OneWebDay

Check out this great post by Dave Burdick over at the Huffington Post.  It includes a funny video of Craig enjoying some rare downtime at the DNC and talking about OneWebDay.  Thanks to both Dave and Craig for spreading the word about OWD.

Watch this Freedom Not Fear video on youtube

From the Freedom Not Fear wiki:

On 11 October 2008 we call for an international action day in as many European capital cities as possible and elsewhere around the world to demonstrate against the total retention of telecommunication data and other instruments of surveillance. We would like to recall the remembrance of the historical achievement of civil rights and liberties as a heritage of the Age of Enlightenment and to support the trust in security in our free society.

Freedom Not Fear has designated OneWebDay as a focused planning day for their global actions.  Visit the FNF wiki find or initiate an action in your city.

On August 15th, our 41st Ambassador, Charlie Schick of Nokia, posted about OWD on Nokia’s user community website Nokia Conversations. Since then several community members have written blog posts continuing the discussion.  Take a look at this post about how the internet will soon begin to blur into the background of our everyday lives.  You’ll be able to follow the rest of the conversation – or even join in – from there.

Our 43rd Ambassador is Drew Clark of BroadbandCensus.com.  You can see his post in its original context here.

WASHINGTON, August 19 – BroadbandCensus.com is pleased to support One Web Day, and I am very happy to be an Ambassador for this effort.

Most Americans who have high-speed internet can’t imagine life without broadband. How could you connect to the Internet of today without it? In today’s world, broadband is as basic as running water and electricity. And yet the U.S. is falling behind globally.

As a technology reporter, I’ve been writing about the battles over broadband and the Internet for more than a decade here in Washington. Yet there is one fact about which nearly everyone seems to be in agreement: if America wants better broadband, America needs better broadband data.

That’s why I’ve recently started a new venture to collect this broadband data, and to make this data freely available for all on the Web at http://BroadbandCensus.com.

One Web Day presents an opportunity for all of us to take stock with the true state of broadband in this country. BroadbandCensus.com wants to work with each of you to help us “crowdsource” the data we need to get a better handle on availability, competition, speeds, prices, and quality of service of local broadband.

What is BroadbandCensus.com?

When an Internet user goes to the BroadbandCensus.com web site, he or she types in a ZIP code. By doing so, the consumer will find out how many broadband providers the FCC says are available. The consumer can compare that number to his or her own sense of the competitive landscape, as well as the names of the carriers published by BroadbandCensus.com.

The site then invites visitors to Take the Broadband Census! This is a short questionnaire, and it is followed by a free internet speed test. Each consumer that takes the census puts in their ZIP code, or their ZIP+4 code, selects their broadband carrier from a drop-down menu, and rates that company’s performance on a scale of one to five stars.

The consumer then has the opportunity to add their own comments about the carrier. They may then take a bandwidth speed test. Each of these steps adds data into BroadbandCensus.com. That means that the next visitor to the web site will be better informed about the availability, competition, speeds and customer service of their local broadband options. It also produces a free database of consumer data about more than 1,600 broadband carriers in the U.S.

How is BroadbandCensus.com Different?

There are other efforts out there to understand broadband data. The FCC requires every broadband carrier to provide information about the areas in the ZIP codes in which they offer service through something called the Form 477. The agency recently announced that it will now require that this data be collected by census tracts, which is a slightly smaller geographical unit. Unfortunately, the FCC refuses to share the information about WHO is providing service WHERE. That leaves it for me and you to piece together this puzzle through various sources of information on BroadbandCensus.com.

And there are other ventures out there, such as Connected Nation, Inc., which has teamed up with Bell and cable companies – and with the governments of Kentucky and other states – and which is mapping out statewide broadband availability.

BroadbandCensus.com seeks to identify the broadband carriers’ actual service areas. That way the carriers can be held accountable for the areas of town that they are serving, the speeds at which they are providing service, and – of course – the areas that they are not serving.

