Net & Politics 2005 (Top 10)
The Top 10 Who Are Changing the World of
Internet and Politics
The results from the call for nominations are in and now we are asking you to select your favorite choice from the list of 20 finalists for the Top Ten Who Are Changing The World of Internet & Politics vote, sponsored by PoliticsOnline and the 6th annual E-Democracy Worldwide Forum.
This year marked the toughest year ever in choosing the 20 finalists. The integration of politics and the Internet has spread like wildfire around the globe, reflected in this year's diverse, international nominees.
The winners, those top 10 nominees who receive the most votes, will be announced at the 6th annual Worldwide Forum on Electronic Democracy -- September 28-29, in Issy-les-Moulineaux, (Paris, France).
Please review the 20 finalists below and then select one of the following as your choice for the Top Politics & Internet World Changer of 2005.
The Nominees
Accenture eDemocracy Services UK
www.accenture.com
The Accenture eDemocracy Services (AeS) UK team have spent the last five years wholly dedicated to the delivery of e-democracy and electoral modernization.Using state-of-the-art technology, the team has made it more convenient for millions of citizens around the world to engage with government. The UK team approaches each project from the citizen's perspective to help bring the concept of 'citizen-centric' government one step closer to reality. AeS has worked closely with Sheffield City Council on the development and deployment of new Citizen Relationship Management models and has helped the City to achieve 'Best UK Local Authority of 2005'. The team has also co-founded the OASIS' Election Technical Committee which aims to render election data standard internationally transparent. AeS has undertaken key roles in the UK's National e-Democracy and Election Modernization strategic projects, and was awarded European Union Best Practice status in May 2003.
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John Aravosis/Americablog
americablog.blogspot.com
With multi-faceted expertise in law, politics, journalism, and public relations, John Aravosis is one of the nation's foremost Internet political strategists. His clients range from the US Department of State to Planned Parenthood and America's top civil rights organizations. His AMERICAblog.org, created in 2004, has received huge amounts of attention as one of the top liberal blogs .
Mr. Aravosis launched the very successful StopDrLaura.com campaign in February 2000. Mr. Aravosis has also taken the lead in other high-profile gay rights cases, including the Timothy McVeigh AOL privacy case (1998), Matthew Shepard Online Resources (1998-99), and most recently his efforts to stop the anti-gay federal constitutional amendment with DontAmend.com and DearMary.com (2003-04).
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BBC Action Network
www.bbc.co.uk/dna/actionnetwork/
The BBC launched its new Action Network in late June. Formerly iCan, the redesign is the result of 18 months of testing the site and redeveloping in response to user needs. iCan helped citizens connect with each other through public forums and a "democracy database" packed with information on tips for grassroots campaigning and the legislative process. The new Action Network makes it even easier for users to find and connect with other like-minded people in their community. New additions include alerts, syndication, and a revised user interface. BBC Action Network's aim is to enhance the overwhelming feeling of empowerment users report in using the site to take responsibility for issues they care about.
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Etienne Chouard
etienne.chouard.free.fr
Mr. Chouard is an example of how an ordinary citizen can voice his opinion on the Internet and ultimately change international politics. A high school law teacher, Chouard set up a blog protesting the proposed EU constitution and urged others to vote against it as well. Just before the vote, his blog had gained attention across France and received over 25,000 hits per day. Despite pro-constitution support from political leaders and a huge media campaign, Mr. Chouard and his supporters triumphed when voters ultimately rejected the constitution. Mr. Chouard of course cannot be given all of the credit for the constitution's defeat, but his blog is one of the most successful examples of Internet grassroots activism.
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Ciudad Politica
www.ciudadpolitica.org
The Spanish-speaking Portal for Political Analysis and Information Ciudad Politica is an independent portal promoting the development of political science in Latin America. The portal aims at supporting the political science community and provides communication forums and creating a network among institutions, civil society and politics. Students, journalists, politicians, scholars and civil servants debate, write articles and papers in the several home-page forums.
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Steven Clift and Local E-Democracy Issues Forum
e-democracy.org/uk
Steven Clift is an activist for the spread of e-Democracy and the chairman of the Local E-Democracy Issues Forum. The Local Issues Forum seeks to create a medium for citizens to discuss local problems, communicate and organize. Tested in England, the project proved successful as each community met or exceeded recruitment goals, with over 30% of subscribers posting public comments on a diversity of local issues. With its success, plans have already been made to increase the Issues Forum's audience and capabilities.
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Adam Curry
live.curry.com
Adam Curry's ingenious fusion of Internet and Ipod technology has earned him the title the "Ed Sullivan of podcasting". Podcasting changes the way people receive music, news, and other information. By simply subscribing to individual podcasts, MP3 users can have new files automatically downloaded to their players. A former MTV veejay, Curry has his own music podcast. Podcasting has been adapted for other uses and now affects the way people receive not just music, but news and information as well.
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Hossein Derakhshan
hoder.com
Hossein's award-winning blog "Editor: Myself" was started in September 2001 and advocates using the Internet to bring social and political change to Iran. Houssein was born in Iran, and now lives in Canada. Editor: Myself contains step-by-step instructions in Persian on how visitors to his site can start their own blogs, giving some credit Houssein for the thousands of new Iranian blogs, many of which promote democracy and free speech in a historically repressive society. His website contains blogs in English, Persian, a photoblog, and a stop.censoring.us blog.
