PoliticsOnline and World e-Gov Forum have announced this year's list of nominees who are competing for the title of Top Politics and Internet World Changer of 2006. I thought I'd just encourage you to cast a vote. I must admit that I don't know a lot of the nominees apart from what I've seen online, but I support the promotion of those who make it their mission to encourage civic engagement and participation in politics using the Internet as a major medium. The Internet represents a truly democratic venue for discussion (unless you think about all of the people who do not have access to the Internet and therefore are unable to participate) and the objectives of many of these nominees are pretty interesting.
The nominees are as follows*:
The ACE Electoral Knowledge Network provides information on elections, promotes networking among election-related professionals and offers capacity development services; driven by a fundamental belief that election administration should be seen as a profession in its own right. ACE is a joint endeavor of seven partner organizations, all long-term supporters of providing comprehensive, up-to-date and reliable information on the "state of the art" in election policy, planning, organization and management. The ACE Web site (with over 2.4 million annual visitors) has English, French and Spanish versions.
Analitica magazine was the first Venezuelan opinion magazine to be distributed electronically, through the global medium of the Internet. For an uninterrupted ten years it has allowed users to express their thoughts and opinions about the main issues and current events in Venezuela and internationally. This organization presents an objective viewpoint of the most relevant happenings in a Latin American country. The publication looks to emphasize Venezuela's external relations along with its macroeconomic, oil-related, social, and legislative problems, as well as those related to the citizenry.
Care2 is an online community of progressive activists. In addition to the social networking resources available on its website, Care2 also runs ThePetitionSite.com, which allows individual activists, as well as advocacy groups, to create petitions that generate messages to Congress or any other email target. Groups using ThePetitionSite.com can hire Care2 to promote a petition to its 6 million member community, using it to recruit Care2 members to join the group's own email list. Care2 also runs FrogLoop.org and MovingIdeas.org, which provide social networking and information resources to the non-profit community.
Derek Wyatt MP, of the United Kingdom, has been the Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Internet Group since 1997. In that time under Derek's leadership the Group has informed and educated Parliament on a wide range of issues relating to the Internet including: Computer Misuse, Digital Rights Management, Web accessibility and Copyright.
FactCheck.org is a US based project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, working to change the political process by serving as a "consumer advocate for voters." Whether de-bunking Ralph Reed's false attack ads in the 2006 Georgia primary, or NARAL's false implication in 2005 that Supreme Court nominee John Roberts endorsed bombing abortion clinics, FactCheck.org has earned a reputation for even-handed fairness. Cheney's mention of "factcheck.com" in 2004 shows this organization has been noticed at the highest level. But the readers are the true constituents and speak best to the quality of work. In 2006, readers described FactCheck as "a breath of fresh air," "profound" and "the Consumer Reports of the written word."
In Australia,where previous attempts at e-politics had failed, Heimans & Madden successfully adapted e- campaigning to the unique nature of politics "Down Under", bringing a new generation of Australians back into the political process and inspiring a host of new online initiatives. Through GetUp.org.au, Heimans & Madden created a simple, compelling vehicle for progressives to take action. Since launching on 8/1/05, hundreds of thousands have used the site to sign petitions, create political satire, and contact their local representatives. GetUp! has won several major political victories and created a new class of political campaigners and donors. It now has 125,000 members, more than all of Australia's political parties put together-a huge number in a small country with record low rates of political participation. Through RightsAtWork.org.au, the largest ever petition & national protests were generated in Australian history.
Gov2u is a Greek NGO founded in 2004 with the intention of harnessing the potential of ICTs as vital tools for the improvement of representative democracy. The main crux of activities is the research, development and deployment of open source enabling technologies to facilitate legislative information gathering and dissemination. In parallel, Gov2u is involved in the targeted dissemination of knowledge and best practice through the organization of, and participation in, conferences, meetings, seminars and publications. The principal achievement to date has been the development of Gov2DemOSS, an open source, generic, informative and collaborative e-participation platform. Gov2DemOSS provides an channel for institutions and organizations to keep their communities informed, manage their information repositories, and interact directly with their constituents and to gauge public opinion.