Not only is better broadband data important for policy-makers and for potential new market entrants, it is also vital for consumers. Particularly as carriers begin their efforts to meter out bandwidth in tiers, and to implement usage caps, the efforts of a consumer-focused service like BroadbandCensus.com are all the more critical.

Understanding Broadband Options on a State-by-State Basis

BraodbandCensus.com launched on January 31, 2008. We released the beta version of speed test (we use the open-source Network Diagnostic Tool of Internet2) soon afterwards, and have collected thousands of census results and speed queries.

Starting with a core group of supporters, including the Benton Foundation, the Network Policy Council of EDUCAUSE, Internet2, the Pew Internet & American Life Project and Virginia Tech’s eCorridors Program, and now the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA), BroadbandCensus.com has sought attention and publicity through word of mouth. We want as many people as possible to visit and use the site.

Now, we are taking the next step by conducting a Broadband Census of the States. We have begun a series of state-by-state articles profiling the broadband policies, broadband build-out and broadband data in each of the United States and its territories. As we’ve strengthened our knowledge of and ties to individual states, we’re tapping into a whole news source of broadband information. For example, because of the data available from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, we’ve been able to identify each of the carriers offering service at the ZIP-code level in that state.

We will add new profiles to the collection between now and One Web Day. And on this day – September 22, 2008 – we plan to release the complete collection into the One Web Day ‘Time Capsule.’ Equally important, each of you will be able to add your research and knowledge about the state of broadband in the states through your comments and additions to each of these more than 50 profiles.

Using ‘One Web Week’ to Change the Debate over Broadband Data

The momentum that you have helped to create behind BroadbandCensus.com has put us at the center of the debate about internet data. We are building from this marvelous opportunity as we seek an open and public broadband census. On Monday, September 22, One Web Day will help draw further attention to these efforts. We aim to continue the effort throughout the week – until Friday, September 26 – and beyond.

Earlier this month we announced “Broadband Census for America,” a conference that will be held at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at 1200 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC, on September 26, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. More details about the conference, the program committee and pricing is available here.

“Broadband Census for America” will be sponsored by BroadbandCensus.com, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Texas at Austin’s Robert S. Strauss Center and Virginia Tech’s eCorridors program. A member of the Embassy of Ireland has confirmed his participation as a keynote speaker. He will inform an American audience of academics, state officials and telecom policy advocates about how the Irish have done their broadband census. Hint: see http://broadband.gov.ie. We urge you to consider attending.

I hope you are wondering what you can do to help this effort. If you are, we’ve got three requests for you on our “Get Involved” page:

• Take the Broadband Census and Speed Test
• Grab a Button for Your Blog
• Join one of BroadbandCensus.com’s Committees

Also, if you would like to blog about broadband, and about broadband data, on BroadbandCensus.com, please feel free to drop me an e-mail: drew at broadbandcensus.com. We’d be more than happy to include bloggers for BroadbandCensus.com!

We look forward to working with all of your in the run-up to One Web Week, and helping all of us to better understand the true state of broadband competition in our communities, our states, our country and our world.

Broadband Census in the States:

• In Massachusetts, Governor to Sign $40 Million Broadband Bill Aimed at Spurring Investment

• Task Force to Debate Whether A Gigabit Per Second is Too Fast for Minnesota

• Relaunched Oklahoma City Wi-Fi Network Showcases City-Services Model

• New York City and State Each Craft Broadband Policies; City Nixes Muni Wi-Fi

• With Large Underserved Areas, Idaho Seeks to Establish Statewide Educational Network

• Hawaii Broadband Task Force Aims to Tackle Problems of Speed, Competition

• Modern-Day Alaskan Broadband Benefits from Satellite Earth Station Competition

Broadband Census Resources:

