Net & Politics 2003 (Top 25)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SEPTEMBER 26, 2003
Contact: Phil Noble
Phil@PoliticsOnline.com
Telephone: 1 (843) 296-1490
or
David Abel
David@PoliticsOnline.com
Telephone: 1 (843) 853-3002
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4TH WORLD FORUM ON E-DEMOCRACY AND POLITICSONLINE ANNOUNCE THE 25 WHO ARE CHANGING THE WORLD OF INTERNET AND POLITICS
Issy-les-Moulineaux, France - PoliticsOnline and the 4th World Forum on e- Democracy announce the results of its second world wide survey recognizing the top 25 individuals, organizations and companies that are having the greatest impact on the way the Internet is changing politics.
In recent years, the Internet and burgeoning information technologies have inexorably altered our body politic, fundamentally changing the way we do democracy. On Friday, at the 4th Annual Worldwide Forum on Electronic Democracy, PoliticsOnline recognized the best of the best -- the innovators and pioneers who blaze the e-political trails.
PoliticsOnline asked its 30,000 readers and subscribers to name the people, organizations and companies that are changing the world of Internet and politics. From these nominations, 25 world changers and five rising stars were selected.
"From the beginning, politics has been about two things - ideas and the people that make these ideas realities," said PoliticsOnline President Phil Noble, a guest speaker at the annual Worldwide Forum on Electronic Democracy. "With this announcement, we honor the most innovative ideas and the most influential individuals.
"With so many people doing so much in this field, narrowing the list down to so few proved a more difficult task than we ever could have imagined - we thank everyone that submitted nominations, and we congratulate all those that were nominated", said Mayor Andre Santini founder of the Forum. "As with any list of the best, debate is sure to follow. We certainly hope it will, and that the ongoing conversation about the Internet and politics is carried further."
Noble, PoliticsOnline and other PoliticsOnline affiliates were not eligible for recognition.
The following is the alphabetical listing of honorees.
25 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics
- Al Jazeera
www.aljazeera.net
What began as a joint venture between the British Broadcasting Corporation barely 10 years ago is now a self-regulated news powerhouse. Although plagued with controversy, to many Al Jazeera has recently been the symbol of free expression in the Middle East. The news site is now the world's foremost uncensored Arab news service. Since the War in Iraq, the news service has fought to say online despite hackers and accusations.
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- Africa Online
www.africaonline.com
This African news and information site is the most comprehensive Africa-based online news source about the continent. They provide more information about political developments than anyone on the continent. As such they are a vital source of information not only for Africans but countless millions around the world that want a full and fair view of politics and the forces that are shaping the continent.
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- America Online
www.aol.com
www.governmentguide.com
Through the creation of comprehensive voter and government service guides - available to all online users, not just members - AOL has helped to change the way in which the American electorate learns about and engages with politicians and the political process. Over 30 million voters have accessed their political content since the 2000 election.
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- BBC News and iCan team
news.bbc.co.uk
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) website is arguably the leading global authority in political news. However, the broadcasting company is venturing into new online initiatives hoping to combat voter apathy by funding a new online experiment in grassroots activism. The iCan website is being designed to help citizens investigate issues that concern them, find others who share those concerns and provide advice and tools for organizing and engaging in the political process. The iCan site will use public forums to help connect like-minded citizens, and a "democracy database" packed with information on tips for grassroots campaigning and the legislative process.
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- Carl Bildt
www.bildt.net
Carl Bildt was one of the very first leading politicians in the world to use e-mail in a famous correspondence with President Bill Clinton in 1994. He also introduced an e-newsletter, which quickly had more than 10,000 subscribers - one of the largest in Europe at that time. He has written numerous articles and spoken widely on Internet-related subjects. Among other innovative projects, he is now working with global Internet governance issues for ICANN.
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- Ben Casnocha
www.comcate.com
Fifteen-year-old Ben Casnocha is Founder & Chairman of Comcate, Inc. of San Francisco. After holding focus groups with local governments for 8 months in California, Ben launched his own e-government company and is now considered a pioneer in the Silicon Valley for sparking the e-government vision for many California governments. At such a young age, Ben frequently speaks authoritatively with governments on e-government, technology in government, and how the Internet will affect government's day-to-day operations and political structure.
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- Farai Chideya
www.popandpolitics.com
Ghideya is a multi-media journalist who has worked in print, television, and online. Five years ago she founded PopandPolitics.com, an online journal of news and opinion for a diverse national and international audience. She and the site have won a MOBE IT Innovator award and she has been named one of AlterNet's New Media Heroes. Chideya's stereotype-shattering 1995 book, Don't Believe the Hype: Fighting Cultural Misinformation About African-Americans is now in its eighth printing. Using statistics, she systematically undercuts the argument that African-Americans are at the root of problems like crime, welfare and drugs.
