--To improve the connection between citizens and government and encourage their participation in governance.
The Council is supported by members (called Principals)---
private sector and nonprofit leaders who have served in
government and are united by a strong, sustaining
commitment to Council objectives-
--and by project grants and
other funding from government agencies, corporations and
foundations. [ Zzzzzzzzz, worst sentance ever. ~` tp}
Former Presidents Carter, Ford, Bush and
Clinton are honorary chairs of the Council.
===============================
~~~ Sound like a bunch of young idealiastic kids to me . They'll learn. ~` ` ` ` t p
~~~ This is the earliest academic electronic posting I have found reviewing the lack effectiveness of Email - Cyber -Lobbying. Cyber-Lobbying will never match the power of hand-written letters and grassroots voter action. ~
~~ `Technopolitical ~~ `
by Phil Agre April 1996
"This type of chain-letter petition can also counterproductively annoy the legislative staffers and other lowly individuals who are supposed to open the petitions when they arrive in the mail. The problem lies in the mathematics of Internet chain letters."
"Most of them, for one thing, have been very badly designed. They usually have no cut-off date, source of background information, signature from the organization or individual who is sponsoring the alert, or instruction to post the alert only where appropriate. As a result, these alerts have caused a lot of disruption and annoyance all around the net, and it would not surprise me if the negative sentiment they cause outweighs the positive benefit of the actions they encourage."
http://www.oneworld.net/anydoc_mc.cgi?url=http://www.netaction.org/training/
by Phil Agre April 1996
"Feel free to circulate this article for any noncommercial purpose.
Department of Information Studies
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California 90095-1520
USA"
pagre@ucla.edu
http://dlis.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/
~~ Comment below post ~` TP
From: A Paper Prepared for the
Kettering Foundation
By Scott London
March 1994
http://www.scottlondon.com/reports/ed.html
""The perennial debate over the future of American democracy reached new heights in the wake of Ross Perot's 1992 campaign, the centerpiece of which was his notion of "electronic town halls." The idea was an evocative and appealing one: to recreate the spirited gatherings of New England townspeople on a national scale through the medium of interactive technology. When asked about the electronic town hall in a television interview, he put it this way:"
"I would create an electronic town hall where, say, every week or so we would take a single major issue to the people. We would explain it in great detail and then we would get a response from the owners of the country - the people - that could be analyzed by congressional district so that the Congress - no if's, and's and but's - would know what the people want. Then the boys running around with briefcases representing special interests would be de-horned - to use a Texas term."" Ross Perot during his 1992 Presidential campaign
http://www.scottlondon.com/reports/ed.html
A separate annotated bibliography on electronic democracy, compiled in 1994, is available here.
You are welcome to distribute this file, but please use it fairly -- don't remove my name or change my words if you quote from it. I would also appreciate hearing from you if you are interested in these issues, have corrections, or information on this subject that my be useful in my ongoing research.
Copyright 1993-2005 by Scott London. All rights reserved.
~~~
Why E-Democracy Won’t Ever Fly in the
A decade ago many pundits envisioned the
Or at the very least, non-binding national cyber-debates would guide elected leaders to follow the American peoples will. In theory the rise of the Internet and other Digital Technologies would facilitate more informed thus more involved citizens bringing about fairer and more just social policy.
“I would create an electronic town hall where, say, every week or so we would take a single major issue to the people. We would explain it in great detail and then we would get a response from the owners of the country - the people - that could be analyzed by congressional district so that the Congress - no if's, and's and but's - would know what the people want.”
------ Ross Perot during his 1992 Presidential campaign.