• BroadbandCensus.com Launches Beta Version of Internet Speed Test (BroadbandCensus.com, March 3, 2008)
• Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQ) about BroadbandCensus.com (BroadbandCensus.com, May 1, 2008)
• FCC Releases Broadband Data Order For Census-Tract Data (BroadbandCensus.com, June 15, 2008)
• BroadbandCensus.com Issues Statement Criticizing FCC Ruling on Broadband Data (Broadband Census.com, June 16, 2008)
• Will Bandwidth Demands ‘Break’ the Internet? Yea or Nay, We Need Independent Monitoring (BroadbandCensus.com, June 22, 2008)
• CWA Blog Claims Credit for FCC Data Order, But Ignores Local Company Data (BroadbandCensus.com, June 24, 2008)
• Broadband Internet Adoption Stalls, Regresses for Poor, Says Pew Report (BroadbandCensus.com, July 2, 2008)
• Want Better Broadband in America? Take the Broadband Census! (BroadbandCensus.com, July 15, 2008)
• CWA Wants Better Broadband Data, As Does Internet for Everyone (BroadbandCensus.com, July 17, 2008)
• Comments of BroadbandCensus.com in FCC Rulemaking on Broadband Data (BroadbandCensus.com, July 18, 2008)
• BroadbandCensus.com Partners With National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (BroadbandCensus.com, July 28, 2008)
• CWA Publishes State-by-State Download Speeds. How About Carrier-by-Carrier Speeds? (BroadbandCensus.com, August 15, 2008)

‘Broadband Census for America’ Conference:

Announcing a Half-Day Conference About Universal Broadband Data on September 26, 2008

The following was issued in a press release by Morgan Weiland and Nathaniel James of the D.C. OWD Team.

Washington, DC—OneWebDay (OWD) is a global event held September 22 celebrating the Web and highlighting key issues about the future of the Internet, with a focus in its third year on online political participation. To celebrate and document the recent flourishing of online political participation in what has become a new “town square,” the DC OWD Planning Committee is creating an E-Democracy Time Capsule that will go live online on August 22, one month before OWD. We are building a site where anyone, from all corners of the United States and the world, can mark history by contributing text, images, sound, and video to a tricked-out WordPress blog describing their favorite E-Democracy tools, letters to the future about their hopes for Web-powered politics, and profiles of E-Democracy Heroes.

We stand at a crossroads in the history of online political participation, and the future is uncertain.  Policy decisions concerning digital inclusion, net neutrality, and online privacy and security will be made in the coming months and years.  We all have a stake in ensuring that when the virtual Time Capsule is reopened on OWD in 2020, the new town square delivers on its promise to become a thriving marketplace of ideas where anyone can participate unhindered by illegitimate gatekeepers and a lack of access to the tools and skills they need to add their voice the dialog.

Join us August 20 for a teleconference with One Web Day founder, ICANN Board Member, and cyberlaw scholar Susan Crawford, and DC ambassadors Nathaniel James and Morgan Weiland to learn about how the E-Democracy Time Capsule can promote the work you do and what role you can play in helping to make this year’s event a success.  We welcome all bloggers interested in the promise of online political participation. To ensure maximum participation, we will host two calls, one at 3:30 PM ET and a second at 8:00 PM ET.

Teleconference details:

Who
—————-

Susan Crawford, One Web Day founder, ICANN Board Member, and cyberlaw scholar
Nathanial James, DC OWD Ambassador and Campaign Coordinator, Media and Democracy Coalition

When
—————-

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

3:30 PM ET / 12:30 PM PT

AND

8:00 PM ET/ 5:00 PM PT

Dial-In Info
—————-

(218) 339 4300, password: 425 755
Please dial in 5-10 minutes before call so we can start on time.

More information about OWD is available at http://onewebday.org/.

