THE British general election in three weeks' time is the first in which the Internet will have a role, with web sites dedicated to election news coverage as well as party political information on line from the contenders themselves.
The Guardian, Times and Telegraph have all developed sites for [the election, as have the BBC and ITN.
There are also two newcomers to on line news in Britain, OnLine Magic, with its GE97, and Microsoft News. Both are news providers in the US.
Microsoft's presence is significant and heralds its full time arrival this side of the Atlantic. It is a powerful news provider in the US and a partner in the 24 hour news channel, MSNBC.
Newspapers on line election services will concentrate chiefly on providing historical and background material, using their vast archives. The newer entrants aim to provide more up to date news. Microsoft's service is updated hourly with news from the Press Association (PA) while GE97 is buying from both UK News and PA.
Both also have their own journalistic staff, providing news and other content.
The newspapers' electronic services are providing much copy that is also available in their print versions, with links to other material and sites. The Guardian, however, is updating a few times a day, like a broadcaster with regular news bulletins. It is also using its regular writers to supply pieces for the on line election editions.
Both the Guardian and the Telegraph have made imaginative use of archive material as well as information for all constituencies, though it was impossible to find Northern Ireland constituency information on the Electronic Telegraph.
The Guardian site is probably one of the easiest to use and does not require any additional software to open particular pages. It also offers a guide to all elections since 1945, with the front pages of the Guardian and the lead stories of the day available.
The sites all have varying degrees of interactivity, with the example, the facility to vote on whether the Liberal Democrat leader, Paddy Ashdown, should be allowed to take part in a TV debate with the Labour and Conservative leaders.
The BBC site allows you to operate the legendary swingometer, creating the next British government on the basis of a percentage swing to one party or another, while the ITN site allows you to stroll through a virtual election night studio.
As the trade paper UK Press Gazette said last week, the real importance of the on line election is that it offers companies an "ideal opportunity to raise the profile of their attempts at new media".