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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2016 8:20:55 GMT
Just a general question to see if we have some sort of trend, do certain people like certain subjects. Are we all into sci fi, are we autistic in some form that we like to study patterns?
For me, although a small part is political and it is an ever shrinking part which first attracted me to election results. It is the numbers, the study of patterns, from an early age I watched a cricket match not only in interest of the game itself, but I would be far more interested in the average runs needed etc. Same as to when I watched the London Marathon it was not the athletes themself but the time, and how many minutes per mile would be needed to set a record, how many minutes per mile they were doing now. Baseball became a zen for stats as they monitor the far end of a fart when it comes to performance which football has now gone further into, such as distance covered, passes completed not completed, times spitting (maybe not the last one but hey it would be a stat)
The transfer over to politics was more to do with this is not just someones individual performance but how a party or individual can effect/affect anothers train of thought to pursuade to vote one way or another.
What factors influence that, how young/old north/south rural/urban vote, How this can be influenced, how this can also be manipulated.
I do wish I had more time to study the boundaries and how different scenarios would work out. If I had the chance I would enjoy running a polling company and where as it might not be top rated it would answer the burning questions I wanted such as to what is the political make up of Doctor Who fans, Are left handed people more likely to vote corbyn than Smith. I would indeed like to be god, not for the ability of sorting out the world, but having the access to unlimited supplies of data on the world and being able to access and pour/pore/poor over data analysis of any given question. How much time on average do people spend contemplating life. How many folks lie? and actually get honest results.
But hey thats a little from me, may sound a little nutty (don't reply to that bit)
But what made you psephological?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2016 11:04:05 GMT
I find the connection between electoral behaviour and wider social/economic/demographic trends to be fascinating, and it's a good proxy way of learning more about the country and its history. (The same goes for elections overseas.)
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The Bishop
Labour
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Post by The Bishop on Sept 2, 2016 11:10:24 GMT
The evident ignorance and lack of interest of most journalists/pundits in actual psephological facts is very revealing to witness, too.
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Post by mrpastelito on Sept 2, 2016 15:12:02 GMT
- Elections - a big, exciting game, a spectacle with, let's face it, nothing really at stake, except on local level as that's the only level the hidden elites aren't taking any interest in; hence:
- Local politics
- Boundaries, and electoral maps - staring long and hard at a good map has similar effects on my mind as meditating on a kōan.
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Post by andrewteale on Sept 2, 2016 19:48:36 GMT
- Elections - a big, exciting game, a spectacle with, let's face it, nothing really at stake, except on local level as that's the only level the hidden elites aren't taking any interest in; hence: - Local politics - Boundaries, and electoral maps - staring long and hard at a good map has similar effects on my mind as meditating on a kōan . The rest of the world has now noticed this, hence all those adult colouring books. I find putting an election map together a bit like constructing a jigsaw. Except my jigsaw has ten thousand pieces, every one a different size, shape and shade; and every year some of the older pieces are taken away and recut, while others change colour - some drastically, some subtly. Apart from the inherent beauty of this jigsaw, you can never quite tell what it's going to do next. |
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Post by Lord Twaddleford on Sept 2, 2016 20:29:50 GMT
- Elections - a big, exciting game, a spectacle with, let's face it, nothing really at stake, except on local level as that's the only level the hidden elites aren't taking any interest in; hence: - Local politics - Boundaries, and electoral maps - staring long and hard at a good map has similar effects on my mind as meditating on a kōan . The rest of the world has now noticed this, hence all those adult colouring books. I find putting an election map together a bit like constructing a jigsaw. Except my jigsaw has ten thousand pieces, every one a different size, shape and shade; and every year some of the older pieces are taken away and recut, while others change colour - some drastically, some subtly. Apart from the inherent beauty of this jigsaw, you can never quite tell what it's going to do next. I get quite a bit of enjoyment out of creating and looking at electoral maps, entertaining a bunch of "what if" scenarios, and musing about how certain constituencies/wards look better in which colour, and whatnot... |
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Post by greenchristian on Sept 2, 2016 21:55:21 GMT
My interest in psephology is an inevitable result of being a geeky former mathematician who is politically interested/active. I am interested as somebody who finds the numbers, graphs, and maps fascinating, and as a politician who wants to use the data to be better at election campaigning.
