Published 05-22-08
Submitted by Personal Democracy Forum
NEW YORK, NY, - May, 2008 - On Monday, June 23rd, and Tuesday, June 24th, 2008, America's foremost leaders and luminaries from all segments of the Internet, political and blogosphere arenas will converge in New York at Rose Hall, the new home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, for the annual Personal Democracy Forum(www.personaldemocracy.com) - the preeminent conference examining how Internet technology and trends are reinventing politics.
The forum will feature an unprecedented cross-partisan roster of speakers and panelists-individuals who are altering the landscape of the electoral process, political action and communication in our wired world on a daily basis. Now in its fifth year, the Personal Democracy Forum (PdF) is expanding to a two day event covering not only how the Internet is impacting campaigns and elections, but also how governance is changing.
"The 2008 election has shown that technology has become a truly disruptive force in American politics," said Andrew Rasiej, Founder and Executive Producer of the Personal Democracy Forum. "The political establishment and mainstream press are only beginning to catch up with a new generation of political players who are creating powerful new ways for ordinary citizens to get involved, change each other’s opinions, and influence the outcome of the election. Voter generated content-moving through YouTube, Facebook and MySpace - is completely upending traditional political power structures and changing the course of history."
"The big question as we look forward to 2009 is how all of this voter-generated online activism will change the governing process," added Micah Sifry, PdF's curator and the editor of techPresident.com. "We've expanded the event to two days because we know the Internet tsunami is starting to hit government too, and it's time to rethink e-democracy, collaborative governance-and how the Web is fostering more transparency and accountability into the process."
Topics that will be covered at the 2008 PdF:
Participants of the 2008 PdF include:
"¢ Steve Grove, YouTube
"¢ Catherine Geanuracos, LiveEarth
"¢ Mary Katherine Ham, Townhall.com
"¢ Jane Hamsher, FireDogLake
"¢ Anthony Hamelle, Linkfluence
"¢ Justin Hamilton, Rep. George Miller
"¢ Scott Heiferman, Meetup.com
"¢ Amy Holmes, CNN
"¢ Matthew Hurst, Microsoft
"¢ Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post
"¢ Alex Hunsucker, Eventful.com
"¢ Jeff Jarvis, Buzzmachine
"¢ Van Jones, Green For All
"¢ Kate Kaye, ClickZ
"¢ Cyrus Krohn, Republican National Committee
"¢ Justine Lam, Ron Paul '08
"¢ Brian Lehrer, WNYC
"¢ Lawrence Lessig, Change Congress
"¢ Peter Leyden, New Politics Institute
"¢ Josh Marshall, Talking Points Memo
"¢ Ellen Miller, Sunlight Foundation
"¢ David Moore, OpenCongress.org
"¢ Vijay Ravindran, Catalist
"¢ Craig Newmark, craigslist.org
"¢ Wendy Norris, Colorado Confidential
"¢ Beth Noveck, New York Law School
"¢ Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed
"¢ Mark Pesce, Co-inventor, VRML
"¢ Jay Rosen, PressThink
"¢ Alec Ross, Barack Obama '08
"¢ Tracy Russo, John Edwards '08
"¢ Patrick Ruffini, The Next Right
"¢ Douglas Rushkoff, author, Open Source Democracy
"¢ Liza Sabater, Daily Gotham
"¢ Sarah Schact, Knowledge As Power
"¢ AJ Schuler, Commonsense Media
"¢ Robert Scoble, FastCompany.tv
"¢ Matthew Sheffield, Newsbusters.org
"¢ Clay Shirky, Author, Here Comes Everybody
"¢ Ben Smith, Politico.com
"¢ Tom Steinberg, mySociety.org
"¢ Sarah Stirland, Wired
"¢ Victoria Stodden, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard
"¢ Matt Stoller, OpenLeft.com
"¢ Mark Tapscott, Washington Examiner
"¢ Zephyr Teachout, Duke Law School
"¢ Joe Trippi, John Edwards '08
"¢ Mike Turk, Consultant, eCampaign Director, Bush-Cheney '04
"¢ Michael Van Winkle, Sam Adams Alliance
"¢ Jose Antonio Vargas, Washington Post
"¢ Katrin Verclas, MobileActive
"¢ Austin Walne, Fred Thompson '08
"¢ MP Tom Watson, UK Cabinet Office
"¢ Morley Winograd, Co-author, Millennial Makeover
"¢ Randall Winston, Facebook Causes
"¢ Tim Wu, Columbia Law School
"¢ Ethan Zuckerman, Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard
"¢ And Surprise Guests TBA
WHAT:
The Personal Democracy Forum will feature keynote speeches and interactive panels with technology leaders and political strategists who are rewriting the rules of political contests and redefining democracy in our wired world. Learn how to optimize the use of technology in campaigns, how to master the new media system of blogs, social networks, virtual communities, podcasting, mobile phones and online video; and how to raise money, move messages and impact voting more effectively.
WHEN:
Monday June 23rd, and Tuesday June 24th, 2008, 8:00 am-6:00 pm
(Registration begins at 7:00 am)
For details, please visit www.personaldemocracy.com/conference
WHERE:
Frederick P. Rose Hall-Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center
Broadway at 60th Street
New York, NY
NOTE:
Conference registration waived for media
Media must RSVP to:
Justin Kazmark
212.561.7466
justin.kazmark@morris-king.com
REGISTRATION:
General Registration: $695
Early Bird Registration (through May 31st): $595
Nonprofits: $100 discount
Student (valid student ID required at door): $300 discount
Register online at: www.personaldemocracy.com/conference
Technology and the Internet are changing democracy in America. We envision this site as one hub for the conversation already underway between political practitioners and technologists, as well as anyone invigorated by the potential of all this to open up the process and engage more people in all the things that we can and must do together as citizens. Over the coming weeks and months, we are going to experiment with various ways of nurturing and expanding this conversation, ranging from blogging to investigative journalism, interviews, profiles and guest columns. The focus is going to be on new tools, processes, uses and trends--not on scoring partisan political points. We value your input and ideas.
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