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Digital Divide Network
www.digitaldividenetwork.org
DDN is the largest Internet resource providing information regarding the digital divide and strategies on how to close it. It features several different communities/topics, including Tsunami aid/how to use the Internet for disaster relief, E-government, and literacy. Virtual meeting rooms allow activists to communicate in real time and plan events. DDN promotes global discussion on this important issue and currently has over 7,000 members from 115 countries
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Estonia
www.riigikantselei.ee
Estonia has the most advanced information infrastructure of any formerly communist eastern European state, and on June 28, 2005, the Estonian Parliament approved Internet voting for local elections in October 2005 and national Parliamentary elections in 2007. Developed by IT services company Cybernetica for the Estonian National Electoral Committee, the Internet voting system uses the Estonian electronic ID card to identify voters. Over 50% of citizens today hold such a card and, according to the government, every Estonian citizen will have an electronic ID card by the end of 2006.
Dubbed E-Stonia by some, the country has ranked near the top of the list of countries in putting the Net to practical use – ranking as high as No. 2 in Internet banking and third in e-government in a recent World Economic Forum report.
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Dan Gillmor
bayosphere.com/blog/dangillmor
Gillmor left his job at the San Jose Mercury News to focus on blogging rights and grassroots journalism. He has since become a major, well-respected grassroots advocate, urging bloggers to be aware and protective of their rights. He has published a book on the subject called "We the Media", and supports Creative Commons, a nonprofit that offers flexible copyrights/protection for writers and artists. He also has a daily blog to keep bloggers updated on grassroots policies and copyright laws.
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The Hansard Society
www.hansardsociety.org.uk
With over 60 years of experience in monitoring and supporting the work of the UK's elected representatives, institutions and government, the Hansard Society has been instrumental in the development of e-democracy over the last decade. Combining creativity, business-acumen and knowledge of the wider political context, the Society's e-Democracy resources and patronage have helped create a vibrant new field in UK politics.
During the 2005 general election, the Society provided coaching and technical support to bring homeless people into mainstream politics through the use of weblogs. The Society's publications have a reputation for cultivating high-quality research and debate, accessible to the expert and casual observer alike.
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Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet
www.ipdi.org
During its six years' existence, the Institute has established a national and international reputation as the premier center for the study of the Internet's effect on politics, producing practical studies that address the larger questions about the Internet and politics
IPDI's staff have developed materials during that time that have helped academics, advocates, and practitioners understand the potential power of this new and evolving technology. The variety of scholars, real world political operatives and the Politics On Line Conference make them on of the most unique and comprehensive actors in the field of politics and the Internet. The Institute provides a balance of dreamers and data driven realists who tell us what we know and help push us to contemplate a variety of ideas and concepts we should get to know.
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JibJab Media Inc.
www.jibjab.com
JibJab's 'This Land' animation was one of the most memorable parts of the 2004, combining humor and the Internet to make a political splash. Over 60 million people saw the online animated skit, which poked fun at both campaigns, highlighting both the issues and the mud-slinging. With so many people watching and passing the piece around, 'This Land' engaged potential voters in a way that the news media did not, relying solely on individual Internet and e-mail communication.
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Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
www.lula.org.br
During his tenure as Brazil's President da Silva has worked hard to take free software to Brazil's poorest citizens. One project includes opening thousands of community computer hubs where Brazilians will surf the Web, access government services, and take computing courses—all on PCs loaded with free software. Another initiative, called PC Conectado, or Connected PC, aims at helping low-income families buy their first computers and get on the Internet—once again, on PCs equipped only with free software. Da Silva is also an ardent advocate of free software based on open source code that users can study and modify. The result is that in recent years Brazil has become one of the world's most prominent battlegrounds of the Microsoft Windows versus Linux war.
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Mozambique E-gov
www.govnet.gov.mz
In an attempt improve government communication and public services, Mozambique has established an e-government project linking 15 national public administration entities in Maputo. The ministries now share a unified e-mail system, intranet and document management system, as well as cost-effective shared access to the Internet. A new government Web portal has also been launched intended to increase public access to information. Once complete, the network will connect approximately 10 000 government workers and 7 500 workstations. GovNet's ultimate purpose is national coordination on projects to encourage growth and reduce poverty.
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Pambazuka
www.pambazuka.org
Pambazuka is an online newsletter promoting social change and development in Africa. It reaches over 60,000 people worldwide every week, keeping them updated on African human rights, conflict, health, environment, social welfare, development, and the Internet. The Pambazuka site promotes grassroots activism with links to fundraising organizations and petition sites, and viewers also have the option of texting their opinions to government numbers provided by Pambazuka.
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RedState.org
www.redstate.org
RedState.org is another excellent example of grassroots internet activism, providing a place for Republicans to not only receive news updates and read articles, but voice their own opinions as well. RedState.org describes itself as a community, where each registered user can post information in his or her own diary and interact with each other. RedState.org's popularity and innovative approach to blogging has made it a well-deserved political hotsite.
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Norodom Sihanouk (The Blogger King)
www.norodomsihanouk.info
The ex-king of Cambodia is 82 years and battling cancer, but neither age nor illness have stopped him from blogging. For three years Sihanouk has promoted free speech and democracy through his blog, which receives over 1,000 visitors each day. He shares his opinions on everything from entertainment to Cambodian politics to gay marriage, and has attracted international attention.
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Tsunami Help Blog
tsunamihelp.blogspot.com
The Tsunami Help Blog centralizes information and news about ongoing relief efforts for the countries affected by the December 2004 tsunami. The site provides a search resource for missing persons, a help needed/help offered posting board enabling greater organization and communication, and a database of helplines from all over the world. The site has reunited missing persons with their friends and families through posted photos and information, and proves that the Internet can increasingly be used for global relief efforts
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