Earlier this month, I attended the National Civic Summit in Minneapolis, a two-day event which was free and open to the public, with much involvement from Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. Since e-democracy and civic engagement are a core part of ZeroDivide's community investment portfolio, it was exciting to get a glimpse of some of the the new and existing tools in this area.
The June 12 Iran Presidential election and protests surrounding the outcomes, highlights the key role social media can play in grassroots communication.
Today's partnership between CNN.com and Facebook showcased the power of Web 2.0 tools to deliver news and engage the world in a powerful and personal way.
For the last few months leading to the general presidential election
the ZeroDivide website has featured non-profit organizations dedicated
to increasing civic engagement
Two seemingly unrelated news items in the this week illustrate the criticality of access to high-speed broadband for increased civic participation by all Americans.
Kim Hutchinson of "The Disability Funders Network":www.disabilityfunders.org points us to website which has "subtitled the Presidential Debates":http://www.taudiobook.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=page&id=20&chapter=0 and is offering it as free service.
Even though I am not deaf or hard of hearing, I find it useful to simultaneously read and hear what the candidates are saying during these debates.
Hat tip to Kim and thanks to "taudiobook":
Infoworld is reporting that "MySpace":http://www.myspace.com just unveiled a "MySpace":http://impact.myspace.com "focusing on Presidential candidates":http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/03/19/HNmyspaceforprez_1.html today.
The idea seems to make sense, but the execution is lacking. Why focus on the Presidential candidates?
It really should be a platform for social networking among local races---the teeny tiny ones that you otherwise wouldn't hear about.
_Youth live in a "urban wilderness". Helping them envision their own future will help them navigate through this wilderness._
"Howard Rheingold":http://www.rheingold.com/ and Andrea Saveri of the "Institute for the Future":http://www.iftf.org came to our office to talk about Youth and Civic Engagement in the Public Sphere. Here are my rough notes about their presentation and the conversation.
