Audioboo is software which can be installed on a phone or computer and short broadcasts can be made which can be downloaded as a podcast through itunes or embedded and played on websites.

It is very easy to use and needs no specialist recording equipment beyond a smart phone or a computer. So it’s fairly politician/candidate proof.

It was used a bit in the UK election by candidates (See UK Labour Election 10 page) and election watchers and originally made famous by Stephen Fry (well made famous to me by Stephen Fry!)  I have seen some press officers in political parties here use it to make recordings of press conferences and doorsteps in case queries come up later. (See Labour’s Audioboo page here for example).

The sound quality is excellent and could be rebroadcast on radio or television with ease so this means that should something be recorded by a candidate or someone else recording something on the campaign trail it could get a wider audience.  All you have to do is download the software, set up an account (free!) record your thoughts and publish either to your audioboo page or elsewhere (eg. facebook, blog, twitter, campaign website).

Two examples of Audioboo so far in #ge11

First is Simon Coveney, TD for Cork South Central who has made a number of short broadcasts about the winding up fo the Dáil, starting serious canvassing and this most recent one on the election of constituency colleague Micheál Martin as leader of Fianna Fáil.

The second example is different, it’s a series of interviews between cork blogger Paul O’Mahony and Labour Party candidate in Cork North Central, John Gilroy. Sometimes Paul and John meet up for a coffee and they blather on about all sorts of campaign and national issues and other times like this boo Paul comes across John in the street after a canvass and has a chat.

Would love to know if there are other candidates or voters or interest groups using Auidoboo during the campaign. I love the simplicity of it and the use of voice and background noise to get the sense of what is going on. It also gives candidates a chance to talk about their issues or ideas during campaigns.