellipent all of wh D o make nam ai beat ior a r mta SUBMIT A QUESTION VIEW ALL MOST WATCHED 69 8 4 3 Parties Tab The Parties tab allows visitors to view information about a party s political platform as well as see which candidates in the election are associated with that party Links to social media pages that are associated with the party can also be found here The Filter By drop down menu allows you to search the issues that candidate have previously addressed on the Issues platform The filtering feature provides the best most direct place to query videos based on a selected search category Below is an example of what viewers will see when they select Lannister Party from the Parties drop down menu in the navigation bar JM The Issues Tech4Dem
10. as uploading editing modifying and assigning content Content is organized using five categories answer candidate page party and question Step by step instructions on how to use each are outlined in the following sections Dashboard Content Structure Appearance People Modules Configuration Add content Gl Answer Comments 3 Candidate Files Questions Bulk Operations Question ech4Dem TECHNULOD o8 ISSUES CANDIDATES gt Q 12 5 2 Submitting a Question As an administrator you may want to add questions that were submitted by citizens over different systems such as social media to the Issues platform This can be done as follows e From the drop down menu at the top of the page click on Content gt Add Content gt Question e Fill in each of the required fields If you are loading a question on behalf of someone else use their name in the Your Name field e Be sure to select all the issue categories and subcategories you feel apply to the question e At the bottom of the page select Publishing Options gt Published and then click Save e lf you do not want your question to be published immediately leave the box next to Published unchecked An unpublished question can be published at a later time e Besure to click Save at the bottom of the page after all information has been entered JM The Issues Tech4Dem ISSUES CANDIDATES v PARTIES gt ASK A QUESTION ABOUT Home Add conte
11. atform was originally developed by the NDItech team to bridge the communication gap between governments and their citizens The vision for the tool is that it will be used by diverse partners both political and civil to outline party and candidate stances on key issues and identify the issues that are of most interest to their constituents The Issues platform allows political candidates to present their positions on key issues via recorded online videos and citizens the opportunity to ask candidates questions about their platform By engaging in such dialogue and sharing statements via social media voters can more directly be connected to their political leaders opening new avenues for strengthening transparency and accountability A program making use of The Issues provides an opportunity for a group or party to hone their media skills tailoring brief responses to common questions for a video audience While this platform is relatively inexpensive to set up understand that content creation and promotion is tremendously time consuming This manual is intended to outline the basic functions of the Issues platform and provide step by step instructions on how NDI partners and field organizers can best utilize the platform to better foster civic debate 69 4 2 Overview of Features The Issues web application presents several options for driving engagement between citizens and candidates The main features of the platform are displayed on the
12. didates e Fill in each of the required fields You can upload an image of the candidate by clicking Image gt Choose File and selecting the file you would like to upload e At the bottom of the page click Preview to view the page before creating it If everything looks okay click Save to automatically post the content on The Issues website If you would like to save but not publish the information that you have entered click on Publishing Options at the bottom of the page and unclick the box next to Published before clicking Save e Note that once content has been posted to the Issues platform you can still make revisions to it by clicking on Content in the navigation bar followed by the Edit or Delete links under the Operation s menu bar on the page SUBMIT A QUESTION Other social media handles PARTNERS Comment settings Meta tags Q 17 6 2 Creating a New Party e From the drop down menu at the top of the page click on Content gt Add Content gt Party e Fill in each of the required fields You can upload an image of the party by clicking Image gt Choose File and selecting the file you would like to upload Here you can also insert links to the party s official website and social media platforms i e Facebook page and Twitter handle e At the bottom of the page click Preview to view the page before creating it If everything looks okay click Save to automatically publish the c
