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Politigram: IEE Website Requirements Specification Document

Kelly, Stephen (2018) Politigram: IEE Website Requirements Specification Document. Undergraduate thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.

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Abstract

Introduction
This project includes the documenting and collecting of requirements for the Politigram responsive website. Politics has been around for as long as humans have been in existence and since the introduction of democracy in Greece in 508 BC, it has of course, changed and evolved over time. However, one thing that has struck me since the evolution of digital technology over the last decade is that ordinary people on a day to day basis are as far from and as uninformed about what goes on in their national parliament as they were back 100 years ago.

Business Need
A common cry I hear from people often is the seemingly age old argument like “ah, sure what can we do about it [the government]?” and “I haven’t a clue what’s going on up there in the Dáil anyway” got me thinking that there is a serious communication black hole that exists between politics and everything else. Yes, there are various media organizations that report on politics and inform us on the latest developments but I’ve noticed that depending on the specific newspaper, TV or radio station you get your information off, the narratives can often be different, sometimes contrastingly. This opens up an opportunity for an impartial ‘one-stop-shop’ website for Irish politics that constituents and the politicians who represents them can visit to better understand the other side.

Proportional representation is an electoral system that depends on high voter turnout in order to achieve the most accurate illustration of the electorate as a whole. According to IDEA (Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance) Ireland’s voter turnout for general elections stands at 65.1% of the voting age population, almost 5% lower than our neighbours in the UK. In terms of demographics, there were more voluntary abstentions amongst young voters, specifically under the age of 35 with these being mostly students or the unemployed. (Houses of the Oireachtas, 2018)

This gives a clear indication that there is a disconnect between our elected representatives and young people that potentially could participate in the political process but choose not to. Providing an easy to use platform that these people could and would use, one that provides clear, insightful evidence on what the elected people are doing and how this effects them could go a long way in rectifying the sense of detachment.

Business Case
The conception of Politigram evolves heavily around servicing both politicians and their constituents in a mutually beneficial environment, with their separate but corresponding needs addressed. These needs are associated with enhanced understanding of the other side, these ‘sides’ being either politicians or constituents. By using readily available data via a variety of different sources and breaking these down in a broad sense, into byte sized information that can be utilized to better understand the views, actions and intensions of the other side. Politigram provides a transparent platform that is mutually beneficial to all who use it for whatever reason they have for using it.

Item Type: Thesis (Undergraduate)
Subjects: J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
Q Science > QA Mathematics > Electronic computers. Computer science
T Technology > T Technology (General) > Information Technology > Electronic computers. Computer science
Z Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources > ZA Information resources > ZA4150 Computer Network Resources > The Internet > World Wide Web > Websites > Website Design
T Technology > TK Electrical engineering. Electronics. Nuclear engineering > Telecommunications > The Internet > World Wide Web > Websites > Website Design
Q Science > QA Mathematics > Computer software > Website Design
T Technology > T Technology (General) > Information Technology > Computer software > Website Design
Divisions: School of Computing > Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Technology Management
Depositing User: Caoimhe Ní Mhaicín
Date Deposited: 08 Nov 2018 19:33
Last Modified: 08 Nov 2018 19:33
URI: https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/3514

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