This project began as so many good things do, over a cup of coffee.
So begins the preface to Rebooting America, Ideas for Redesigning American Democracy for the Internet Age. Dana Boyd blogged about the availability of the download this morning and I pulled the pdf down before leaving the house. You can probably forgive me for seeing the relevance of the very first sentence of the preface.
The rest of the paragraph has more to do with the reason for the publication…
Our conversation wandered to talking about new social media tools like blogs and social networking sites and their important role in fostering an explosion of public participation in and around the national political campaigns. We started wondering when we might see the rise of similar public energies and optimism about government and governing. For it’s clear we’re living in a new age, where millions of people can participate directly in governance and policy making, not just in ratifying the results on Election Day.
From my own personal history over the past few election cycles, more and more of the information and analysis that I have relied on to infor my opinions have been gleaned from the internet. I actually started using the internet as my main source of political info over a decade ago. Granted I tap into both mainstream media and the alternative sources. I have utilized both the left, the right, and the center of the political spectrum to inform myself on the issues.
Thanks to Dana for the link…I’ll be reading the essays over the next few days…
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