Seen our site lately?  Of course you have, but just in case you have been away, distracted, hospitalised or otherwise indisposed, you should have a look.  There is a welter of new elements: as well as the standard banners, we can now publish two mini-banners (which are in fact stories), there are photo galleries, there are so-called “visuals” (the three graphical links between the news articles and the features, and there are “ads” (the vertical series of three boxes below the visuals, which we can use for “quote of the week”, “figure of the week”, “did you know?”, etc. type elements).  These things are not necessarily there all the time – we can mix and match a bit – but collectively they give a much more interesting graphical look to the page and give us more editorial options. Combine all this with some serious efforts we have been making to sharpen up the content from a journalism point of view, and we really feel we are making progress.  Yes, we’re lookin’ good!

But are we?  As evening draws in and the shadow of the night descends on the web-editor’s soul, questions niggle.  Why are there fewer visits to our site than at the same time last year?  Why did a speaker at a webby event (EIF organised) I attended last week (admittedly somewhat incoherent and full of herself) hold up Parliament’s website as an example of people living in a bubble, out of touch with real people?

To doubt is to be alive, I suppose, and however much progress we make we are still a public institution and unlikely to be at the cutting edge of the creative web.  And, yes, we could still do better.  But as I calmed down, I realised that the throwaway disparagement of the web-event speaker was largely based in ignorance, unrealistic expectations (she wanted us to be Obama’s election campaign transplanted into the European Parliament), rather more justifiable criticisms of other, neglected parts of the site and indeed a group-think driven desire to be provocative for the sake of it. We’re not Obama, but in our peer group (for example: this, or this, or this) we’re ahead of the game.  As for the visits, it transpires that our part of the website is doing well, with people reading more of our pages than before.  All the same, we badly need a promotional campaign…

At the aforementioned webby event, another speaker was on hand to sow more fruitful doubts and concerns. Paddy McGovern, founder of RocktheVote.ie (see also US version, not least for the neat intro video) and mycandidate.ie, was there to talk about his ideas on voter engagement.  Here was a man full of pithy detail and telling anecdote. What I took from him was not so much what to do – which I suspect changes every time – but the message that you have to do something and that that something has to be a bit different. Once more, the message was that having a great website is all very fine, but what really counts is your ability to get out there and get people interested.

If this blog were live, which it isn’t yet, I’d be really interested to hear what other people, “out there” in the real world, think about all this. I hope some day to get this feedback.