2008 Tech Demos Planning

=Overview=

As part of New York's OWD 2008 celebrations, we'll be holding a tech demos event in the style of New York Tech Meetup. We'll be looking specifically for demos that:


 * Fit this year's theme of online participation in democracy
 * Are fully developed and ready to use
 * Are cutting edge

We're going to need proposals for demos, as well as help with the logistics. Read on for both.

In addition, all demo candidates are encouraged to submit their apps to the e-Democracy time capsule at http://timecapsule.onewebday.org

=Date and Time=

The demos will be held on Saturday 9/20 in Room 101 at NYU's Courant Institute, 251 Mercer St. at the corner of West 4th St. The event will run from 7-9pm

Please RSVP at http://web.meetup.com/27/calendar/8642107/

=The Organizers=

This event will be a joint effort of OneWebDay NYC and the Grassroots Web Meetup Group. In the grassroots spirit, we'll try to be as open and inclusive as possible as we plan this event. That said, we only have a short time to plan this event, and we'll have to make a lot of decisions within the planning committee.

That committee, which is admittedly ad hoc, so far includes
 * Susan Crawford - OneWebDay President and Founder
 * Evan Korth - NYU Courant Institute
 * Leon Leo - Grassroots Web Group Organizer and Founder
 * Matt Cooperrider - OneWebDay Coordinator, Grassroots Web Group Asst. Organizer

We welcome you comments and feedback. Just add your comment to the top of the comments section at the bottom of this page. Or email mattcooperider AT gmail DOT com

=Submit Your Demo Proposal Here=

If you think you've got a demo that more or less fits the criteria above, and would like to present it to a huge OWD crowd, please add it to the list below. Please include any info that will be help us evaluate your proposal. Minimally, a description of the app, a link, and a brief argument as to why it's a good fit for our event.


 * MixedInk: I'd love to present MixedInk's collaborative writing tool, which allows large groups to democratically craft a single text. It's a powerful tool for online participation in democracy, because it enables people to collaborate in a way that is open, transparent, and democratic. It can be used by advocacy groups to write open letters to Congress, letters to the editor, text for a radio ad about an issue, blog posts, etc.  It can also be used by citizens to participate in policy making and other grassroots governance initiatives.  Some members of the netroots recently used it to create a progressive platform, which you can see at the Netroots Platform page .  By September 20, anyone will be able to set up a new topic and invite their community to participate at MixedInk's website.  The tool is currently usable, but we have to set up pages by hand for the time being.
 * workintown.com:  Democracy is people being represented by government, which includes cities, states and countries, and as more and more companies switch to democratic governance, workintown lets us rate and hold coworkers accountable for their responsibilities.  How can teams, departments, and companies make decisions democratically, as people do in a town?  Wordpress plugins let us create term limits and checks and balances.  Local currency, similar to Class B stock without voting rights, lets us create new financial incentives for performance other than the stock market.  And so workintown is built to extend democracy into the workplace.  I'd like to demo it as a way for people to literally invest in your personal reputation, as a way to visually represent relationships, and a federal model of group decision-making.  Features include the ability to rate people's reputation, buy and sell land, set up a storefront, various views of the town including a birds-eye map, and the ability to program new features through PHP or Wordpress plugins.  Please feel free to buy land before September 20th if you'd like to try it out first-hand.  My shares are currently being sold at $40 per square, 100 squares per city block. -Alex Linsker
 * Democracyinaction.org. . DIA has an online organizing tool that allows even small groups to organize with a full featured CRM. That being said, my goal is not to focus on the app itself, but to use it to talk about how CRM's can help us democratize activist communities, leading (one hopes) to a richer democracy overall. Contact: Charles Lenchner clenchner at democracyinaction.org (idea 3)
 * PlanetThoughts.org: This site allows registered users to submit their stories, reviews, news items, quotes, and tips on environmental and societal thoughts.  Of course visitors can also comment on those that are already on the site.  This completely hand-built site allows users to track discussion of specific "PlanetThoughts", subscribe to get thoughtful quotes sent by email, use RSS, or have quotes appear on their Web site changing daily.  The purpose of all this is to promote the spread of serious, accurate environmental and sustainability information through expert writers and community writers, and discussion.  A slide show (link on the right margin) could be used as a basis to show how this site is promoted using a community-building approach.  Monitoring and analysis tools are very sophisticated, and are also hand-crafted.
 * Speechology.org: Televised political videos leave us wondering who is right and who is lying. During debates, politicians dodge questions and contradict one another on points of fact. The moderator--a journalist--simply moves on instead of pressing for an answer or providing viewers with an accurate account. Voters are left in the dark as to the truth. Campaign ads on TV are no different: quotes are taken out of context and are rampant with unfair accusations. Citations (if any) are offered in miniscule type. We created Speechology so that we don't have to wonder anymore. Speechology is an archive of videos that show politicians stumping for your vote. If a candidate or elected representative said it on TV, we want you to be able to find it on here. We also invite you to do your own research and then tell the rest of us what you found. We don't care what your political preferences are. We only care if you contribute good research.
 * OpenCongress.org: Each page on OpenCongress provides access to the full official details of a bill: the text of the bill itself, its status in Congress, its voting results. At the same time, each page allows you to see the "big picture" behind a bill: recent news analyses of it, what its buzz is on blogs, what industries gave campaign contributions to its sponsors. News coverage and blog commentary are vital to understanding the Congressional process and help to translate the highly technical language of bills into something more intelligible. Future versions of OpenCongress will introduce more new features in this regard, as well as more ways to collaboratively analyze legislation and engage with Congress.
 * iYear.us iYear has all of the organizing tools of the best political campaigns, but is set up to allow anyone with a cause to manage their own campaign. And it's more powerful and easy-to-use than the best political campaign sites. Use it to build consensus and critical mass around an issue in your area, and then take collective action. iYear is a Public Trust and a Public Utility that is non-profit, non-commercial, non-partisan and non-managed. No one owns it, everyone can use it, and anyone can improve it.

Again, the decision as to which demos are shown will ultimately fall to the organizing committee. That said, we'll listen to your comments and feedback. Feel free to edit this page, or send an email to mattcooperrider AT gmail DOT com.

=Logistical Issues=

We're planning most of this on the fly and at the last minute, so we could use any logistical assistance anyone can supply. For anything, email mattcooperrider AT gmail DOT com

Space

We have two rooms at NYU Courant that each come equipped with projectors and each seat 55. If one fills up, we'll use the other for overflow. We're also open to the possibility of moving to a bigger space if one becomes available. We'll need your help to sniff that out.

Audio Visual

Needs:
 * 1) A way to amplify the person giving the demo, as well as questions from the audience
 * 2) A way to rebroadcast the demos to the overflow room
 * 3) A way to record the event for posterity, and perhaps broadcast it to the web.

Promotion

We'll be listing the event on meetup.com, both through the grassroots web group and the onewebday group.


 * Grassroots Web: http://web.meetup.com/27/calendar/8642107/
 * OneWebDay: http://onewebday.meetup.com/1/

Please be sure to sign up and tell your friends. Twitter away. We need candidates for demos too.

=Comments=