The Dreamers And Doers Bringing Democracy Online..

PoliticsOnline and the World eDemocracy Forum is a forum – in its ninth year – where you can vote for the ‘Top 10 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics’.

People from around the world are invited to help select the top 10 individuals, organizations and companies having the greatest impact on the way the Internet is changing politics.

The award recognises the ‘innovators and pioneers, the dreamers and doers who bring democracy online’.

This year’s nominations make interesting reading and, if you choose, you can vote here.

Nominations For 2008

• Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
  number10.gov.uk
  The Prime Minister’s Office at 10 Downing Street, London, UK has set the standard for Governments all over the world with an innovative approach to digital communications. Its core offering is a website built on the open source wordpress platform which features a bespoke video player and array of social media tools. The team pioneered the ePetitions system in which 7 million British people have taken part; launched ‘Ask the PM’ in which Gordon Brown answers video questions from You tube users….
• Barack Obama
  mybarackobama.com
  US Presidential nominee, Barack Obama has taken basic organizing theory that he learned in Chicago & combined it with an Internet campaign to create an exquisite organization. The main difference is the semi-autonomous “cell” organizing…
• Brave New Films/ Foundation
  Bravenewfilms.org
  In order to strengthen democratic values through public participation BNF uses media to teach, promote, and instill advocacy and activism of social justice issues. The goal is to spark debate and discussion among an informed citizenry. It is only with information that people can affect change. Their shorts have been viewed over 22 million times There is a pressing need for strong narratives and storytelling throughout the progressive movement. Brave New Films started out doing long form documentaries like OutFoxed, and Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price…
• MTV’s Choose or Lose
  think.mtv.com
  With the theme ‘Amp Your Voice,’ MTV’s Choose or Lose has shared the power of its platforms by giving millions of young voters the tools to self-publish and self-organize around the election issues they care about most. The campaign has tapped into the explosion in social networks & new media technologies to not only enable young voters to interact with each other around their election issues, but also provide more direct access to the candidates that impact their lives…
• David All
  davidallgroup.com
  David All is the founder of Slatecard.com, the Republican counter to the Democrats’ ActBlue.com. More than 55 candidates use the platform…
• mySociety
  mySociety.org
  mySociety deserves recognition because it runs some of the best known and best used democracy websites in the world whilst being a tiny underfunded open source NGO run from people’s homes across the UK. As well as running the often copied TheyWorkForYou.com, with 2 million unique users last year, which continues to set the standard for what a political transparency website should be like across the globe, mySociety also helps people with tangible problems like getting potholes fixed at FixMyStreet.com..
• Sunlight Foundation
  sunlightfoundation.com
  In just two years, Sunlight Foundation has developed, assembled and funded an array of web-based databases and tools to help investigative reporters, bloggers, politics junkies and ordinary citizens to better illuminate the interplay of money, lobbying, influence and government in Washington to a degree never before possible. The creation of these databases and the technologies applied to them that free the data from their silos has created an unprecedented demand for more: more information, more transparency, and more easy-to-use tools…
• Mardomak.org
  mardomak.org
  In January, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems launched the Persian-language site Mardomak.org. The site provides unbiased news and information for an Iranian audience with the aim of increasing civic awareness and encouraging civic participation. To that end, Mardomak.org was one of the only unique sites providing comprehensive coverage and analysis of Iran’s Parliamentary elections in March 2008…
• eGovernment Resource Centre
  egov.vic.gov.au
  The eGovernment Resource Centre has been aggregating the world’s eGovernment strategies, eDemocracy initiatives, ICT policies, website standards, government information and communications technology (ICT) and government website best practices and standards for more than ten years. Published by the Victorian Government in Australia, it contains summaries of more than 11,000 external resources and 1450 articles. It is the foremost repository for everything eGovernment in the world…
• Avaaz
  avaaz.org
  Launched in January 2007, Avaaz is a global web movement with over 3.3 million members. They use the internet and technology to bring people powered politics to international decision-making. The core of Aveez’s model of organizing is their email list, operated in 13 languages…
• techPresident
  techPresident.com
  TechPresident, a daily blog and email digest of how the candidates are using the web and how the web is using them, which was launched in February 2007…
• Helium
  helium.com
  Helium is elevating citizen journalism and political issues through its partnerships with nonprofit organizations and news institutions, and through innovative awards series. Helium is currently partnered with over 65 organizations…
• Oscar Swartz
  swartz.typepad.com
  Oscar Swartz, Swedish IT entrepreneur, founder of pioneer Internet provider Bahnhof, blogger and libertarian debater, is a well known critic of the “surveillance society”, in Sweden. This surveillance society is often called “The Bodstram Society” and “The Ask Society”, after the former and present Swedish Ministers of Justice, socialist and conservative respectively, who have championed far-reaching legislation concerning digital surveillance…