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- Steven Clift
www.publicus.net
A consultant and board chair for E-Democracy.org, Steve is a tireless advocate for expanding the use of the Internet in both informing the public about the political and government systems, and also in engaging citizens and policymakers in political debate. His positive, yet realistic outlook regarding the state of Internet engagement and political involvement today provides both an inspiration to those who will lead the way in the future and a sound criticism of what works, what doesn't, and how to move forward. He has become a foremost authority in E-democracy advancements, and his speaking engagements and written work are a strong testament to his commitment to the field.
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- Dean for America and Joe Trippi
www.DeanforAmerica.com
Presidential Democratic Candidate Howard Dean has used the power of the internet to mobilize supporters and secure online donations in a way that has never been done in politics. Dean's savvy use of Meetup.com and the ability to get tremendous numbers to contribute small donations has garnered over 420,000 online supporters and millions of dollars for his campaign. Joe Trippi, Dean's campaign manager, lives and breathes the internet and politics. Where some see the internet as a new tool to be used for campaigning in the 21st Century, Joe Trippi has transcended what many thought possible to bring the Dean for America campaign to the forefront of American politics. Joe Trippi is doing for the internet what the Kennedy-Nixon debates did for television with regard to politics.
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- International Simultaneous Policy Organization
www.simpol.org
Simpol is a growing political force on the web. Its goal is to unite people on many political and economic paths in a bid to bring reason back to the realm of political decision making and save our planet from the destructive effects of rampant, uncontrolled capitalism. The International Simultaneous Policy Organization (ISPO) is a growing association of citizens worldwide who use their votes in a coordinated, effective way to drive all nations to co-operate in solving our planetary crisis. ISPO goes beyond merely demanding greater political accountability by offering citizens a new way of restoring genuine democracy lawfully and peacefully, one vote at a time.
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- Vince Keenan
www.Publius.org
Keenan is responsible for one of the best political sites focused on one geographic area, the state of Michigan. The site was founded in 1996 by Keenan to explore the impact of the Internet on democracy and develop web-based tools to enhance the exchange of ideas and information. It is a one stop shop for politics on every level from city to state wide elections. All candidate information for every election in every county, city and township in Michigan was provided to the 6 million registered voters in Michigan.
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- Erkki Liikanen
europa.eu.int/comm/commissioners/liikanen/index_en.htm
European Commissioner Erkki Liikanen has had a major role in influencing the way Internet and more largely electronic communications have been developing in the European Union. Given his position, his impact on the Internet (and therefore politics) in Europe and globally, is huge.
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- Meetup.com
www.Meetup.com
What started as a way to organize a local gathering of people on a global level, MeetUp has become the key tool in building online support for politicians in the US. Over 650,000 people have already signed up for MeetUps to discuss over 2,029 topics. Currently over 180,000 people worldwide use MeetUp's for politics and activism.
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- Jim Moore
blogs.law.harvard.edu/jim/
Dr. Jim Moore wrote The Second Superpower Rears its Beautiful Head, which sums up his central interest: Can citizens worldwide join through communications technology, engage international institutions, and become a transnational "second superpower" to counterbalance and dialogue with the U.S. government in its role as superpower? Since it's online posting, the articles thesis have been the central tenet of a growing online global movement.
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- Politika.lv
www.politika.lv
This Latvian site is a great example of a "one-stop politics and policy-shop" in a small country where good resources online are often scarce. They provide an online environment for debate and critique amongst the policy community and individuals. Politika.lv has seen Latvian of all political stripes working together and making available on-line a wealth of policy studies, political documents, draft legislation, expert reviews, opinion articles by leading policy analysts, politicians and NGOs and other resources.
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- Jim Orr
www.WhiteHouse.gov
Orr runs the White House internet operations. That alone warrants his name on this list but his standing goes beyond his job title. He has developed online chats, Ask the White House and other tools to promote communication between the Bush Administration and citizens. Orr and his staff at the White House are changing the way citizens can learn of White House policy directly from the source unfiltered by any other media.
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- Dr. Rubens Medina
www.loc.gov/law/glin/GLINv1
Medina has created and built the Global Legal Information Network (GLIN) - a visionary electronic cooperative network of national governments that maintains a database of laws, regulations and other complementary legal sources of member nations around the world. The repository is currently at the U.S. Library of Congress and GLIN will provide real-time, transparent access of a member nation's law via the Internet to its citizens as well as other nations and the global public. GLIN is the embodiment of "Democracy Online", and typifies this year's conference theme of freedom in the digital age!
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- Roh Moo-hyun
www.president.go.kr
A self-educated human rights attorney from a poor family in South Korea, seized the power of the Internet and made history by winning the presidency in December 2002. Before the 2002 election, Roh was best known for his failed attempts at being elected to the South Korean parliament, but an online group interrupted the pattern. The 70,000 member strong group called themselves "Nosamo," literally, supporters of Roh, and led a public relations campaign to promote their favorite candidate. Roh has since led South Korea towards greater e-democracy and set a precedent for online campaigning.
