Tonight is the fifth of a twelve part discussion series on Extreme Democracy co-sponsored by the Central Texas World Future Society and Texas Forums, an initiative of the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum.
The purpose of these discussions is to explore the principles and technologies of Extreme Democracies, and to explore how these concepts and technologies are affecting our own social change efforts, our democracy, and the upcoming election.
Our conversation tonight, focusing on the power and the potential for a few people with a web presence to have a voice in national politics (how well Trent Lott knows this!), will ironically be taking place in the second hour of the CNN/YouTube democrat presidential debate, hosted by Anderson Cooper. Beginning at 7:00 Eastern (6:00 Central) the eight Democratic candidates (the Republicans get their shot on Sept. 17) will respond to video questions submitted by ordinary citizens on YouTube. CNN is even encouraging amateur reporters to submit their take on the candidates by video after the debates
- Is this just a gimmick?
- What does this all mean?
- How will this influence the conversation between the political elites and citizens?
- Will this, as David Borhman the Washington bureau chief for CNN speculates, “push the definition of a debate”?
- Will this, as Jeff Jarvis who blogs on buzzmachine.com says, show mainstream journalists how to ask better questions?
Tune into CNN at 6:00 p.m. tonight (Central) for the first hour of the debates and then join us in our virtual room at 7:00 (Central for a discussion and reflection of how these new technologies are influencing politics and whether they are truly bringing in new voices and changing the media’s role.
More about Extreme Democracy
Download discussion guide for:
- Description of discussion topics,
- Definition of Extreme Democracy,
- Links to all reading materials,
- Instructions about how to log into room,
- Everything you need to know about this series
Essays for July 23
Power Laws, Weblogs & Inequality, by Clay Shirky
Post your online comments about Shirky essay here
Building on Experience, by Mitch Ratcliffe
Post your online comments about Ratcliffe essay here
Technorati Tags: deliberate, democracy, extreme democracypresidential debates, CNN/YouTube, LBJ Library, Texas Forums, technology, e-democracy
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