civic engagement

Two seemingly unrelated news items in the this week illustrate the criticality of access to high-speed broadband for increased civic participation by all Americans.

As the Presidential debates begin tonight, we all have the opportunity to rate the debates ourselves -- thanks to technology of course!

Kim Hutchinson of The Disability Funders Network points us to website which has subtitled the Presidential Debates and is offering it as free service.

Even though I am not deaf or hard of hearing, I find it useful to simultaneously read and hear what the candidates are saying during these debates.

Hat tip to Kim and thanks to taudiobook for doing this.

Infoworld is reporting that MySpace just unveiled a MySpace focusing on Presidential candidates today.

The idea seems to make sense, but the execution is lacking. Why focus on the Presidential candidates?

It really should be a platform for social networking among local races—-the teeny tiny ones that you otherwise wouldn’t hear about.

Youth live in a “urban wilderness”. Helping them envision their own future will help them navigate through this wilderness.

Howard Rheingold and Andrea Saveri of the Institute for the Future came to our office to talk about Youth and Civic Engagement in the Public Sphere. Here are my rough notes about their presentation and the conversation.