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- MoveOn
www.moveon.org
The first online PAC, MoveOn.Org, gave us the earliest glimpse of the grassroots potential of the net to raise money and mobilize citizens to a cause. The International network now has more than 2,000,000 online activists and is one of the most effective and responsive outlets for democratic participation available today. In June, 2003, MoveOn's held the first ever U.S. online primary to endorse a democratic candidate. Over 317,000 voters participated. 54,370 pledged to volunteer for their preferred Democratic contender and 49,132 pledged to contribute money to their candidate, for a total estimated at more than $1.75 million.
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- George Papandreou
www.iap.gr
Papandreou is the net savvy Foreign Minister of Greece and has been one of the strongest advocates of multi-national e-democracy having pushed e-democracy at the UN, EU and in other international governmental organizations. He and his Foundations have sponsored the Online Global Poll for the UN Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg and the e-Vote project of the Greek Presidency of the EU.
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- The Pew Charitable Trusts and
Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet
www.ipdi.org
In the Spring of 2002, the Democracy Online Project achieved Institute status, and became the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet. Funded by a grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts, the mission of the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet is to promote the development of U.S. online politics in a manner which upholds democratic values. The institute has conducted unprecedented research on the study of online politics, especially with respect to American campaigns and elections.
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- Politik-Digital
www.politik-digital.de
The website is run by the association pol-di.net. The association with offices in Berlin, Germany, continues to work journalistically and scientifically on issues such as e-Government, e-Democracy and e-Consuming. Since 2001, the idea and concept of politik-digital.de spread in Europe with partners established similar websites in Switzerland (www.politik-digital.ch), France (www.politique-digitale.fr) and the Netherlands (www.politiek-digitaal.nl). This year they also established www.gipfelthemen.de, a site concerned with the issues of the only big UN-summit this year, the "World Summit on the Information Society."
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- Salem Pax
www.dear_raed.blogspot.com/
The famouse Bagdhad blogger, Salem started a movement that brought blogging mainstream and the war with Iraq up close and personal. He gave the world a view of the war that was unique and important to the global community. Citizen / personal journalism at its best…what blogs are all about.
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- Stemwijzer.nl
www.votingindicator.net
StemWijzer in Holland and the Wahl-O-Mat in Germany, license of StemWijzer, are both political preference tests. By answering on 25-30 questions taken from the election programs of parties contesting the elections users get advice which party suits best their own personal positions on political issue. On election day 23rd of January 2003 the StemWijzer generated more than 200.000 recommendations. At the parliamentary elections both in 2002 and 2003 the overall results exceeded more than 2 million recommendations. At the Bundestag-elections in Germany 2002 the Wahl-O-Mat did provide more than 3.6 million recommendations in four weeks time.
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- Sheffield City Council
www.sheffield.gov.uk
Sheffield is currently engaged in a three-year election modernization program which uses state-of-the-art technology to make it easier and more convenient for citizens to engage with government. In the May 2002 and 2003 local elections, voters were able to choose from a broad range of 21st century voting options: Internet, free-phone telephone, SMS text messaging, public access kiosk with Smart Cards and the traditional polling station. Close to 40% of Sheffield voters e-voted, and 95%-98% of voters said that they would e-vote again.
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The Five to Watch
- Bridges.org
www.Bridges.org
Bridges.org is an international non-profit organization with a mission to help people in developing countries use information and communications technology (ICT) to improve their lives. It does not provide infrastructure or hardware, but rather works with access initiatives to focus on getting technology used. Their working in bridging the digital divide has been significant in developing countries, especially in Africa, and around the world.
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- James Crabtree
www.voxpolitics.com
James Crabtree is a key player in the superb e-gov website Voxpolitics, and runs the Industrial Society's iSociety ICT research project. He also helped to develop the Digital Futures project at the Institute of Public Policy Research. A former political consultant, he worked as a webmaster and press secretary for a congressional candidate during US Election 2000.
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- Opendemocracy
www.Opendemocracy.net
UK's OpenDemocracy is a channel for knowledge, learning, participation and understanding that is not owned by a media corporation, does not serve a special interest and does not adhere to a single ideological position. It's new website covers issues ranging from American Power in the World, Globalization and The Environment. The contributor's list reads like a Who's Who of World Affairs.
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- PoliticsWatch
www.PoliticsWatch.com
PoliticsWatch.com was launched in Canada in 2000. Since its launch, the site has redefined the political internet in Canada and has had impact around the world wide web. It is an important national site in a country that has pioneered many used of the net in politics, academia, journalism and e-government.
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- Howard Rheingold
www.rheingold.com
In his book Virtual Community and Smart Mobs, he has written about many of the ideas that have inspired the current changes in politics. Rhinegold has been thinking and writing about the digital future for over 20 years and his involvement dated to The Well and he was the first Executive Editor of Hotwired.
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