Online Organizing and Politics

The political realm has been a touchstone for the hopes for the transformative power of the Internet in promoting democracy, enabling better-informed debate, and in promoting better governance through transparency. Do the anecdotes of progress and YouTube videos tracking bumbling politicians suggest that a revolution is underway, or just a new venue for attack ads and misinformation campaigns?

Readings

• John Palfrey - Blog Post: The Internet's Effect on Politics: A Working Hypothesis, v2.0 (2004)

• Marshall Ganz - Building Collective Capacity: New Forms of Political Organizing (video)

• Jeremy Bird - Building Collective Capacity: New Forms of Political Organizing (video)

• Steven Johnson - "Two Ways to Emerge, and How to Tell the Difference Between Them" from Extreme Democracy

Additional Resources

• Clay Shirky's Powerlaw paper

• Great working group notes on local action

• Doctored photos from Beirut

• Tools and Resources for Democracy Building and Civic Engagement

• Joi Ito - Emergent Democracy

• Wikipedia: Semiotic Democracy

• John Palfrey - The State of the Union: Politics and the Internet (video)

• Cass R. Sunstein The Daily We - Is the Internet really a blessing for democracy?