• Pambazuka News
  pambazuka.org
  Pambazuka News, with a readership of 500,000, is produced by a pan-African community of over 1000 citizens – academics, social activists, women’s organizations, writers, artists, poets, bloggers, and commentators who together produce insightful and thoughtful analyses that make it the most innovative and influential sites for social justice in Africa. Pambazuka publishes podcasts, videos and books; supports African women and marginalized groups to develop blogs, radio programs, podcasts and mobile phone technologies…
• Adgeordnetenwatch
  abgeordnetenwatch.de
  Gregor Hackmack and Boris Hekele founded abgeordnetenwatch.de in order to improve communication between German voters and their members of parliament. This unique website has been extremely successful. Any citizen can ask questions about current political issues; politicians of all parties and ranks are addressed and usually answer fairly soon…
• Yoani Sanchez
  desdecuba.com/generaciony
  Yoani is one of the most influential people in the world according to TIME. The 32-year-old Cuban philology graduate has attracted a considerable readership by writing about her daily life in Cuba and describing economic hardships and political constraints in her blog. She is not a politician, she is the only a woman who dreams and wants to share her dreams and millions of people are joining to these dreams. Freedom for Cuba and the Cubans…
• Michael Bassik
  mshcdirect.com
  “Michael Bassik, head of Internet Strategy for MSHC Partners, has been a major influence on a generation of internet and politics. One of the first online political consultants, he was named a “Top 50 Politico to Watch” by The Politico and received the first-ever joint award for Excellence in Digital Media from Yahoo! and the American Association of Political Consultants earlier this year. Under his leadership, MSHC Partners has won more interactive Pollie Awards than any firm in the country.
• David Kralik, American Solutions
  americansolutions.com
  David Kralik, Director of Internet Strategy for American Solutions for Winning the Future (ASWF), is changing the world of Internet and Politics, by realizing that the web is not just another tool but an entirely different culture, a new way of viewing the world. Through his work with Newt Gingrich, Kralik has bridged the gap between the network-based 21st Century world of the Valley and the hierarchical-centric world of Washington, DC…
• Randy Paynter, Care2
  care2.com
  Ten years ago Randy Paynter had the foresight to started Care2. It now has over 9 million members who help create change for social and environmental good in small and large ways. It can be as simple as removing chemicals used in the home to signing a petition to stop global warming. The reason for recognition is that this effort of enabling people to take small steps and create change has been a personal mission for Randy…
• HuffPost’s OffTheBus
  huffingtonpost.com/off-the-bus/
  OffTheBus (OTB) is a citizen-powered and -produced presidential campaign news site sponsored by the Huffington Post and NewAssignment.Net. OTB was founded to better presidential campaign reporting and has since broken a number of stories online prior to mainstream media’s reporting. The project depends, in large part, on its on-the-ground citizen reporters and on cutting-edge distributed reporting techniques.
• Cuidad Politico
  ciudadpolitica.org
  Cuidad Politico,”City Policy”, is an independent, Latin american focused political science portal devoted to develop the discipline both theoretically and in practice. The portal supports the academic political science community providing an exchange and communication mean for all interested, creating a network among academic institutions, civil society and politics through a scientific support on various subjects and providing links, data bases and events calendars…
• The Social Liberal Party of Denmark
  radikale.net
  The Social Liberal Party of Denmark made the first open political community in Denmark. Launched on the 26th of September 2007, it became the first Danish attempt to take the knowledge from the American campaigns and use it to 1) revitalize the party structure, making it easy to participate for everyone 2) opening up the party debates to anyone interested in the subject (closed party member-debates are otherwise the rule in Denmark) 3) giving everyone with an interest in the party the resources needed to contribute in the election campaign.
• Farmsubsidy.org
  farmsubsidy.org
  Brussels based freelance journalist Brigitte Alfter and her network of investigative journalists throughout Europe are about to change European farm policies with their web-initiative Farmsubsidy.org. Using the freedom of information law, they have forced European governments to release detailed data on who gets what from Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy. All 27 EU countries will disclose data revealing details of some 100bn given in subsidies by the Euro-taxpayer every year to farmers, food companies, industrial regeneration schemes and the fishing industry.
• Argentina Elections
  argentinaelections.com/
  This site vitally contributed to the discussion of the presidential elections in Argentina in last October 2007. The site included interviews to candidates, academics, electoral experts and journalists. Also, it allowed people to leave comments in the posted articles enriching the discussion. It provided an electoral guide that answered almost all doubts regarding the elections and included the electoral platforms and biographies of all 14 candidates.
• EUObserver
  euobserver.com
  EUobserver is an online news service dedicated to providing news on the European Union. It is the only European newsmedia embracing updates from all over Europe as well as leading news from the EU capital Brussels. A classic combination of news and comments provide a unique meeting place for all, who are interested in the most important political developments on our continent.