By 3 News online
A Kiwi website aimed at getting out the youth vote during last year's general election has been nominated for one of the internet's biggest awards.
Massey University student-designed On The Fence is the only non-American site nominated in the People's Voice political blog/website category for the Webbies.
The Webby Award is handed out for excellence on the internet, with nominees chosen by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.
On The Fence was first created by a group of students in 2011 to help young undecided and first-time voters make informed choices about election issues. The ultimate aim was to get youth more engaged with politics.
Users rated how they felt about certain statements and then given results on which political parties they could be aligned with.
Last year, the university's Design and Democracy Project partnered with award-winning Kiwi web company Springload to redevelop the site based on user feedback.
During the election, the site encouraged 30,000 non-voting 18-34-year-olds to vote, which represents 7 percent of the youth population eligible to cast their ballot.
Design and Democracy Project director Karl Kane says On The Fence succeeded in giving people non-partisan information about political options.
"Young people are not politically apathetic but they aren't voting. There's a difference. Party-political tribalism and spin is a turn-off for them; they want to make values-based choices," he says.
Springload chief executive Bron Thomson says the company is delighted at the nomination.
The company's biggest challenge was to make it accessible on pretty much all smart devices.
In the six weeks before Election Day, the site surpassed all goals by attracting more than 170,000 unique visitors, who spent an average of eight minutes and 13 seconds on the site, with a 92 percent completion rate.
No traditional marketing investment was made into the site, and was mainly through peer-to-peer sharing online.
3 News
source: newshub archive
