Yet Another Political Website

Screenshot: Personal Democracy Forum website at http://www.personaldemocracy.com


The Personal Democracy Forum is a website and conference currently in its fourth year. This year's forum is being held at Pace University in New York City with the theme of "The Flattening of Politics" -- how technology and internet trends are reinventing politics. The basic idea is about bringing people together who are interested in technology and politics to debate and discuss how the internet can be used as a force for good in the political spectrum. And also about how the internet is empowering democracy participants.

RocketBoom has coverage with extended interviews from Andrew Rasiej, Craig Newmark and Thomas Friedman.

Jeffrey Keefer of SilenceAndVoice.com, also attending, expounds on two points from speaker Seth Godin:

Seth Godin spoke at Personal Democracy Forum on Friday, and I have been considering his message since then. I have read a number of his books, and this is the first time I heard / saw him.

Two of the things he said struck me:

1. "Ideas that spread, win."

Wow, he really got it right. I wonder how all the well-intentioned political folks who attended can best harness that message? While I agreed with a number of those who spoke in the "Is Cyberspace Color-Blind" panel, which focused on the issue of privilege and positionality, I wonder how best to use Seth's message to guide next steps? Any time I hear people refer to issues of race or sex or ethnicity, it seems a bit, well, old. I agree with those who feel they need to speak about it, and I as a white male have (in the last year) become very aware of this issue and how it manifests itself, I wonder how this message or question or issue can be spread in a new way for a new audience. I know I need to explore this more as well. If Seth is right, then how can the issue of privilege and all that comes with it be made alive so that it challenges without closing down the conversation as an "oh, that again." From my business communication work, which is one of my roles as an adjunct instructor, I return yet again to the WIIFM. "What's In It For Me? " How can we use Seth's advice to spread an idea when people need to hear it in a different way? How can issues of privilege and those around race and sex be communicated in a way that hits me in a way that I can hear--in the wallet? No, I am not thinking about lawsuits and such, but rather about how more just business practices can positively affect the bottom line.

2. [back in the days when there was] "no email, no voicemail, no web." I "do not know what we did all day."

I also thought technology was supposed to make us more efficient in less time. Why then do I always have technology issues and more to do within that less time. Somebody surely sold us a bill of goods, I am afraid.

-Dippold

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