Online Organizing 2.0: How Change.org Found Its Groove (and Moved to the Center of Online Politics)
Tuesday, May 15 2012
For Personal Democracy Plus subscribers: Change.org, a social action site built around the oldest and arguably least sexy tool in online politics, the petition, is exploding. A year ago, the site had about two million users and was gaining about 300,000 new ones a month. Now it's six times as big and is growing six times as fast. How did Change.org, a political startup founded in 2007, finally find its groove? And what does its sudden emergence at the center of online politics mean for the future of advocacy?
Read More[BackChannel] Beyond Media Spectacles: Debates as Conversations
BY Mike Mathieu | Wednesday, May 16 2012

Culture Hacking: How One Project is Changing Transparency in Chile
BY David Eaves | Wednesday, May 16 2012
A few weeks after the launch of Inspector de Intereses — a Chilean website that allows citizens to map money trails in politics — the team at La Fundación Ciudadano Inteligente, the organization behind the site, had an interesting visitor. At the doorstep stood a member of parliament, carrying a stack of papers which outlined his interest in various corporations. He had received the team’s letter inviting him — and his colleagues — to update his records, and here he was, ready to do so, in person no less.
That eager senator wasn’t alone: about 20 percent of Chilean parliamentarians took the opportunity to update their records. In a country where conflicts of interest are not regularly discussed or acknowledged, this was an interesting shift, a change in culture and in process that was part of a Ciudadano Inteligente's strategy to make more transparent the link between money and power in Chile.
Read MoreFirst POST: Whitehouse.gov Edit Wars; H1-Please
BY Miranda Neubauer | Wednesday, May 16 2012
Exclusively for Personal Democracy Plus subscribers: The Obama administration comes under fire for appending POTUS 44 references to the bios of past presidents; a Texas senator's support for a Silicon Valley-friendly visa program; Americans Elect's uncontested primary; and more in today's roundup of news about technology in politics. Read More
[OP-ED]: My Government's Commitment to the Surveillance State – the UK Queen's Speech
BY Jon Worth | Monday, May 14 2012
Jon Worth argues that the Queen's Speech, delivered last week, presages a return to the "Big Brother" state in the UK. Read More
[AD:] Stay In the Know On Tech in Politics, Government and Civic Life
BY Personal Democracy Plus | Thursday, April 12 2012
Personal Democracy Plus has been designed to help political professionals and advocates navigate the networked world – and help the tech community better understand trends and developments in the political arena. Subscribe today for less than $1.50 a week and make sure you don't miss a thing. Sign up now! Read More
[OP-ED]: In France, Still Waiting for the Internet Election
BY Federica Cocco | Friday, May 11 2012
Nicolas Sarkozy is not the only politician to have lauded Obama’s 2008 campaign. Many European campaigns were running slogans that echoed the “Yes, we can!” refrain.
The gimmicky rhetoric failed to persuade their electorate and, when push came to shove, pretty much the whole old continent has effectively failed to heed Obama’s campaign strategy. Mainstream parties didn’t carry out grassroots mobilization and fundraising in earnest. A top-down approach persisted.
Read MoreMike Masnick: Accidental Activist to Some, "Demagogue" to Others
BY Sarah Lai Stirland | Thursday, May 10 2012
Mike Masnick runs Techdirt.com, one of the most popular hubs on the web for news and opinion about innovation policy and the Internet. His uncompromising views on copyright have made him one of the most controversial and widely-read voices in a sprawling international conversation about the future of creative industry. Read More
How the German Pirate Party's "Liquid Democracy" Works
BY David Meyer | Monday, May 7 2012
In the midst of the political upheaval affecting Europe, a relatively new movement is making stunning progress, particularly in Germany. On Sunday, the Pirate Party entered its third German state parliament in eight months, demonstrating momentum that surprises even its core members. The party is now on track to pick up a double-digit percentage of the vote in next year's federal elections. And it's dealing with this explosive growth through the medium it knows best: technology. Read More
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more topics
- SOPA/PIPA
- Hip or Hype?
- Civic Hacking
- Grassrootsiness
- Debates 2.0
- Email Watch
- Blogging
- Revolution 2.0
- Occupy Wall Street