Our 42nd ambassador is Social Media Strategist and Evangelist, and President of the Harbrooke Group, Howard Greenstein.  You can read his post in its original context here. This year’s theme for One Web Day, September 22nd, is Online Participation in Democracy.  The Web is an incredibly valuable resource.  Like water, many of us think of Internet as a tap that we turn on (or that is always on) and that we can draw from and contribute to whenever we want. But in many places in the world, this tap has a lock and key on it. This gives us even more reasons to appreciate the Web on One Web Day, and to think about the things that are made possible because the web is here, enabling us to have discussions. Citizens can’t participate online unless they have access to a net that is free of censorship and open for sharing and debating ideas. Also, they must have the skills and literacy to understand and get involved. In Burma, there’s military rule, and fighting -and escapes to freedom- have displaced many citizens. Some of them still hope for a return to democracy, but being spread across the boarders of neighboring countries, as well as scattered in Europe and the US, it’s tough for them to have the discussion about what they wish their society could be.  As Mark Belinsky, Co-Founder of Democracy without Boarders told me:

“This is the first time we have an ability to have Democracy in the way we define it. In Burma there’s no opportunity for democratic interactions outside of the web – particularly because there are so many people outside of the boarders. This effort allows people who are outside the country to build what their future country will look like.”

Here in the US citizens have the right to vote, but many are not even registered. Groups like the Nonprofit Voter Education Network use the web to encourage members of non-profits to vote, and to vote based on the causes their groups advocate. WEtv (disclosure, a client of mine) is educating and empowering women to register to vote via their WeVote08.com site.  And this year we’ve all seen the incredible rise of citizens as campaign contributors, both for the Democrats and Republicans, online. People can amplify their political views via their social networks. Blogs enable debate of ideas. Sometimes, the sources of these ideas may be suspect. People say “We can’t believe everything we learn online.” They have to be able to apply critical thinking and teach the people who may be less tech savvy about how to evaluate sources of information. I passionately believe that there’s a need to teach this new literacy to students and others that are new to the net, or who want to learn (and have proposed this topic as a panel at the SXSW conference next March). As content moves online, there is a need to teach the skills that enable citizens to make decisions about what sources of information they can trust. Who the heck are you to be an ambassador? I’m honored to be the One Web Day Ambassador for today. It is funny, though, that I’m branded as an ambassador for a day – when I’ve been a Web ambassador since early 1994. I first saw the Mosaic browser in 1993, at JPMorgan, on a Sun Workstation. There wasn’t much to see, except for that “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle” (Yahoo) site that told you the places you could go.  But, oh the places you could go! (And you could create your own places too!)  I immediately became a Web advocate and in 1994 I started the first Web User Group in America, wwwac.org.  As a member of the Internet Explorer 4 evangelism team in 1997, I helped other companies get their web presences on line. I remember the early discussions, back in 2006, when Susan Crawford introduced me to the concept of One Web Day, and I knew this was going to be important. I’m happy and proud to be included in this effort to promote One Web Day on September 22nd. I hope you’ll join me in New York at Washington Square or at an event near you, to celebrate the Internet as an important resource that helps keep us free.

Our 41st ambassador is Charlie Schick of Nokia Conversations, a dynamic website where company connects with customers and everyone shares stories.  You can find the post in its original context here.

GLOBAL and LOCAL – OneWebDay is a sort of Earth Day for the Web. It’s a celebration of the internet, a time to reflect on how the internet has transformed our lives, and to encourage people to be responsible for the internet. This year will be the third OneWebDay and I’ve been asked to be an ambassador, getting the word out and introducing people to the celebration. As part of this, I have been asked to contribute a story to show up on the main OneWebDay pages.

Read on for our take on what the internet means to us.

Our 40th ambassador is Ali Farshchian, founder of CircleID.com.  You can find the post in its original context here.

I first heard about OneWebDay in the summer of 2006, when Susan Crawford, whom I have the utmost respect for, talked to me about the importance of having an equivalent of Earth Day for the Internet. Her explanation of the project made absolute sense to me then—and even more so today. And I couldn’t think of a better and more passionate person to be leading this mission. Next month OneWebDay will be celebrated for the third time around the world and the level of participation is phenomenal!