Having said that, I certainly have less interest in the details of elections in areas with which I am not familiar. Probably in part because I want the brain space for other things I am interested in.
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Post by AdminSTB on Sept 2, 2016 22:20:24 GMT
I can't find any reference to it online, but I'm sure there is/was a psephologist who described every election as an art form.
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Post by mick745 on Sept 3, 2016 11:09:23 GMT
I like lists and patterns. There is also a sense of supporting one's team and feeling part of a big event. There is also an element of number crunching and extracting the information you want for no other purpose other than for personal enjoyment. I also like the fact that it is a rather 'niche' interest.
Like the OP it is probably no coincidence that I find a cricket scorecard a form of art in its own right.
I also find elections/politics similar to a soap opera, following the ups and downs of the various characters as a form of entertainment in its own right.
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carlton43
Reform Party
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Post by carlton43 on Sept 3, 2016 18:23:48 GMT
It is never an 'interest' but always a sickness that affects a small minority. It is allied to list-making and a liking for maps, tables and timetables. It also seems associated with real ale, cricket, football and railways? I wonder what the penetration is of Jazz?
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Sibboleth
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Post by Sibboleth on Sept 4, 2016 0:36:55 GMT
Fascination with the world and all that is in it. And also I make election maps for the much the same reason my Nan used to knit and my Taid used to mend furniture. This is leading me down the road of doing more of this sort of thing...  |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2016 17:16:11 GMT
It is never an 'interest' but always a sickness that affects a small minority. It is allied to list-making and a liking for maps, tables and timetables. It also seems associated with real ale, cricket, football and railways? I wonder what the penetration is of Jazz? Don't drink other than tea, enjoy cricket and football as stated above. Don't do train numbers, but funnily enough could easily go to a main train hub like Birmingham New Street and find myself a seat in front of the main train time table departures board for the day. Not into Jazz but can do a very passionate Elvis and Erasure medley at the Kareoke evening. |
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Post by Lord Twaddleford on Sept 4, 2016 17:53:47 GMT
Fascination with the world and all that is in it. And also I make election maps for the much the same reason my Nan used to knit and my Taid used to mend furniture. This is leading me down the road of doing more of this sort of thing... Out of curiousity, how do you go about makings those maps? |
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Post by afleitch on Sept 4, 2016 19:10:29 GMT
MAPS
I also like doing things that no one has done. I'm currently making hypothetical ward maps of Scotland for the 1979 GE because I just want to see them. That's it.
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Sibboleth
Labour
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Post by Sibboleth on Sept 4, 2016 21:53:33 GMT
Out of curiousity, how do you go about makings those maps? Any programme that allows you to draw (even very simple ones are fine) and the requisite source material. For some things you can just trace over and get a basemap really quickly, but for others (like that Japan map) it's all careful eyeballed copying and takes forever but is oddly calming... |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2016 23:00:40 GMT
The evident ignorance and lack of interest of most journalists/pundits in actual psephological facts is very revealing to witness, too. Total lack of knowledge and absence of commitment to finding out the underlying truth, unlike Pravda |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2016 23:03:05 GMT
Out of curiousity, how do you go about makings those maps? Any programme that allows you to draw (even very simple ones are fine) and the requisite source material. For some things you can just trace over and get a basemap really quickly, but for others (like that Japan map) it's all careful eyeballed copying and takes forever but is oddly calming...yea, get it man, cool, like watching a spider spinning a web while tripping, yea trippy. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2016 23:03:30 GMT
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2018 16:47:00 GMT
It is never an 'interest' but always a sickness that affects a small minority. It is allied to list-making and a liking for maps, tables and timetables. It also seems associated with real ale, cricket, football and railways? I wonder what the penetration is of Jazz? I like mapse, Excel spreadsheets, groundhops, railways. I number crunch by-election results. I love going over old boundaries, reading reports, going over the small print. I am into psephology because numbers can be calculated, torn up and restructured, examined. Because political history requires some amount of bias while numbers are neutral. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2018 19:27:03 GMT
I’m really interested in demographic change.
I first got into this after 2010 when the Tories picked up seats like Cannock Chase, Sherwood, Warwickshire North etc while failing to win Edgbaston, Wirral South and similar seats.
Of course the countervailing trends only accelerated in 2015 and 2017 so my interests were piqued even more.
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