Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Cool new political tech

Posted in:

Illinois

* This looks very big. From a press release…

Targeted Victory, a leader in online advertising and integrated data management for political candidates, today announced a new partnership with The Data Trust, the premier right-of-center voter file and data management company, to offer easier access and sharing capabilities for The Data Trust’s warehouse of data on more than 260 million Americans. The partnership is the first of its kind for The Data Trust, which has the exclusive list exchange agreement with the Republican National Committee. […]

Through this partnership, Targeted Victory will incorporate The Data Trust’s political data inventory into its Audience Exchange, a powerful block of consumer and political data. The new segments will enable Targeted Victory’s clients to place their message in front of their most important audiences. This partnership is the first of many anticipated by The Data Trust to place its data in the marketplace to be used across all methods of contact.

* I asked specifically how this would be done and Abe Adams, Senior Director of Client Strategy & Fundraising at Targeted Victory, sent over some dot points…

· We’re building the biggest data marketplace in politics. Audience Exchange has a powerful block of consumer and political data from world-class providers like i360, Datalogix, Lotame, and now The Data Trust.

· The Data Trust has compiled records and information on about 260 million Americans. Until now, their data was only used for mail and phone outreach. By onboarding their data into Audience Exchange, we now have additional medium to touch these potential voters - online.

· This new data segment is available to Targeted Victory clients, but also available to self-service Targeted Engagement users. Targeted Engagement is the first self-service advertising product built exclusively for politics, and offers the voter data used by presidential campaigns to campaigns of ALL SIZES on the right.

· Our partnership with The Data Trust gives campaigns of all sizes access to a powerful new block of data, and will enable campaigns to target and segment audiences with more reach and versatility than ever before.

Looks pretty extensive.

* And that’s not the only move Targeted Victory is making. From Campaigns and Elections…

How can campaigns reach voters who are consuming media on multiple screens? The Republican digital firm Targeted Victory has rolled out a new partnership with Rentrak aimed at helping campaigns do just that.

Targeted Victory plans on layering Rentrak’s TV viewing data into Audience Exchange, a catalogue that uses consumer-based data from providers i360, Datalogix, and Lotame. The partnership is notable given the role Rentrak data played in 2012—the Obama campaign contracted with the data provider to better target persuadable voters based on their TV viewing habits.

* From the Q&A…

C&E: How do you expect the trend of straying away from traditional television viewing habits to continue in 2014?

Beach: I think both the broadcast and the digital mediums are growing, but I think that a larger share of this development is going digital. It’s always been that there are two groups of people: live TV watchers, who compose 17% of viewers, and “off the grid” viewers, meaning people who watch all of their content through streaming or DVR, who compose 30% of viewers. But what we’ve seen in the last year’s research is a third middle group which we’re calling “screen agnostic.” These people are trending away from only live TV, but are consuming on numerous devices. These people compose the largest group of the three, as they compose 54% of viewers. They are who we hope to target with this product.

* Meanwhile, a reader turned me on to Greenhouse…

A free browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari that exposes the role money plays in Congress. Displays on any web page detailed campaign contribution data for every Senator and Representative, including total amount received and breakdown by industry and by size of donation. Puts vital data where it’s most relevant so you can discover the real impact of money on our political system.

I installed the app for my Safari browser. This is what happens when you hover over an incumbent’s name…

Very, very cool. Now, if only they’d expand the app to include challengers.

* From a MapLight press release…

MapLight, a nonpartisan research organization that tracks the influence of money in politics, announces the launch of an extensive mapping project examining the geographic origin of contributions to legislators by state; contributions from companies to legislators by state; and roll call votes by state and district on key bills in Congress. For the first time, it will be possible to instantly see and understand the role money from outside sources plays in local races and the geographic alignment of support and opposition to key legislative initiatives.

Legislator Map: Who in Your State Has Contributed to Majority Leader Candidate Kevin McCarthy (R-CA)?
Voting Map: How Did Your House Rep. Vote on The Farm Bill?
Donor Map: Comcast Peppers Lawmakers Across the Country with Donations

Have you run across any cool political apps/tech lately?

* Related…

* NGP VAN and Catalist partner for NEA’s ‘Activist Continuum’: Catalist is providing statistical algorithms and NGP VAN is taking their calculations and plugging them into their “Continuum” interface, which “give end-users dynamically updated information about member activities – and better tailor communication to match the topics and types of activities that members are most interested in,” according to Stu Trevelyan, NGP VAN’s CEO.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Jun 23, 14 @ 2:36 pm

Comments

Wow - that Greenhouse app is extraordinarily cool.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Monday, Jun 23, 14 @ 2:42 pm
Coo stuff.

The only piece of data they will never get (I hope) is which person got your vote.

Comment by walker Monday, Jun 23, 14 @ 2:48 pm
“Cool stuff” above. sorry

Comment by walker Monday, Jun 23, 14 @ 2:48 pm
Yup…The coolest. It is called right or left hand to be used to knock on a door and talking with the folks who open the door.

Comment by CirularFiringSquad Monday, Jun 23, 14 @ 2:54 pm
–The Data Trust, the premier right-of-center voter file and data management company, to offer easier access and sharing capabilities for The Data Trust’s warehouse of data on more than 260 million Americans.–

I find all this massive collection, warehousing, accessing and sharing of individual’s “data” profoundly depressing. I try to give up as little of my “data” as possible.

There are about 240 million Americans 18 and over, so at 260 million, Data Trust is roping in a lot of kids under 18, too. Also depressing.

Is there some disconnect among those “right-of-center” that Data Trust serves and all this Big Brotherism?

Brave New World, to mix my Orwell and Huxley.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Jun 23, 14 @ 3:01 pm
I recently made a bill tracker that attempts to show the progress of Illinois legislation in a more graphical fashion. It’s still a work in progress (that is to say the navigation and functionality need some tweaks). But it’s something I do in the evenings in my free time, but once a statehouse junkie, always a statehouse junkie. http://maythirtysecond.com/billcount/legi/

Comment by Drew Monday, Jun 23, 14 @ 3:02 pm
–The Data Trust, the premier right-of-center voter file and data management company, to offer easier access and sharing capabilities for The Data Trust’s warehouse of data on more than 260 million Americans.–

This should be THE concern of the ACLU. Drones are not the issue, drones are just easier to understand. This data aggregation menace is mostly unregulated. You would be shocked what they have on you. I know Rich hates it but adblockers and Ghostery are the way to go. To the post, use Ghostery and stop being tracked/analyzed by big data.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Jun 23, 14 @ 3:11 pm
Sorry, me above.

Comment by Lobo Y Olla Monday, Jun 23, 14 @ 3:12 pm
If I hover over my name, will the app tell me I’m broke?

Comment by Nonplussed Monday, Jun 23, 14 @ 3:17 pm
I like the look of Greenhouse, but when I went to install it via Chrome it said the app could “access my data on all websites”. That’s a bit much just to have the ability to hover over someone’s name and see the money. It seems grossly excessive for any any app, especially one developed by a 16 year old as a project and not a money-maker.

I’m curious as to what data is accessed by the app? My bank information? Email credentials? The FAQ said that the app specifically doesn’t support the private browsing mode in Chrome, so you’re prevented from using the app in a mode designed for privacy.

I’m far from being a Luddite, and I have no problems allowing an app to access some of my data when warranted and when there’s a need. I just don’t see where it’s necessary in order for this app to perform its function.

Comment by Name Withheld Monday, Jun 23, 14 @ 3:22 pm
Rove did a great job gathering data in 2004 and had many of the ACLU types bemoaning the effort. But Obama took it to another level in ‘08 and ‘12 and they’ve complained as much about that as they have about him resigning the patriot act and keeping Gitmo open.

I’m not overly concerned. but yes, kinda creepy.

Comment by Databoy Monday, Jun 23, 14 @ 3:25 pm
I still think the use of the Rentrak data in 2012 was the biggest political data development in a very long time. In ten years someone is going to write a book about how much that development changed the game. I haven’t been able to see or play with that data so maybe its impact has been oversold but it sounds like something that should completely change how TV is bought.

Comment by The Captain Monday, Jun 23, 14 @ 3:30 pm
This may sound like a novice question - but with many commenters bemoaning the Big Brother-esque tracking of data by the Right - is this new app significantly different from the NGP VAN system used by the Left?

Comment by DataNoob Monday, Jun 23, 14 @ 3:44 pm
They know ye better than ye know yeself. It’s progress, or is it?

Comment by A guy... Monday, Jun 23, 14 @ 5:25 pm
I’m still waiting to read about that Capitol Fax app.

Comment by Norseman Monday, Jun 23, 14 @ 5:29 pm
Nothing here that NGP Van hasn’t been doing for 8 years. Check out Legiscan or Bill trak–they pull and compile legislative data so you don’t have to refresh ancient state of Illinois websites.

Also nearly every state candidate this cycle is using NationBuilder, a company that prides itself on harvesting your data without you knowing it.

Comment by Enchilada Monday, Jun 23, 14 @ 11:44 pm
Pocket Congress is a great iOS app for tracking and quick research on Congressional info, both legislation & legislators.

Comment by Dave Tuesday, Jun 24, 14 @ 11:12 am
It’s all federal, though. Not at the state level.

Comment by Dave Tuesday, Jun 24, 14 @ 11:27 am