PoliticsMatters: an independent monitoring project on US presidential elections. Looking for collaborations PoliticsMatters is a collective blog launching October 5th on PoliticaOnline.it The approaching US elections seem to promise a new push for political attention and participation as an affirmative answer to a polarized ideological battle. Not only because of its worldwide effects and high stakes, but also due to a resurgence of grassroots activism using new collaborative technologies. It is therefore important to monitor these elections not only in their general aspects of campaign and news media coverage, but particularly to explore the different layers of "latent" communication working at the intersection of politics, technology, culture, business and International strategies. Mostly aimed at the Italian public, our monitoring project ("PoliticsMatters") will provide daily analysis, commentaries and reports by researchers from the Social and Political Sciences fields as well as by journalists, bloggers and citizens. Our team will take a close look at media outlets and other sources worldwide, while also exchanging stories with similar web-projects. With its open-end and cross-discipline approach, "PoliticsMatters" aims to go beyond the (often misleading) breaking news and reports of Big Media, in order to build a collective 'blog-lab' as a new tool for expressing and debating today's political culture issues. PoliticsMatters: Starting October 5th at <http://www.politicaonline.it/politicsmatters>http://www.politicaonline.it/politicsmatters More info & contacts: <mailto:info@politicaonline.it>info@politicaonline.it