Digital Democracy . A view from beyond California

So, today has been the digital democracy workshop here at ETech. In about 20 minutes Ethan and Joi Ito are on, and I hope they'll change my impression of the day for the better.

So far I have been less than impressed. I realize of course that we are in California, and that in terms of internet innovation the US is still a little ahead of the rest of us. BUT, and it's a big but, I CANNOT take a Digital Democracy workshop serious that is primarily about the US presedential election, Howard Dean's campaign and on-line organising here in the US. There is simply too much going on in the rest of the world, and frankly, the US presedential election suffers from so many more fundamental problems than a need to organize on-line.

The US, contrary to popular opinion, is not the democracy to end all democracies, and the demand, or desperation that drives people to on-line campaigns is probably as much a resulot of a pretty fucked up electoral system, as it is a sign of true innovation.

I'm sorry. The truth is, i don't know much about the us electoral system, or about the recent activities in on-line campaigning and political organising. It just frustrates me when everything is so intro-US-spective. Knowing Ethan, I'm guessing Joi and Him will try and correct that tendency. I hope they succeed, or i'll have to chalck this day down as a bit of a bore. Oh well, The real Emerging Tech doesn't start until tomorrow, so no real harm done.