A good newspaper, I suppose, is a nation talking to itself
— US playwright Arthur Miller, 1961

At upstart, we’ve have taken Arthur Miller’s words to heart — but with a twist. With a federal election looming, we’re inviting citizen journalists around the country to tweet rather than talk.

To that end, we’ve created a Google Map/Twitter mashup where citizen journalists can tweet their comments and images (via TwitPic) about the federal election and it will be plotted on a map of Australia.

Tweet the election campaign: include #ozelection and the postcode of your present location

To participate, simply insert the hashtag #ozelection along with the postcode of your present location into your election-related tweets and they will appear in the twitter feed and on the map.

Better still, snap a picture from the campaign trail on your mobile and send it to your TwitPic account along with#ozelection and your postcode and it will appear on the site.

If you’re at the shopping centre during the campaign and see Kevin Rudd or Tony Abbott kissing babies in the food court, tell us about it or tweet a picture. In time, we’re hoping that A Nation Tweeting to Itself will become one of the biggest citizen journalism projects ever attempted in Australia.

To visit the site, go to: http://www.upstart.net.au/ozelection/

Chris Scanlon will be talking about #ozelection tomorrow morning at 7:25 on 774 ABC Melbourne.