The Evolution of Demockracy

As our loyal readers have undoubtedly noticed, Demockracy has a new and improved design. However, there’s more than meets the eye. While this new design is the most obvious of recent upgrades, it is only one of our ongoing efforts to constantly improve the site based on feedback from our writers and loyal readers. Some of the changes in recent months include defining our mission and vision and focusing on more in-depth content, adding a commentary section to display regular columns and other political commentary, bringing on an art editor who contributes a weekly political cartoon to the main page, moving toward a regular cycle of publishing featured articles and most commentaries at the beginning of each week, initiating our first podcast, and a starting a new satire column.

The most recent changes have included an initial redesign of the site to incorporate more of a magazine feel. Within this new and improved design, we have incorporated more ways for writers and users to interact with the site through our new “connect with Demockracy” feature. This feature includes a link to our own Facebook group, a Twitter feed, a direct link to submit original material to the site and contact one of our editors, and  a more seamless way to connect to our RSS feed and email list to help keep our loyal readers up to date on all new Demockracy content.

As we move forward, we plan to implement more improvements to the site. Some of these ideas include:

• Interviews with Policymakers
• Monthly Podcasts
• Original Video and Photography (ideally satire)
• New Columns

We would love any feedback from writers and readers. Among other things, we’d like to know:

• What do you like?
• What other features should we add?
• How should we best leverage Web 2.0 tools (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to make the site more interactive?
• What type of content would you like to see more of?

Every suggestion will be considered seriously as we move forward. Because of our non-profit model, it is paramount that all change be organic and incorporate feedback from everyone who enjoys the site. We are thus committed to rapid cycle improvement and a process of plan, test, evaluate, and, when deemed worthwhile, implement.

Please leave your thoughts below and/or send a personal note to our editors.