Here’s an updated guide to the breakout sessions in the works for Personal Democracy Forum 2009. This year’s theme is “We.gov”–in other words, all the ways that people are using the internet and interactive communications technologies to transform politics, campaigns, media, governance and civic action.
As I mentioned a few weeks ago, we’re envisioning four main thematic tracks to the breakout sessions, which will run in the afternoon of both days of the conference: 1) State-of-the-art online politics; 2) Exploring government 2.0; 3) New organizing opportunities, tools and challenges; and 4) The future of political journalism, blogging and networked media. There’s also a couple of sessions that bridge several of these categories that we think will be pretty interesting as well.
Here’s how things are shaping up. We’re still tweaking these sessions, adding speakers and moderators, but what you see here now is pretty close to solid, and we’re about to put them on a clear timeline as well. If you haven’t registered yet, click here: now’s the time.
1. State-of-the-art online politics.
–Online Advertising and Nano-Targeting: Lessons from the 2008 Campaigns: Eric Frenchman (chief internet strategist for the online political agency Connell Donatelli Inc., where he managed the McCain and RNC programs); Josh Koster (Managing Partner at Chong Designs LLC, a Washington based new-media advising firm specializing in online marketing and brand management); and Kate Kaye (senior editor at ClickZ News and author of “Campaign ’08: A Turning Point For Digital Media”); plus Sara Holoubek (President, SEMPO) as moderator.
–Mobile Politicking: From Text-Messaging Basics to Campaign iPhone Apps: Scott Goodstein (director of external media for Obama ’08, and founder of Catalyst Campaigns); Becky Bond (political director at CREDO Mobile and Working Assets); and Nicola Wells (Center for Community Change).
–State/Local Online Politicking: How Community Hubs Can Change the Scene: Blake Rutherford (Director of Public Affairs at Stone Ward and author of the Little Rock, Arkansas blog “Blake’s Think Tank”), Jason Barnett (TheUptake.org, which led coverage of the Minnesota Senate recount); and Steven Clift (e-Democracy.org).
–Online Video: Lessons from the Obama “Idea Factory” and 2008 Campaign: Steve Grove (head of news and politics at YouTube); Max Harper (Obama ’08 new media team); and David Burch (TubeMogul).
–Beyond my.BarackObama.com: How Social Action Networks Like Facebook, MySpace and Ning Are Changing Politics: Todd Ziegler (Bivings); Heather Lauer (The Pickens Plan); Roz Lemiuex (Fission Strategies); moderated by Jose Vargas (The Washington Post). (This session is sponsored by the Bivings Group.)
2. Exploring government 2.0.
–Designing .Gov for Transparency and Participation: Clay Johnson and Ali Felski (respectively the director of the Sunlight Foundation’s Labs and its award-winning in-house designer); Sheila Campbell (USA.gov and the Government Web Managers Council); David Almacy (former White House internet director under President Bush).
–The Blogging of the Bureaucracy: How to Use Social Media From Inside Government; Jeanne Holm (NASA.gov); Janice Hall (Centers for Disease Control); and Gwynne Kostin (Department of Homeland Security); Jed Sundwall (Captura Group, currently advising GSA on social media practices).
–Imagining White House 2.0: Making Open Collaborative Platforms WorkJim Gilliam (WhiteHouse2.org and NationBuilder); Fabrice Florin (Newstrust); Mark Elliott (Collabforge); and Ellen Miller (Sunlight Foundation).
–From Participatory Politics to Participatory Medicine: The Coming Revolution in Health CareEsther Dyson (EdVenture); Susannah Fox (Pew Internet Center); James Heywood (PatientsLikeMe).
3. New organizing opportunities, tools and challenges.
–Crossing Boundaries Online: Reaching and Organizing Diverse Constituencies: Liz Mair (former Republican National Committee director of online communications); Kety Esquivel (new media manager for the National Council of La Raza); Keli Goff (author of Party Crashing: How the Hip-Hop Generation Declared Political Independence).
–Twitter as a Platform for #Organizing and #Fundraising: Amanda Rose (founder and lead coordinator of the Twestival, which raised $300K for charity:water in February 2009); Allison Fine (Personal Democracy Forum senior editor and author of Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age); Abby Kirigin (co-founder of TipJoy); David All (David All Group and author of Twitter 101).
–Facing Dilemmas in Online OrganizingRasmus Nielsen (Columbia University), Tanya Tarr (AFSCME), Deanna Zandt (media technologist and writer); moderated by Judith Freeman (New Organizing Institute).
–Powering the Youth VoteSujatha Jahadirdar (US PIRG), Mike Connery (Future Majority), Maria Teresa Petersen (VotoLatino), Greg Miller (Open Source Digital Voting Foundation).
–New Business Models: How to Survive and Thrive Financially in Online PoliticsDiane Rinaldo (TalkingPointsMemo Media); Marcy Wheeler (FireDogLake); others to be added.
4. The future of political journalism, blogging and networked media.
–The Future of Journalism: Hybridization or What?Frank Rich (New York Times columnist); Karen Tumulty (national reporter and blogger for Time Magazine); Scott Simon (NPR Weekend Edition); Dan Gillmor (Center for Citizen Media), and Clay Shirky (NYU ITP).
–Why Blogging Still Matters: The Ongoing Vitality of the Netroots and the Rightroots: Patrick Ruffini (co-founder of The Next Right blog); Eric Boehlert (author of the forthcoming book on the rise of the netroots, “The Bloggers on the Bus”); Scott Rosenberg (author of the forthcoming book, “Say Everything,” a history of blogging).
–Adventures in Networked Community Journalism: How to Work With a Crowd: Amanda Michel (director of distributed journalism at ProPublica); Dave Troy (Twittervision); Andrew Turner (GeoCommons); and Andy Carvin (NPR social media desk).
–Mapping the Networked Public Sphere: How Blogs, Mainstream Media and Official Sources Interact: Stan Magniant (Linkfluence); Ken Deutsch (Morningside Analytics); Vincent Ducrey (new media advisor, Government of France).
On top of all that, we’ve got a couple of wild cards, sessions that will mix unusual ideas and speakers and challenge conventional thinking:
–Building the Social Economy: CraigBucks, NewMarks, and Making Whuffie: Douglas Rushkoff (author of the new book “Life, Inc.: How the World Became a Corporation and How to Take it Back”), and Tara Hunt (author of “The Whuffie Factor: Using the Power of Social Networks to Build Your Business”).
–Reinventing Communication From the Net Up: Davar Ardalan (NPR Weekend Edition), Sean Tevis (candidate for Kansas State Representative); Baratunde Thurston (The Onion, Jack and Jill Politics).
–The Ins and Outs of Online Organizing: Is it Better to Be In or Out?Mike Turk (NCTA, and e-campaign director Bush-Cheney ’04); Mindy Finn (e-campaign director, Romney ’08); Ilyse Hogue (MoveOn.org); others to be added.
As I said above, this is all a work in progress. Stay tuned for more details; feel free to ping us with your suggestions or to kibitz in the comments thread. (Also, if you’ve applied for a Google Fellowship, here’s an update: folks are hard at work sifting the applications and we should have announcements to share soon, hopefully as early as next week.)
May 25, 2009