Talk:Elements of Political Communication/Introduction/Background

Needs, wants, random ideas
As anyone can see, there's still quite a bit of work anyone can do here and a lot of room for expansion. Here are some random things I'd like to do, in no particular order: Runfellow (discuss • contribs) 22:14, 18 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Make the perspective more "global". Right now it is focused on United States, but the principles here should be more universal so that international audiences can relate to the advice and examples.
 * Give more examples.
 * More specifically, I'd like to use more dynamic examples, utilizing various types of media.
 * Add more elements to letters/op-eds, digital media, and press releases.
 * I'd like to expand the digital media section quite a bit, especially regarding social media. The problem is that social media is an ever-changing beast and hard to "nail down" with text alone.  Perhaps if there were some kind of open Twitter and Facebook accounts under the creative commons license?  Just a random thought.
 * As always, copy editing and format fixes are appreciated.
 * I'll add more here there later.

Updated: Ideas, Topics, Etc.
I only have the time to update this in chunks on rare occasion, but I've made a few big edits today. Here are some of the things I'd still like to do with this, in addition to my first entry on this talk page: Runfellow (discuss • contribs) 22:57, 26 March 2012 (UTC)
 * The current "book" is approximately 8,000 words long, but very much focuses on written communication. I'd like some more information and advice on oral/spoken communication, including debate presentation, etc., but that's not really my specialty.  I'm not completely ignorant about it, considering I help candidates prepare for debates frequently, but I wouldn't say I know as much about that as other subjects.  Heck, I'm even open to making a page about creating videos (part of my background is in video production).
 * Going off above, I think that would be a very good opportunity to include more video, audio, and pictures to illustrate the concepts discussed. There are a few things on the creative commons worth using, but most presidential speeches and the like in the commons are included in their entirety and really we need short clips.
 * I know this isn't Wikipedia, and thus sourcing rules are a little different, but I'd like to include more references. I know the stuff I have is true, but I want to make sure other people feel confident in what is presented here.
 * The previous picture that I had used on the front page was taken off the commons (no big surprise), so I used another image across the top that simply has a few words from the introduction to the Declaration of Independence. While I am trying to avoid a United States-centric viewpoint, if one doesn't agree with its content, one can still agree that it was an extremely effective political message.
 * I have updated the Digital Media Guidelines chapter, but it's hard to know where to stop. There's practical information about these services, which is readily available on many sites, and then there's more practical advice that's specific to political media.  I'm not really sure where one ends and the other begins.
 * The press release page is sparse, and I was thinking about lumping it into one of the other chapters to eliminate the page entirely. I'm not sure, though.  Yes, press releases are somewhat old school and their functionality in today's world is questionable, but some news sources still rely on them, especially local publications.
 * The reference system is not exactly intuitive, but it is consistent. Contact me if you have any questions and I'll explain it.
 * I took the Author page off the front page, since it seemed a little out of place right now, but if anyone wants to work on this project and add their name, I'll be happy to put it back up.
 * If you're interested in helping out, contact me on here and let's work something out.