Each site was scored 1 to 5 against nine different measures. The scoring and the choice of tests is subjective, but informed by my time running national web projects for the Liberal Democrats. I have tried to leave aside my personal political background, and approach the scoring as objectively as possible.

Not all of the measures were equal. After the scores had been weighted, the final score for each party was multiplied to give an overall percentage score for the party. The full results are available here.

scores-spreadsheet

The criteria for inclusion used the most recent election to inform the choice – any British political party which elected one or more MEPs to the European Parliament in June was included. In order to keep the scope of the project manageable, I have looked in each case at the ‘main’ cross-Britain party website, and not Welsh/English national sites.

The nine measures were:

  • A1 Visibly widely updated within the last week
    • This test examined the home page, and the major section home pages for date stamps / other evidence of an update within the last three days. 5 points were awarded for extensive updates beyond the homepage, down to 0 for no update in last three days / no way of telling if updates are contemporary or not.
    • Weight: 0.7
  • A2 Prominent opportunities to interact with key party figures
    • Here I was looking for opportunities for the public to directly talk to senior / recognisable party figures, through blogs, email, forums, twitter etc. 5 points were awarded for sites where there was evidence of regular dialogue between site visitors and the key party figures.
    • Weight: 0.5
  • A3 Regular stream of content written specifically for web
    • This test examined whether parties were taking time to produce content which would interest and engage their supporters and voters. Parties relying on the steady stream of media comments released by their press office to act as the main content base were marked down.
    • Weight: 1
  • A4 Easily accessible policy information
    • Sites got top marks for making available both a quick and easy digest of key policies, backed up by easy to access detailed policy documents. Sites offering only one or the other were marked down.
    • Weight: 1
  • A5 Opportunities for supporters to engage
    • Here I am looking for evidence of open, public dialogue between a party and its supporters, as well as opportunities for supporters to engage in policy making, attend events etc. Effectively what I am examining here is whether a particular site gives supporters of the party a feeling of welcome, and an opportunity to influence their party’s operations and thinking – in a nutshell, does this site motivate supporters to carry on? And do visitors to the site get to see this happening, so that they might feel inspired to join a pre-existing community?
    • Weight: 0.7
  • A6 Regularly updated web-specific video
    • Well-made video is an increasingly important part of political party websites. Here we are looking at both the production quality of the available videos, but also giving top marks to sites which have an evident steady stream of videos, which might tempt users of their site back in the future.
    • Weight: 0.8
  • A7 Press office info and media releases easy to access
    • The media in all its forms (bloggers included) is a key user of political party websites – here we are looking for an easy to access stream of media releases, and also for easy to find contact details for the party’s press office.
    • Weight: 1
  • A8 Easy to join up / support
    • This test assessed how easy it was to find and operate the online joining forms for the parties, and how easy it is to sign up as a non-paying supporter (eg by signing up a mailing list). Ease of use was a key factor in this field.
    • Weight: 1
  • A9 Local candidate / party info fully completed and easy to find
    • This test used four postcodes – one in each of Suffolk, London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Fife. In ech case I was looking for a postcode search which generated specific information about the local candidate in the next general election. Parties were not penalised if they had not yet selected their candidate.
    • Weight: 1