13. e down Y Update Cancel vote down Vote up Cancel vote up TYPE AUTHOR STATUS UPDATED v OPERATIONS Like Cancel like not 07 10 2014 edit m nn It contexts Question Darko Sokovic Se 10 15 Pru ancel dislike Publish selected content Unpublish selected content GOP DOA Answer admin ce Promote selected content to front page 11 37 delete Demote selected content from front page Make selected content sticky 06 10 2014 edit Make selected content not sticky a admis 11 37 delere Delete selected content Update URL alias Update 0 a Anonymous not nabbed 06 10 2014 edit Iu UL EE Sas verified Diese delete 06 10 2014 dit Some party Party admin published ja 11 37 delete 06 10 2014 dit asdf Answer admin published Ls Fa delete 15 5 5 Managing User Submitted Comments e From the drop down menu at the top of the page click on Content gt Comments There are two different tabs on this page one to approve and publish comments and one to unpublish or delete comments e To approve and publish comments o Click on the Unapproved Comments link on the top right hand side of the page This will take you to a new page that shows the comments that are currently awaiting approval and publication Click on the box next the comment you want to manage Using the Update Options drop down menu select the option you want and then click Update 6 Tlounpublish or delete comments o Click on the box next t
14. er to post comments and or support this QUESTION LETS 0 W Tweet 0 S41 0 Do you think lobbying and special interests play a valuable role in our government processes Submitted on Thu 03 13 2014 18 11 by Juan 18 09 0 Login or register to post comments and or support this question LEES 0 w Tweet 0 g 1 0 What will you do to promote and protect farmers once you are elected Submitted on Thu 03 13 2014 17 43 by Penny Much of our country s economy is focused on agriculture and often our interests are left out of politics would like to see someone elected who will represent farmers best interests 008 0 CO Login or register to post comments and or sunnar this question ABOUT CONNECT WITH US GO y 1 question submitted and 3 votes cast SUBMIT A QUESTION VIEW ALL MOST MOST WATCHED SHARED King Joffrey has a unique view on corruption Issues Culture Cultural Policy Economics Corruption Politics Public Administration Socia issues Crime and justice m cc Views 166 6 11 5 Admin Features An administrator of the Issues platform is a person who is responsible for managing information on the platform including determining who has access to create modify or delete content The following sections of this manual will expand on these features 5 1 Content Management The administrator can use the Content tab located at the top of every page for bulk content management such
15. he right hand side panel of the navigation bar is another way that citizens can submit their queries When posting a question citizens are given the option to provide their name and a description of why they are interested in the candidate or political party s response They can specify a region or category that corresponds to their question using the Region and Issue drop down menus respectively Citizens can also upload a video of themselves from YouTube or Vimeo asking their question which can be recorded using a camera or a mobile phone with video recording capabilities JM The Issues NAT Tech4Dem ISSUES CANDIDATES v PARTIES gt ASK A QUESTION ABOUT Home Add content CONNECT TH US Your name optional f c Q Your question ELM people have submitted Juestion and cast 3 vot Description But what do you think SUBMIT A QUESTION VIEW ALL MOST WATCHED SHAREE ira Regi gion Non brine sue r ne 13 rom t Menu settings Not in menu Provide a menu link URL path settings Automatic alias Revision information No revision Comment settings Open z Joffrey Meta tags osito Using defaults Authoring information By mmenwyelet Publishing options Published PARTNERS EN Q 10 4 5 View All Link The View All link located on the right hand side panel of each page on the Issues platform allows visitors to see a list of all of the questions citizens have asked a candidate or political party that have yet to be
16. navigation bar where tabs direct visitors to issue topics candidate and party information and links where questions can be submitted and later voted on for candidates to answer Those five tabs include the following which are discussed in more detail in the Navigating the Site section of this manual e The Issues tab is the central repository of candidate stances on key issues Visitors can view recordings of a candidate describing their platform and provide comments in response e The Candidates tab centralizes all recorded candidate responses to issues in a single place The tab allows searching and filtering so that visitors can easily find the information they want on specific candidate stances e The Parties tab provides general information on parties participating in the election and collates party candidate responses in a single place e The Ask a Question tab provides a quick way for citizens to submit questions to candidates or political parties The Submit a Question link located on the right hand side panel of the navigation bar is another way that citizens can submit their queries e The About tab provides basic information about the Issues tool itself 184 The Issues Q wy Tech4Dem ISSUES CANDIDATES v PARTIES v ASK A QUESTION ABOUT Culture v CONNECT WITH US 8 If elected king would you be corrupt believe that corruption is evil but also see the point of some of my compo
