Welcome to the new and improved Personal Democracy Forum and techPresident websites. We’ve been plugging away with the help of Todd Ziegler, Andrew MacDowell and the good folks at the Bivings Group, along with some design assists from Jonathan Berger; we’ve kicked the tires and looked under the hood, and now it’s your turn!
Here’s what’s new:
We’ve developed seven new Topic headings, or “verticals,” covering everything from using Mobile and Video in online politics to Fundraising, Web Strategy, Advertising and of course, eGovt. Plus Cool Stuff, for the latest in gadgets, widgets and other toys.
User Diaries: You can register on either site and start blogging! We’ll keep an eye on what you’re posting and good stuff will get elevated to the home page.
Ratings: As a registered user, you can also rate posts, helping everyone spot the good stuff.
Metrics: Want to find the most commented post in the last 30 days? Or the most read? Most emailed? We’ve added that too.
PdF Marketplace: Are you looking for a new job? Want to list one? Got a hot political domain that you want to unload? Check out the expanded PdF Marketplace and add your own listings.
Advocacy: See the latest online campaigns by groups working on poli-tech issues, as well as the latest priorities of the big e-groups.
Calendar: Our handpicked listings of upcoming conferences and talks of interest to PdF and techPres readers.
VoteVid: Over on techPresident, we’ve set up an interactive page where anyone can post and vote on their favorite online political videos–a great new way to keep track of this emerging arena.
New Charts: We’ve starting tracking the 2012 Republican Presidential field (the horror, the horror!) (and I mean that solely as a reference to 2012) on Facebook and Technorati, plus watching how President Obama is doing in terms of friends and blog posts.
The biggest news is the launch of the PdF Network and the 2009 Personal Democracy Forum conference, our sixth. PdF Network is for people who work in politics and/or technology who want to get more under the belt, share skills and ideas with their peers, and get the benefit of exclusive, intimate meetings with leaders in this field, advance word of new tools, consumer reviews, and high-level training. Membership is just $60 a year, and it includes an immediate $60 off coupon for attending the PdF annual conference. (Plus other benefits like a subscription to a great magazine included– more details here.)
And that gets to our last big announcement: We’re pleased to pull up the curtain on the 2009 Personal Democracy Forum, which will be taking place June 29-30 in New York City at Jazz at Lincoln Center, the same great location as last year’s event. Click here to get details on our first wave of great speakers, and sign up now to take advantage of our early bird rate. If you need a reminder of what it was like to attend PdF last year, or if you’ve never been, check out this video: