Catalan referendum recommended websites

This week Voters in Spain's Catalonia region have given a majority to parties seeking Catalan independence
here are some recommended websites for research.
The official administration site has results and information about the political system

The Guardian has some good background articles on the political importance of the vote and its outcome.
El Pais has detailed analysis and voting outcomes.
Coverage from Catalan News Agency (CNA) is the (English site of the Agència Catalana de Notícies (ACN), the publicly owned news agency of Catalonia)
Nacio digital Catalan newspaper has coverage
as does El Punta.

 CEO barometer maps public opinion in the region towards elections and independence
Information on key groups campaigning for independence can be found on these websites:



The Assemblea Nacional Catalana (Catalan National Assembly, ANC) is an organization that aims at regaining the political independence of Catalonia through the establishment of a free and democratic State.

Estatpropi.Cat, Webpage to count and to show the support to create an own state for the Catalan Countries

Solidariat Catalana per la Independència - grassroots social movement

For coverage of the 2012 independence pritests see also.
• 11s2012.cat http://www.11s2012.cat/ Monitoring of the activity of the hashtag #11s2012 on Instagram and Twitter. (Catalan)
and ara.cat 11th september pages.

Sierra Leone elections November 2012

This week Sierra Leone went to the polls.
for those new to the topic the BBC has a FAQ
BBC Q & A on Sierra Leone Elections -

The Africa Election project website has some useful news stories on the conduct and results.
Official results and information on the regulation can be viewed on the National Election Commission  website.
coalition of monitoring organisations in the country, National Election Watch, mapped out real-time election-related data using OneWorld's monitoring technologies. It includes voter turnout demographics and provisional results.

Local news stories can be viewed on these websites.
Cocorioko Newspaper -
The Patriotic Vanguard Newspaper
Awareness Times Newspaper
Sierra Express Newspaper -
Awoko Newspaper -
Standard Times Press Newspaper
Swit Salone news website -

also see commentary from observers.
Commonwealth statement
EU
ECOWAS

Social media and the US elections - key sites, resources

So now it is all over and pundits are discussing the role that social media played. The Guardian already has an article about how history will judge the role of the media.
Obama used twitter to record his victory and did his wife USA Today has remarks from famous personalities from their twitter accounts

The Twitter blog refers to 31 million tweets! It also has some figures about posts. Look at the special 2012 hashtag page for coverage
Huffington Post even asked why canadians were discussing the elections on twitter
According to the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project report on Social Media and Voting, 30 percent of registered voters have been encouraged to vote for President Obama or Mitt Romney by their friends and family on social networks
According to analytics service Topsy, Twitter users are sending nearly 30,000 messages per hour with the hashtag, #election2012


Topsy set up the Twitter election political Index.
there was also a political engagement page with state by state mappings of support for each candidate by number of tweets.
CNN teamed up with Facebook to offer tredns of analysis
Google US election trends. has statistics on internet search by candidate. Also links to major Youtube campaign sites.

US Elections who thinks what: comment from leading think tanks

Here is a listing of think tanks who have established research pages and comment on the forthcoming elections.

Council on Foreign Policy - foreign policy and the elections analyses the stance of the candidates.


Brookings

AEI American enterprise and the economy .
Rand

Aspen institute

Cato ( libertarian )

Center for American Progress

Clarement Institute (statesmanship and political philosophy has commentary on the debates)

Kaiser Family Foundation - weekly polls on issues effecting voters / issues on their minds.

Harvard university analysis  

US Elections - quiz up on the facts

Here are our selection of good quizzes and games some of which are educational!

USA Today - Candidate Match Game II
Find out who to vote for by answering 14 questionssurrounding the upcoming election.

Project Vote Smart - Vote Easy
A visual breakdown of 13 critical topics surrounding the 2012 election. Respond to each topic and the candidates are visually presented in front of the White House lawn based on the response.

The Advocates - World Smallest Political Quiz A 10 question quiz that displays the results on a unique gridded layout. Students will quickly be able to

270toWin &  Electoral College Resources
also 270toWin iPad App -
Great interactive website that allows students to explore the implications of candidates winning the electoral college votes around the country. The map can be manipulated and you can explore electoral college results going back to 1789.

RandMcNally - Play the Election Similar to 270toWin, this resource allows students to explore the country and current trends in each state. Electoral college voting can also be explored back to 1960.

New York Times Learning Network - 2012 Election Unit

MeoGraph Election 2012
 web 2.0 tool that allows students to create 4D digital stories, a combination of images, audio and text layered on top of a map of the United States.