This grass-roots lobbying group was founded on the principle that the Internet is the perfect vehicle to return to connecting people with their politicians. HazteOir.org is not only the corner where one can get information about current political affairs or the laws parliament carries out, it is also the place where one can act on them. All citizens with access to Internet can take part in online surveys or in the political party forums, send messages to politicians and journalists, and send with only a 'click' a letter to the 120 most important media outlets in Spain. HO has grown to become the Spanish-language most visited site dedicated to promoting political participation through the Internet.
The US's Internet Advocacy Center under Dr. Alan Rosenblatt's direction is finding those who are making impacts in the political and social space of the Net and bringing them together for discussion.
Korea Online Citizen Participation Portal
This single window for online citizen participation has been in service since August 2006, after undergoing a one-year period of pilot services for five central administrative agencies such as the Ministry of Construction and Transportation, a central government agency which frequently receives civil petitions regarding land and property. The main services covered by this online portal for citizen participation include: civil complaints, public proposals, policy forums, and community clubs. The portal aims at enhancing transparency and credibility of public administration through citizen participation and ultimately promoting an “open government” for the people.
Korea has also ranked 4th among 191 UN member countries on E-Participation by the UN in 2005
Netzpolitik.org was named, by Reporters Without Borders, as the "Best International Blog Defending Freedom of Expression."
The Internet is where many South Koreans, particularly the younger generation, get their news first, bypassing the traditional media. The country is one of the most wired in the world, with nearly 70% of households enjoying broadband connections. There are now several Internet newspapers in South Korea, but OhmyNews is the most popular – and one of the most radical.
It was launched by Oh Yeon-ho in February 2000. His goal was to change the news culture into one in which the public was involved in producing, as well as reading, the news. The paper has a professional staff of just 41, and 23,000 "citizen reporters" who send in news reports on just about anything, and determine OhmyNews' editorial policy. OhmyNews also just opened an new outlet in Japan.
One Global Community provides a way for anyone, anywhere to add their ideas.
OpenSpace-Online was developed by Gabriela Ender and her team in Germany (1999-2002). Open Space Online enables collaboration, knowledge-sharing, problem solving and results-oriented dialogs about urgent topics for small and large groups in real-time without 'human' online moderators. During the virtual-led and structured working process all participants are equal.
Pambazuka News remains one of the largest web forums for social justice in Africa. The newsletter now has 20,000 subscribers and a French language edition and website. The Pambazuka News platform has branched out to include blogs with the creation of a network of female bloggers in Nigeria. Pambazuka News has continued to support women's rights through a Pan-African civil society network, providing information about women's rights to a growing constituency. Further advocacy efforts included the launch of a blog and email list to support civil society campaign efforts to defeat Sudan's bid for chairmanship of the AU. The growth of Pambazuka News reflects a commitment to fostering a community of citizens who hold governments to account and let the voices of the disadvantaged be heard. Future developments to facilitate these efforts include an Arabic edition and the use of audio and video recordings designed to empower the voices of ordinary citizens.
Policyholders of America (POA) is a nonprofit national organization that gets insurance companies to honor the policies they issue. The organization also explains to members and site visitors political issues that impact policyholders and legal precedent that governs insurance company behavior.
An Annual survey by Brown University put South Korea on top in terms of the availability of publications, databases, and the number of online services of their government websites.
President Roh set up his own campaign headquarters with intranet and create websites himself. He educated his aides about the Internet and the virtues of the Net. He used the Internet as a medium for communication before, during and after his political campaign and he has continued to lead Korea in the direction of e-government excellence.
Friends of Humanity-Stop Fundmentalism
StopFundementalism is dedicated to stopping Islamic fundamentalism. It aims to appeal to everyone to join the venture in raising public awareness about fundamentalism. Friends of Humanity addresses all individuals, groups and organizations worldwide. To that end modern technology is needed to have rapid communications with a vast number of people. Friends of Humanity takes full advantage of electronic communication to raise the public awareness about Islamic fundamentalism.
Slugger O'Toole is a news and research portal, looking at various strands of political aspects of life in Northern Ireland. It brings together comment from a full range of the political spectrum that should be of interest to the specialist and the general reader. Slugger runs on a blog technology.
Unity '08 aims to change politics in the 21st century by using the Internet. Candidates will compete online for the nomination earned following an online convention in June 2008. They aim to use the new information technologies to bring people together-just as television and direct mail and other developments have come to be used to divide an increasingly polarized electorate.
*Note: Descriptions have been edited from those originally provided by PoliticsOnline
Sign up today to have our latest posts delivered straight to your inbox.
