Technology, Media and Political Participation By Michael McGrath - Chief Information Officer for the National Civic League, Editor of the National Civic Review
In 2004, the Howard Dean presidential campaign demonstrated how the Internet could be used to raise enormous sums of money from small donors, an achievement that may have forever changed the nature of campaign fund-raising, potentially balancing people power against the influence of professional fund-raisers, bundlers, political action committees (PACs), and special interest groups.
Over the past few weeks, the Occupy Wall Street movement – or #OWS if you’re following along on Twitter – has spread like wildfire. According to the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ page on Wikipedia, as of October 9 approximately 900 demonstrations have taken place in over 95 cities across 82 countries.
With this project we hope to foster increased dialogue on the changing nature of the “digital divide” and the transformative potential of new technologies. We wish to thank the staff of the National Civic Review, as well as the talented thought leaders who contributed articles, for making this endeavor possible.
Last week I spoke on a panel focused on how direct democracy might be re-imagined through the use of technology. I shared the stage with four incredibly inspiring speakers whose innovations could very well lead to game change:
The Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation (FCCP) recently shared the findings of a new report which tell the story of the massive voter-registration and mobilization efforts of the 501(c)(3) civic engagement community.
Civic Engagement on the Move looks at how leading edge practitioners are using mobile media to engage citizens to solve problems, bridge differences and strengthen community. Mobile media technologies provide new tools for journalists, government and nonprofit agencies, civic organizers, elected officials, activists and ordinary citizens to inform, to reach out to others and to galvanize community action on a wide range of issues.
Civic Engagement on the Move, written by J.D. Lasica, details the hallmarks of successful mobile campaigns around civic engagement and provides case studies of several successful and emerging initiatives, including those that came out of the recent Aspen Institute Roundtable on Mobile Media and Civic Engagement. Noted experts in the field add their insights on using mobile media, with a list of “Mobile Advocacy Dos and Don’ts” by Katrin Verclas of MobileActive and “A Mobile Media User’s Guide” by Jed Alpert, CEO of Mobile Commons.
Considered an effort to weaken Affirmative Action, Proposition 54 became a ballot initiative in 2003.
“We had to fight Prop 54,” says CTFC Board member Anni Chung, “because without the data, how do you know which community suffers the most?
“The issue was so central to our work and that of our grantees,” says CTFC Board Chairman Jacquelyn Brand. “Being unable to gather data, to just be ignorant about information, would be a terrible threat to our effectiveness.”
Over the past few weeks, the Occupy Wall Street movement – or #OWS if you’re following along on Twitter – has spread like wildfire. According to the
