To understand campaign tech, and what is possible in it, it’s also critical to understand the vernacular that comes with it.  When you are talking to campaign and political tech terms, three terms will be tossed around a lot: data, tools, and analytics.  and business process outsourcing. Tools are interfaces everyone uses to get their work done. Whether it’s a blog, a fundraising page, or a supporter management tool, this is what most volunteers and campaign staff think of when it comes to campaign tech. Vendors of these tools include folks like NationBuilder, Salsa Labs, and the venerable eight hundred pound gorilla of progressive campaign tech, NGP/VAN.

Analytics is the art of making predictions based on the data you have available. Those predictions can be about macro issues (think Nate Silver’s commentary on who is winning the horserace on any given day) or incredibly targeted ones (what is the chance that any given individual voter is perusable so you don’t waste time or money on the persuaded or the non-persuadable.) Mostly, analytics are expressed as probabilities and given as a “score” or chance that something will happen.

Data is the final piece of things. Given that campaigns exist purely to engage with voters and ultimately convince as many voters as possible to support them, it’s of great help if you begin by knowing who the voters actually are. Voter data exists in something called “voter rolls,” or massive spreadsheets containing data on voter like address, phone, name and so on.  Voter data is absolutely essential for on-the-ground field work. A holy grail of political technology is to create the perfect voter file: an accurate, complete, up-to-date, and data-rich list of all the voters eligible to participate in a given election.

To get a consultant meeting, please email consult@techyourself.org or team@techyourself.org.  But we urge you to read this guide and/or take our short courses, filled with experts, at the techyourself.com site first, as you’ll get a well-rounded look at all areas of tech within your campaign, be it tech stacks, tool usage, team configuration, digital spend, data, or other.  Teach yourself and your team first, and we’ll stand by to fill in the gaps!