Announcing the Polling Place Photo Project. Document Democracy.

NEW YORK, November 2, 2006. Design for Democracy, NewAssignment.Net, and the Winterhouse Institute are pleased to announce the Polling Place Photo Project, a nationwide experiment in citizen journalism that seeks to empower citizens to capture, post and share photographs of democracy in action.

By documenting their local voting experience on Tuesday, November 7, voters will contribute to an archive of photographs that captures the richness and complexity of voting in America. This project will demonstrate the design community’s success in mobilizing a sizable number of citizens in the name of improving the quality of life through design.

By capturing the images and the information that accompanies them, the Project becomes a research tool on how voting happens in America and how it can be designed to be easier, less confusing and more enjoyable. The project intends to collect photographs of every polling place in America, so voters are encouraged to participate no matter where they vote, how large or small their polling place is, what kind of ballot they use, or what their party affiliation.

“The Polling Place Photo Project will reveal the exercise of democracy in very real places, rather than simply as political rhetoric,” notes AIGA executive director Ric Grefé. “At once, it provides a shared experience to every viewer while testing the concept that citizens can capture a national experience as a means of informing traditional forms of journalism.”

This is an open-source project. All photographs are contributed under an “Attribution No Derivatives” Creative Commons license. Photography of polling places is governed by state and local law—there is no one answer for what is permissible. Every state has different election laws, some which allow photos of polling stations and others that do not. It is important to check your state’s procedures to find out what is and isn't acceptable. The Polling Place Photo Project encourages participants in this Project to follow all applicable local, state and federal laws.

Election Day is next Tuesday, November 7. Get your cameras ready!

www.pollingplacephotoproject.org

Sponsors

Individuals and institutions

AIGA
AIGA, the professional association for design, is the oldest and largest membership association for design professionals engaged in the discipline, practice and culture of designing. Its mission is to advance designing as a professional craft, strategic tool and global cultural force.
www.aiga.org

Design for Democracy
Design for Democracy increases civic participation by making the experience clearer, more understandable, easier to accomplish and more trustworthy. Design and social research professionals collaborate to enable compelling, efficient and trust-building experiences between government and the governed. Design for Democracy is a strategic program of AIGA, the professional association for design.
www.designfordemocracy.org

Design Observer
The Polling Place Photo Project was conceived as a national initiative of citizen journalism by William Drenttel and Design Observer. Design Observer is the largest webblog about design and visual culture and is edited and authored by Michael Bierut, William Drenttel and Jessica Helfand.
www.designobserver.com

NewAssignment.Net
NewAssignment.Net is a nonprofit site that tries to spark innovation in journalism by showing that open collaboration over the Internet among reporters, editors and large groups of users can produce high-quality work that serves the public interest, holds up under scrutiny, and builds trust. At New Assignment, pros and amateurs cooperate to produce work that neither could manage alone. The site uses open-source methods to develop good assignments and help bring them to completion.
www.newassignment.net

Thirdwave
Thirdwave is AIGA's development partner and responsible for supporting the technology of the Polling Place Photo Project, as well as countless other AIGA online initiatives.
www.thirdwavellc.com

Winterhouse Institute
William Drenttel is a partner with Jessica Helfand in Winterhouse Institute, which supports writing and publishing projects that further an understanding of design and visual culture. Drenttel is president emeritus of AIGA, a trustee of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and a fellow of the New York Institute of the Humanities at New York University. In 2006, Winterhouse Institute and AIGA started the Winterhouse Awards for Design Writing & Criticism, the first national prize recognizing excellent writing about design and new voices in design criticism and commentary.
www.winterhouse.com

Media supporters

The Deck
A premier advertising network that reaches web and design professionals, The Deck serves up millions of page views each month and is uniquely configured to connect the right marketers to a targeted, influential audience.
www.coudal.com/deck/

For further information, please contact:
Liz Danzico
AIGA | the professional association for design
Tel 212 710 3131 Fax 212 807 1799
liz_danzico@aiga.org