From:
Steven Clift
Date:
Nov 03 22:50 UTC
Short link
I've sent the following invite to a number of online groups tied to the
election for President. Feel free to forward.
Steven Clift
As the final hours of the Internet-accelerated campaign 2008 come to close, I
want to invite you to join the U.S. Democracy Online Exchange:
http://dowire.org/us
In short, this is an online group (e-list/forum) for those interested in using
the Internet to encourage political participation at the local, state, and
national level.
When the next President seeks to govern, how he and his administration use
online tools to bring Americans together and lead will be extremely important.
Unfortunately, in past election cycles interactivity was turned off right after
the election (I created the world's first election information website in 1994
with E-Democracy.Org - so I've been through a number of election cycles where
this repeats itself). I don't think that can or will happen this time -
Americans
expect to use the Internet in governance just as they did in this election. But
what
will happen with this and related two-way platforms and how can you play a
role?
Whether the next President brings the web into a White House 2.0 or uses the
bully pulpit to encourage Americans to adapt his online-powered Neighbor to
Neighbor model to meet public challenges locally, gathering the builders of the
many projects that will undoubtedly flow from this experience in a space for
open and constructive exchange can further our many efforts.
If you are inspired to take what you've learned and experience with this
campaign
into governance and community building, the Democracy Online Exchange
is a place to join.
To join, sign-up directly from here:
http://groups.dowire.org/request_registration.html?form.groupId=us
Sincerely,
Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
Democracies Online Blog/Groups - http://dowire.org
Sidewalks for Democracy Online Article:
http://rebooting.personaldemocracy.com/node/52
P.S. I also run a non-profit called E-Democracy.Org which host local online
town
hall forums across a dozen local communities in three countries. If you are
interested in "local up" spaces for agenda-setting online participation that
bring together local people from across the political spectrum, see:
http://e-democracy.org/if http://forums.e-democracy.org