PdF 2009: A Peek at the Breakout Sessions (in Formation)

We're hard at work on this year's sixth annual Personal Democracy Forum, taking place June 29-30 in New York City, and I thought this would be a good time to share more details on all the incredible breakout sessions in the works. (We'll also have an announcement soon with more of our confirmed speakers; the current list is here.) As you know, this year's theme is "We.gov"--in other words, all the ways that people are using the internet and interactive communications technologies to transform politics, campaigns, media, governance and civic action. And that includes more transparency on how the sausage is made. Hence this post.

Right now, we're envisioning four main thematic tracks to the breakout sessions, which will run in the afternoon of both days of the conference: 1) State-of-the-art online politics; 2) Exploring government 2.0; 3) New organizing opportunities, tools and challenges; and 4) The future of political journalism, blogging and networked media. There's also a couple of sessions that don't quite fit any of these categories but we think will be pretty interesting as well.

Keeping in mind that this is still very much a work in progress, and names and topics may be added or changed, here's a more in-depth look at how things are shaping up. If you haven't registered yet, click here: now's the time.

1. State-of-the-art online politics. So far, we've got four terrific sessions planned, each drawing on experts and veterans of the 2008 election cycle and sharing the lessons that they learned in the process:
--Online Advertising and Targeting: Eric Frenchman (chief internet strategist for the online political agency Connell Donatelli Inc., where he managed the McCain and RNC programs); Josh Koster (Managing Partner at Chong Designs LLC, a Washington based new-media advising firm specializing in online marketing and brand management); and Kate Kaye (senior editor at ClickZ News and author of "Campaign '08: A Turning Point For Digital Media") and Sara Holoubek (President, SEMPO).
--Mobile Politicking: Scott Goodstein (director of external media for Obama '08, and founder of Catalyst Campaigns); Becky Bond (political director at CREDO Mobile and Working Assets); Nicola Wells (Center for Community Change).
--State/Local Online PolitickingBlake Rutherford (Director of Public Affairs at Stone Ward and author of the Little Rock, Arkansas blog "Blake's Think Tank"), Jason Barnett (TheUptake.org, which led coverage of the Minnesota Senate recount); Steven Clift (e-Democracy.org); others to be named.
--Online VideoSteve Grove (head of news and politics at YouTube); Max Parker (Obama '08 new media team); Justin Germany (McCain '08 video).

2. Exploring government 2.0. Right now we've got terrific several sessions coming together; here's where things now stand:
--Designing .Gov for Participation and Participation: Clay Johnson and Ali Felski (respectively the director of the Sunlight Foundation's Labs and its award-winning in-house designer); Sheila Campbell (USA.gov and the Government Web Managers Council); David Almacy (former White House internet director under President Bush).
--The Blogging of the BureaucracyJed Sundwall (Captura Group, currently advising GSA on social media practices); Jeanne Holm (NASA.gov); Janice Hall (Centers for Disease Control); and Gwynne Kostin (Department of Homeland Security).
Other sessions are still in flux but topics we're looking at closely include Diplomacy 2.0, Lessons from Overseas, and Experiments in Collaborative Governance. Stay tuned for details (and feel free to pitch your own suggestions in).

3. New organizing opportunities, tools and challenges. We've got several really exciting sessions planned and more in the works:
--Crossing Boundaries Online: Reaching and Organizing Diverse Constituencies: Liz Mair (former Republican National Committee director of online communications); Kety Esquivel (new media manager for the National Council of La Raza); Keli Goff (author of Party Crashing: How the Hip-Hop Generation Declared Political Independence).
--Twitter as a Platform for Organizing and Fundraising: Amanda Rose (founder and lead coordinator of the Twestival, which raised $300K for charity:water in February 2009); Allison Fine (Personal Democracy Forum senior editor and author of Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age); Abby Kirigin (co-founder of TipJoy).
--Facing Dilemmas in Online OrganizingRasmus Nielsen (Columbia University), Tanya Tarr (AFSCME), Deanna Zandt (media technologist and writer).
--Powering the Youth VoteSujatha Jahadirdar (US PIRG), Mike Connery (Future Majority), Greg Miller (Open Source Digital Voting Foundation).

4. The future of political journalism, blogging and networked media. We've already got four terrific panels for you:
--The Future of Journalism: Hybridization or What?Frank Rich (New York Times columnist); Karen Tumulty (national reporter and blogger for Time Magazine); Scott Simon (NPR Weekend Edition); Dan Gillmor (Center for Citizen Media), and Clay Shirky (NYU ITP).
--Why Blogging Still Matters: Patrick Ruffini (co-founder of The Next Right blog); Eric Boehlert (author of the forthcoming book on the rise of the netroots, "The Bloggers on the Bus"); Scott Rosenberg (author of the forthcoming book, "Say Everything," a history of blogging).
--Networked Community Journalism: Amanda Michel (director of distributed journalism at ProPublica); Dave Troy (Twittervision); Andrew Turner (GeoCommons); and Andy Carvin (NPR social media desk).
Mapping the Networked Public Sphere: How Blogs and Online Media Interact: Stan Magniant (Linkfluence); Ken Deutsch (Morningside Analytics); others to be added.

On top of all that, we've got a couple of wild cards, sessions that will mix unusual ideas and speakers and challenge conventional thinking:
--Building the Social Economy: CraigBucks, NewMarks, and Making Whuffie: Douglas Rushkoff (author of the new book "Life, Inc.: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take it Back"), and Tara Hunt (author of "The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business").
--Rethinking Media, Campaigns and Organizations From the Ground Up: Davar Ardalan (NPR Weekend Edition), Sean Tevis (candidate for Kansas State Representative); Baratunde Thurston (The Onion, Jack and Jill Politics).

As I said above, this is all a work in progress. Stay tuned for more details; feel free to ping us with your suggestions or to kibitz in the comments thread. (Also, if you've applied for a Google Fellowship, here's an update: folks are hard at work sifting the applications and we should have announcements to share soon, hopefully as early as next week.)