I’ve been given the honor of being one of OneWebDay’s ambassadors this year which includes taking a day to talk about this event and introducing it to new people. So, without further ado, here is an overview of OneWebDay and the theme for 2008:

OneWebDay is an Earth Day for the Internet that takes place each Sept. 22. This year is the third OneWebDay. Around the world, it’s focusing attention on the importance of the internet to political participation—that’s this year’s theme. It’s also encouraging people to talk about (and do something about) internet issues they’re worried about—censorship, the digital divide, inadequate connectivity generally. The idea behind OneWebDay is to create a platform for a global constituency that cares about the future of the internet. We make progress when we make things visible, and with OneWebDay we’re showing this global constituency that it exists.

As part my role at CircleID I’ve had the opportunity to closely monitor daily ongoing and evolving issues around the Internet infrastructure for several years now—issues such as privacy, censorship, accessibility, internet governance, security, network neutrality, and increasing cases of cyber attacks… I cannot think of a more relevant time in Internet’s history to be part of a mission such as OneWebDay. Here are a number of suggestions on how to get involved and celebrate OneWebDay.

Those of us involved with the planning and organizing of the Get FISA Right movement are honored to be serving as OneWebDay ambassadors. This “Earth Day for the Web” is about raising awareness of the importance of the Internet, and this year’s theme, “online participation in democracy,” is something that we at Get FISA Right value highly as political netizens. We hope our story can serve as a model for online political engagement, one that can inspire others to take action, and build on what we’ve started.

How Get FISA Right started

The story of the Get FISA Right group has already been covered heavily in the press. Here’s the 30 second version: A group protesting Barack Obama’s decision to support the current FISA legislation appeared on his campaign website my.barackobama.com, and as tens of thousands of individuals joined, it became not only the largest group on his site, but a movement strong enough to force Obama to take notice. His response to the Get FISA Right group was a moment of validation, marking an unprecedented event in U.S. politics — never before had a candidate, or any politician for that matter, given a group of individuals carte blanche to organize a mass protest on their official campaign website.

This movement would not have been possible without the kinds of Internet technologies that have become almost commonplace today in the online political world. First and foremost, is my.barackobama.com (also known to members as “myBO”), which allows individuals to form groups, manage mailing lists, and publicize events. The site, created in part by former Facebook founder Chris Hughes, enables people to connect online—and the group that coalesced around a protest of Obama’s stand on FISA was the spark that set things off. We first started getting attention with rapid growth, and within a week had become the largest group there.

But perhaps just as critical to the Get FISA Right group is our wiki. From the very beginning, we realized the wiki was essential to our group. We used it to collaborate on the Open Letter to Senator Obama, to track important statistics on the movement’s growth, and provide an archive for all the press and coverage we were getting (and continue to get!).

Finally, there is the patchwork of social networking sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, that we use to connect to people. Facebook, because of its popularity, became a natural choice to experiment with a “Night of Facebook Action,” a Facebook event we hosted on July 9, 2008. It was one final push to influence the vote with people coming together online to watch the proceedings. Today, our group has over 2000 members.

Through the use of these internet technologies, the “social” in social networking really came through, and became a key component to our success. And we’re still trying to innovate. We’re currently working with SaysMe.TV, a start-up company that buys television ad time from cable providers and sells smaller, and less expensive, slices of it to individuals to run their own spots. (Of course, the videos also run on the Web.) We’ve created an ad about FISA, and it’s currently scheduled to run 28 times in five different markets. It’s a new approach to media, and Wired calls it a “first for online activists.”

Lessons Learned

Over time, we developed four “lessons learned” that we hope others can use to build on our success.

Boring technology enables excting activism campaigns

To borrow from Clay Shirky, “Communications tools don’t get socially interesting until they get technologically boring.” By this, he means that it’s not until technologies become ubiquitous and commonplace and, indeed, boring, do they enable profound social changes. For the Get FISA Right group, this meant two things. First, the technologies themselves had to be free, readily available, and easy to use. Tools like Wetpaint and Google Groups “pages,” and sites like Facebook meant there were platforms around which we could collaborate. But beyond the tools themselves, for this group, collaborating across the Internet was “boring.” Many of the group members were already well-versed in blogs and wikis, and were able to quickly acclimate to the unique social norms and cohesiveness required to be productive online.

