*** Democracies Online Newswire - http://www.e-democracy.org/do *** Below is a sampling of beyond the hype stories on the role of the web with the conventions. I figure that I do not need to waste your time with the hype when it is so well spread right now. If you find any articles about why this all matters or how it is making a difference, please pass them on. I guess the question is - can politics so messed up by traditional media and advertising in the U.S, be improved or will we just add some fun with random chat to video feeds? Steven Clift Democracies Online From: http://netelection.org/commentary/2000022.php3 July 28, 2000 NetElection.org Commentary Conventions Go Online - New Technologies by Jonathan Karush netelection.org Many consider election year 2000 to be a critical period in the development of the Internet as a political medium. Thus far, most of the national media attention has been placed on campaign web sites and political portals. The most innovative political web sites of this election year, however, may belong to the Republican and Democratic National Conventions. The major political parties are proving that they are ready to capitalize on emerging Internet technologies to enhance their presidential nominating conventions. The Republican and Democratic National Conventions (www.gopconvention.com and ww.dems2000.com respectively) have created massive web sites to perform a host of functions from media relations to event planning and coordination. The sites are dynamic, well designed, and feature state of the art web technologies. The Democrats and Republicans offer unique ways for people to connect to the convention for all those who will not be in Los Angeles or Philadelphia. From: http://slate.msn.com/netelection/entries/00-08-01_87342.asp Dot-Com Journalists: This Year's "Men From Mars" By Steve Fox Posted Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2000, at 10:00 a.m. PT With all the hype surrounding the role of the Internet at this year's political conventions, it's hard to remember that television was once the brand-new technology sweeping America. Television had its own coming-out party at the Republican and Democratic conventions in 1948 and 1952. This year, the continued invasion of the dot-coms is expected to be all the rage in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Their influence on convention coverage is likely to provide a quantum leap from what Walter Cronkite described in his memoir as the "man-from-Mars" equipment worn by television reporters in 1952. Going into the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, technology advocates are raving over how the Web is going to make everything that is old about political conventions new again. It will end the dominance of television, they proclaim, and excite the electorate about the process once again. - end clip - From: http://slate.msn.com/netelection/entries/00-07-28_87215.asp Civil Disobedience on the Web By Aaron Pressman Posted Friday, July 28, 2000, at 1:00 p.m. PT There's not much happening at Thepartysover.org—at least not yet. But by next week, the Web site set up by activists planning to disrupt the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia with acts of civil disobedience will be a busy hub spreading word of impending protests and directing them. The site includes virtual space to announce protests, solicit volunteers, inform the media, and arrange housing and transportation for activists. It's just one of many such sites that will be used by groups ranging from opponents of globalization and free trade to advocates for the poor and the homeless to proponents of national health care. Web sites, e-mail lists, and other new economy tools, such as cell phones, have already proved to be key organizing tools in mass demonstrations such as last year's World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle and again this year during the International Monetary Fund's meeting in Washington, D.C. "We couldn't do it without the Internet," says David Levy, one of the organizers of the R2Kphilly Network, an assemblage of activist groups coordinating protests at the Republican convention at R2Kphilly.org. They are also joining forces in Los Angeles, planning activities from the Web site at D2kla.org. - end clip - From: http://www.nytimes.com/library/politics/camp/080200gop-surf.html August 1, 2000 SURFING There May Be Nothing to See, but You Can Catch It All By RICK LYMAN >From the start, Republican officials said it would be a different sort of affair. They would offer up a new, moderate face for the party, appeal more energetically to independent voters and present the most fully wired, Internet-capable political convention ever. Fine. Unplug the television. Turn off the radio. Pull down the shades. Let's crank up that computer and see what it was actually like Tuesday to experience Day Two of the 2000 Republican National Convention solely as a surfer on the World Wide Web. Pseudo.com was offering continuous streaming video from the convention, as was c-span.org (basically, a Web version of what was showing at around the same time on the cable channel, maybe a minute delayed), so you didn't have to miss a minute. Be warned, special plug-ins are often required to view some of this material, and it can take a half-hour or more to download. As always, plan ahead. The reward: A small, talking postage stamp of a screen with a continuous, herky-jerky view of ebullient Republicans. Elsewhere on the Web, it was a grab bag of smart-aleck commentary, quizzes, bogus polls, Web cams, sarcastic features, chat rooms and live talk-backs. - end of clip - ^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. Clift - W: http://www.publicus.net Minneapolis - - - E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minnesota - - - - - T: +1.612.822.8667 USA - - - - - - - ICQ: 13789183 *** Please send submissions to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** To subscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** Message body: SUB DO-WIRE *** *** To unsubscribe instead, write: UNSUB DO-WIRE *** *** Please forward this post to others and encourage *** *** them to subscribe to the free DO-WIRE service. ***
