Sherrod Brown's campaign is doing something cool: they're inviting supporters to post audio recordings explaining why they support his campaign for the U.S. Senate, using a web service called Evoca. It's a smart way to get ordinary people involved in a campaign. And given that we all respond better to unscripted human voices than to scripted pitches, it may be a great way for the campaign to discover new sources of creativity and support.

Right now, the Brown campaign is going for the simple approach. A supporter can record a message using a microphone on their computer, or by calling a local phone number. The campaign is asking them to give their name, city of residence and profession, and then editing out last names on the recordings. The campaign is also telling its supporters, "Don't worry if you make a mistake or go too long. We will only post the best portion of your recording."

Considering how unlikely it is for a political campaign to take risks with new technology, you have to give the Brown tech team major props for getting this done. The idea actual came from a campaign supporter who talked to Brown, who then asked his team to make it happen. The campaign considered using Evoca to have Brown audioblog, or to enable supporter to post debate comments or questions for Brown. Ultimately they chose this approach in part because they believe these grassroots statements of support will help reinforce the view that Brown enjoys the broad support of average Ohioans, not special interests.

I'd like to see more experiments with simple audio tools in politics. Imagine if the Brown campaign invited supporters to tag their audio posts by topic, or to rate the posts they listen to, in order to better sort them by issue and quality. Or imagine if they invited supporters to specifically record a message responding to a TV ad they saw, or talking to a hypothetical undecided voter. Or, if they enabled their supporters to talk more directly to each other...

<!-- technorati tags start -->

Technorati Tags: Evoca, Sherrod Brown

<!-- technorati tags end -->