I just came across this awesome list of people/organisations who have made a commitment to affecting meaningful political change through the use of the Internet and new technologies - there are some fantastic case studies here and some really interesting reading. These are the top 10 entries from all of the nominations received….
Have a look at the site I got these from: http://www.edemocracy-forum.com/2009/10/awards.html They do this every year and you can write to them to nominate….
1. The Democracy Center, represented by Jim Shultz, Executive Director (Bolivia)
Over the past decade, the Bolivia-based Democracy Center has used the Internet to mobilize international organizations around the plight of those in need in developing countries.
2. CLIME, Center for Liberty in the Middle East, represented by founder Eleana Gordon (USA)
In 2009, CLIME (Center for Liberty in the Middle East) launched the Online Activism Institute, with the hopes of offering Muslim women an innovative tool with which to participate in the democratic process.
3. DiploFoundation, represented by founder Jovan Kurbalija (Malta)
A specialist offering training in international relations on a global level, DiploFoundation has prepared over one thousand diplomats for work in the Internet management sector in the context of an increasingly globalized world.
4. EUProfiler, represented by project manager Alexander Trechsel (Switzerland)
2.5 million Europeans have used EU Profiler since its creation, an impartial tool that allowed users to compare their personal political views with those of about 300 European political parties before voting in the 2009 European Parliamentary elections.
5. Peter D. Greenberger, Team Manger “Elections and Issue Advocacy”, Google Inc. (USA)
www.linkedin.com/pub/peter-greenberger/1/550/853
The online tools that Google offers (YouTube, Google Maps, Google Docs, Google Ads) were heavily used over the course of the recent American presidential campaign. Democratic candidate Barack Obama spent 7.5 million dollars integrating these tools into his campaign strategy. Peter Greenberger informs and educates policy makers and administration officials regarding the use of these tools in order to make the political process more accessible to ordinary citizens.
6. The Iranian protesters (Iran)
Perseverance and ingenuity allowed the Iranian President’s opposition to give their movement a level of force and scale unmatched since the 1979 revolution. They also showed that blogs and social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, played an undeniably central role in the Iranian political crisis.
7. Nazaha, the Arab web portal in the fight against corruption, represented by founder Ibrahim Fahmy (Egypt)
After having created several online tools to promote democracy and human rights, both in Egypt and in the rest of the Arab world, Hany Ibrahimi Fahmy created Nazaha, which translates to integrity and transparency in Arabic, the first Arab web portal in the fight against corruption.
8. Pollitika.com, represented by founder Marko Rakar (Croatia)
Since its inception in 2004, Marko Rakar’s personal blog, dedicated to the state of economics, politics, and the media, has been one of the most read in all of Croatia. In 2006, he created the collaborative blog “Pollitika.com”, which has since become one of the main sources of news and information in his country.
9. Joe Rospars and Obama’s New Media Team (USA)
http://www.bluestatedigital.com/blog/people/joe-rospars
At only 27 years old, he served as the New Media Director for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and contributed to the online collection of close to 500 million dollars. He is the co-founder of Blue State Digital, a consulting firm created in 2004 to help politicians, private companies, and NGOs develop strategies to bring their services online.
10. Twitter (USA)
Twitter allows people from around the world to connect and communicate in a free and simple way. Twitter proved the most useful tool in countering censorship during the Moldavian and Iranian crises when their respective governments tried to tighten controls on information and communication.