17. nents that it is a necessary evil What are your views on corruption ASK A QUESTION 3 people have submitted 1 Joffrey Baratheon Corruption gt 0 Tyrion Lannister Corruption gt 0 1 ESSE a question and cast 3 votes J 0 1 j 7 f SUM fj er N IN But what do you think Er gt g ac NN SUBMIT A QUESTION VIEW ALL Om 0 10 views 166 Os OM 00 views 86 MOST MOST WATCHED SHARED GENS DEN 37o e 5 3 Accessing Your Account For basic access to the Issues platform by public visitors no account is needed However administrators of the website will need an account to manage the content that is uploaded to the platform Additional capabilities including the ability to comment on posts uploaded to the platform require an account For first time users click on the Create new account tab to setup a username and password You also have the option of linking your social media account to the Issues platform and logging in via Facebook Twitter or Google For returning users click on the Login tab to sign in using your username and password If you already have an account but have forgotten your password click on the Request new password tab and follow the instructions on your screen to reset your password and access your account Depending on your level of access you may be able to view or manage content on the site If you have questions ab
18. nt CONNECT WITH US 3 people have submitted juestion a 3 t But what do you think SUBMIT A QUESTION VIEW ALL MOST WATCHED SHARED Menu settings Not in menu URL path settings Daenerys Targaryan is not afraid Automatic alias 10 Revision information No revision Comment settings Oper Meta tags oppositio Using defaults ssues Culture Cultural Policy Authoring information By mmenwyelet Publishing options Published PARTNERS 13 5 3 Submitting an Answer As an administrator you may want to provide answers to questions that were submitted by citizens over different systems such as social media to the Issues platform This can be done as follows e From the drop down menu at the top of the page click on Content gt Add Content gt Answer Fill in each of the required fields Create an appropriate title for the response and describe the response further in the Description field 6 Atthe bottom of the page select Publishing Options to chose whether or not to publish your answer If you do not click on the Published box your answer will not be published e Besure to click Save at the bottom of the page after all information has been entered n Dashboard Content Structure Appearance People Modules Configuration Reports Help mmenwyelet 0g out JM The Issues a DA N Tech4Dem SSUES CANDIDATES v PARTIES v ASK A QUESTION ABOUT Home Add content Title CONNECT WITH US GO sw
19. o the comment that you want to manage o Using the Update Options drop down menu select the option you want and then click Update 4 Dashboard Content Structure Appearance People Modules Configuration Reports Help Home Administration Content Content o CONTENT COMMENTS FILES Published comments Unapproved comments 0 UPDATE OPTIONS Unpublish the selected comments Y Update SUBJECT AUTHOR POSTED IN UPDATED OPERATIONS Frightening They will burn Lesley Dudden Daenerys stands by her dragons 02 24 2014 15 44 edit While appreciate that Lesley Dudden King Joffrey has a unique view on corruption 02 24 2014 15 30 edit agree in theory with Tyrian Lesley Dudden Tyrion Lannister shares with us his view on Government spending 02 24 2014 15 27 edit like that Rob is in favor Lesley Dudden Rob Stark is in favor of bi partisanship on his terms 02 24 2014 15 24 edit think we should be Lesley Dudden Daenerys has little respect for other parties 02 24 2014 15 23 edit Q 16 6 Setting Up New Candidates and Parties Adding candidates and political parties to the Issues platform allows website visitors to learn about the candidates that are running in an election and their party s political platform The following sections of this manual will walk you through the steps to add this information 6 1 Creating a New Candidate e From the drop down menu at the top of the page click on Content gt Add Content gt Can
20. ontent on The Issues website If you would like to save but not publish the information that you have entered click on Publishing Options at the bottom of the page and unclick the box next to Published before clicking Save Tech4Dem Home Add content Party Name Party logo Choose File No file chosen UPLOAD be less than 2 MB d file types png gif jpg jpeg FB Page Title Title Menu settings Not in menu Revision information No revision URL path settings Automatic alias SIGN UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER ontent Structure Appearance People Modules Configuration Repo D 4 he Issues But what do you think SUBMIT A QUESTION VIEW ALL MOST WATCHED PARTNERS 88 8 n 5 2 e hi Q 8
21. out your account permissions contact your systems administrator JR The Issues Q TechaDem ISSUES CANDIDATES PARTIES ASK A QUESTION ABOUT Create new account Log in Request new password CONNECT WITH US r 1 Enter your The Issues username Password ASK A QUESTION 1 question submitted and 3 Enter the password that accompanies your username votes cast Or log in with 3 SUBMIT A QUESTION i ea VIEW ALL LOG IN 69 6 4 Navigating the Site The navigation bar of the Issues platform can be used to direct website visitors to issue topics candidate and party information as well as links where questions can be submitted and later voted on for candidates to answer The following sections of this manual will discuss the Issues Candidates Parties and Ask a Question tabs as well as the View All Link in further detail 4 1 Issues Tab By clicking on the Issues tab visitors will be directed to a page that highlights the issues that are of most interest to a candidate or political party Visitors are able to search these issues which are sorted by a variety of themes using the drop down menu in the center of the page When visitors select an issue from this drop down menu the page will refresh and show related videos that have been uploaded These videos depict a candidate answering questions related to an issue allowing viewers to gain an understanding of a candidate s position on a given topic
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