Are we there yet? The 2010 election has come and gone and as of today we still don’t know who will form the next Australian government.

And now Twitter has a new hashtag for the long wait to hear the result: #auswaits.

Its been an interesting few weeks observing the goings on from the sidelines.

The social media war fought on #ausvotes prior to the election was ferocious at times with partisan supporters spamming last minute calls to action.

Twibbons were out in full flight with Twitter users declaring their alignment with the presidential “I’m with Julia”, the nationalistic “Standup for Australia” and the matter of fact “This Saturday I’m voting Greens”.

On election night #ausvotes was a trending topic, as were a number of other Oz election #hashtags, including one for our youngest ever MP #wyattroy which hit number one with a bullet at one stage.

And then came the inevitable #hungparliament as people gradually realised where the numbers were going towards and started wondering what it all meant.

Nearly two weeks later we still don’t know, but time is growing short until the independents make a decision on which way they will jump.

And still #auswaits

I can’t wait for the election night coverage on TV when Julia and Tony go head to head as Australia votes.

Like usual, I’ll settle down in front of the telly with a cold beer in one hand and a list of all the electorates in the other and let the soothing voice of the ABC’s Anthony Green wash over me as the numbers start to come trickling in.

But this year, something will be different: Twitter.

Unless you’ve been living in a hot-spot free cave for the past few years, you’d know that Twitter has exploded as the micro-blogging site of choice for huge numbers of people.

And as viewers of Masterchef will also know, what’s more fun than watching your favourite show on TV? Tweeting about it at the same time!

Reading the comments that people make using the #masterchef tag is a hoot - I’ll never forget the collective tweet shout of “nooooooo” as Marion was eliminated.

Also amusing is to see puzzled Americans post “what the?” tweets as #masterchef trends worldwide everytime the show airs.

And so it will go for the Australian federal election of 2010.

Or will it?

I know I won’t be alone sending #ausvotes tweets on election night.

But while voting is compulsory in Australia, interest in the outcome is not.

Will the same number of tweeting punters come out on election night as they do for #Masterchef?

Suspect not.

We were recently asked via our Twitter account what is CCH Australia doing with mobile applications?

Here’s our response:

Q - What mobile applications/interfaces do you currently have now or in development?

CCH - We have just launched an individual tax rate calculator at the Apple iTunes store. Next, we’re exploring a newsreader for the CCH Tracker products (email news alerts) and other news. We hope to incorporate text-to-speech in certain apps as well, allowing users to mark stories to be read out loud.

Q - What type of content would CCH see as appropriate for the mobile market? (i.e. the whole of the CCH library or certain subsets?)

CCH - Currently we’re open to trying all content types. We’re talking with customers to understand their needs and workflow.

Q - Are there any issues encountered in developing these, either in the interests of the market or technologically?

CCH - Our online platform IntelliConnect is currently compatible with IE8, IE7 and IE6 and works reasonably well on Firefox. We continue to work with our customers to understand how and where they are using the information in order to add appropriate device and delivery channels.

Q - Are the applications/interfaces being developed for a specific device (e.g. iPhone/iPad, Blackberry) or is a multi-device approach being taken?

CCH – We’re currently developing for specific devices our customers tell us are important to their work.

Q - Have copyright/digital rights management issues played a part in the development of these products?

CCH - Yes. As with all publishers, we respect our authors’ intellectual property, while attempting to meaningfully deliver content to the customer. It’s an important balance, and we’re keeping a close eye on the trends in the industry and new DRM advancements that afford us the best outcomes.