Transparency Over Perfection

The wiki allowed us to work together, but because the website is open and accessible to all, our work was posted out in the public domain well before anything was fully ready. If we worked for a political campaign, this would never happen. But we decided transparency was something we valued, and conducting our business out in the open, we felt, only added to our credibility. That said, not everything was completely public. Certainly email discussions aren’t “public” in the sense of a wiki, nor are the pages in the Google Group; clearly, not everything can be done by committee. But every effort was made whenever possible to forgo perfection, get a draft of something together, and post it quickly.

Don’t Take It Personally

What is striking about the Get FISA Right planning group is the level of professionalism involved. Every single member of the team is able to both give and receive constructive criticism extremely well. To an extent, the sense of urgency around the group’s mission — mobilizing the citizenry in the days before the July FISA vote in the Senate — forced an environment of quick decision making. But there was also a level of honesty that was palpable, as folks gave their opinions and hashed out decisions in real-time.

It May Look Chaotic But…

At the time of the planning group’s formation, the team numbered around 18-20 people, and, for us, this was just about the right size to kick-start the movement. The group grew and morphed as the needs and skills required changed. We found ourselves with enough varied backgrounds, expertise, and interests at the table, not to mention time zones, that work was getting done 24/7. When we had a need which wasn’t met within the group, someone always said, “I know someone. Let me invite them!” There are some downsides of this ultra-flexible “worth a try” approach — for example, it wasn’t always clear where to check for the latest updates, and we still could do a lot better packaging information for the media — but the results speak for themselves: whether it was two in the afternoon or two in the morning, people were available to work through whatever issues came up. Get FISA Right continues to grow as our mission and purpose develop, and we’re now at over 60 people, with eight to ten people at any given time working on separate initiatives.

What The Web Means To Us

For most of history, “participation” in government was a joke; power flowed through the barrel of a gun. As communication speed increased, participation increased, and with the invention of the printing press, large participatory democracies began to arise, where an increasing number of literate citizens could be informed enough to vote and feel connected enough with their government to care. Late in the 20th century, though, we saw a backward step for citizen participation within government. The news media, the extra-extra branch of government meant to keep the President, Congress, and the courts accountable, had become controlled by a small group of powerful institutions more concerned with profit than dialogue.

While access is still not universal, the Internet has revitalized the ability for many citizens to become “netizens,” and participate in the formation of their own government’s policy. When people can connect with others from across the globe and share information via wikis, blogs, and sites like Flickr and YouTube, information can no longer be controlled, filtered, or blurred to fit the needs of the few, instead of the many. People will demand what they feel they deserve. Because the Web provides social networking and community organizing opportunities in such abundance, we have great hopes for a rebirth of freedom and the future of our democracy.

What’s Next?

Get FISA Right formed because a handful of netroots activists took Barack Obama’s words to heart, calling the Senator to task. If the group has their wish, they’ll be following up with President Obama in January, and if last month was any indication, Obama will have more community service volunteers than he bargained for to making sure his actions match his words.

Our long-term vision is emerging, and our goals for the next year are clear: work with other activists to put pressure on the next administration and Congress to reform FISA legislation and strip telecom immunity. In the last few weeks, we’ve continued on this path by working to influence the Democratic party platform via the Obama campaign’s in-person “listening meetings” as well as via the netroots platform, where our language on FISA was adopted in the civil rights plank. And we’ve created an “Election Center” on our wiki, so we can track candidates’ FISA positions for the upcoming primaries (yes, there are still primaries!). Our strategy is to take things one step at a time, learning as we go, and continuing to innovate — leveraging the power of a free, open, and accessible Internet.

On OneWebDay, our group will be celebrating the new possibilities for our politics that the Internet has made possible.