Dean Campaign Launches Three Internet Initiatives

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 29, 2003

Contact: Press Office, 802-651-3200

Dean Campaign Launches Three Internet Initiatives

Statement of Internet Principles, Net Advisory Network, Open Source Software

BURLINGTON--The Howard Dean campaign today launched three major initiatives that build on the Internet’s remarkable ability to facilitate grassroots democracy:

A statement of Internet principles (http://www.deanforamerica.com/internetprinciples)

A Net Advisory Net (NAN) with an initial broadband access working group (http://www.deanforamerica.com/NAN)

Web Community Kits - open source software for grassroots supporters to use in community building (http://www.deanforamerica.com/webcommunitykits)

“Only the people have the power to realize the vision upon which this country was founded,” Governor Dean said. “The Internet provides us with ways to bring new life to those ideals in every community. The grassroots of the Dean for America campaign are leading the way. The initiatives we are announcing today will strengthen democracy by listening, giving back and helping create community.”


1. Statement of Principles

The campaign has posted a brief statement of the principles that will guide its formulation of public policy concerning the Internet (www.deanforamerica.com/internetprinciples). According to these principles, the Internet is more than a valuable information resource. It enables people to connect directly with others, helping to fulfill the vision and ideals of democracy - but it cannot exist for the unique benefit of any group or economic interest. Universal internet access should be a federal goal.

2. The Net Advisory Net

The Net Advisory Net will present to the Governor and his team diverse and highly-informed opinions concerning the Internet and its potential impact upon society. While many of the members support Dean, he is seeking advice, not endorsements, and the advisors do not necessary support the campaign. Learn more at http://www.deanforamerica.com/NAN.

The first NAN team will focus on how to bridge the “digital divide” by providing universal broadband access to the Internet. Initial members of the broadband committee include: Hal Abelson, Laura Breeden, DeWayne Hendricks, Joi Ito, Lawrence Lessig, Bob Lucky, David Reed, Richard Rowe and David Weinberger. Other working groups will be established to address the potential of e-government to increase our democracy, balancing the rights of artists and the public domain, protecting the privacy of customers and citizens, electronic voting, protecting children and vulnerable communities from Internet exploitation, and controlling spam without impeding the basic architecture of the Web. The goal of each working group will be to frame issues and hold conversations about public policies in order to prepare specific suggestions for the Governor to consider and proposals for addressing these issues in a Dean administration.

Read the Frequently Asked Questions and biographies of the initial members of the broadband committee at http://www.deanforamerica.com/NAN.

(3) Open Source Group Software

The Dean for America campaign today is announcing the release of “Web Community Kits,” a set of Web-based software tools that support grassroots communities, enabling them to create Web spaces for communicating, organizing events, and
sharing information. Already about 20 different groups - from "Pilots for Dean" to "Seniors for Dean" - are using the software.

People can download the kits at http://www.deanforamerica.com/webcommunitykits.

With a Web Community Kit , a group can create a Web site with features that enable it to work and grow including: weblogs, a picture gallery, discussion forums, mailing list management, polls, group task lists, a shared calendar (including events from the Dean Get Local registry of events), and the ability to invite users, register them and give them each a home page. The software behind the kits was developed by DeanSpace developers, an independent, loosely-knit, geographically distributed group of about fifty volunteers who have been working on this project for nearly six months. They built the Web Community Kits facility by extending Drupal, an open source software content management system. The software they've created is also available as free software under the GNU General Public License.

The material each group posts on its site can be easily shared among groups through RSS (Really Simple Syndication), a standard that is widely in use on the Web. The kits come with tools that allow the sites to import and republish material from external sites including the official Dean campaign Web and weblog sites.

"Grassroots are all about people learning from one another," said Joshua Koenig, one of the volunteer developers who created DeanSpace. "And we hope that the DeanSpace kits will enable thousands of conversations to be started in and across all these groups."

Said Joe Trippi, the Dean for America campaign manager: "It is extraordinary that our grassroots base is now building tools to support itself. This is grassroots squared." He added: "As far as we know, this is the first open source development project for a presidential campaign, and it's definitely the most ambitious."


http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=9432&news_iv_ctrl=1301

He and his followers fix things and make things happen.

Even if he loses, his open source permanent campaign will regenerate the Democratic Party and the nation.

Join us.

I love this stuff, but it doesn't necessarily make me want to see him as the President. YMMV, I guess

:kick:

What a great idea! I loved Joe's comment: This is grassroots squared."

but the Dean campaign has taken it to the next level, for sure!

Joe Trippi is from San Jose, by the way. All that high-tech Silicon Valley stuff just sunk in. Up here we don't go anywhere without our internet devices.

I have a T-Mobile Sidekick, and it allows me to check the Blog (and the bat!) from wherever I am. I can even donate on-line with it. And it fits in my pocket. Cool, eh?