A high school classmate emailed me, telling me "My photos in the NY Times! ... sort of."

Turns out he took part in a NY Times online project to take and post photos of *all* the voting polls in the U.S. My friend's contribution is here; it's part of what the Times is calling "The Polling Place Photo Project" Its home page is here, and it's stated goal is --

   "The Polling Place Photo Project is a nationwide experiment in citizen journalism

that encourages voters to capture, post and share photographs of this year’s

primaries, caucuses and general election. By documenting local voting experiences,

participants can contribute to an archive of photographs that captures the richness

and complexity of voting in America.

   "We are looking to collect photographs of every polling place in America during

the 2008 elections. You are welcome to participate no matter where you vote,

how large or small your polling place is, what kind of ballot you use, or what your

party affiliation is. ..."

This is a rather ambitious (and ambiguous, so far) project to "document the experience" of this civic act. So far they have 576 submissions, of up to five photos each. A quick browse through some of them shows that the submissions seem to be more from the Left and Right Coasts, with some from overseas (I liked the shot of the "boite aux lettres" in France representing absentee voting).

Who besides a news organization would host something like this? I could see it as a museum or university project. Would a non-profit do it?

Interesting browsing, but who can sift through it all?

   -- Terril Feb. 8