OneWebDay (OWD) is a global event, like an Earth Day for the Internet. It is a platform people can use to educate and activate others about issues that are important for the Internet's future. As OWD grows, it will build a global constituency that will work to protect and develop the benefits that the Internet brings to society. Every year, OWD focuses on a key Internet value. In light of this year's historic US election and the rise of a new online "public square" all over the world, we are focusing on online political participation.
To mark the third OWD in Washington, DC, the DC OWD planning committee launched the e-Democracy Time Capsule in beta on August 22. It is now ready for the public. Check it out by visiting timecapsule.onewebday.org
Anyone across the country and the world can contribute by adding text, images, and video that celebrates e-Democracy to an open blog. We invite you to add the following entries:
Best of the e-Democracy Web: Your favorite tools, citizen journalist site, etc. What empowers you to act online?
e-Democracy heroes: Brag about your friends and colleagues- who is behind the best political technology, content, and critical policy fights today?
Legislation and Policy: What are the issues we face in delivering the best possible future for e-Democracy?
Letters to the future: How do you see the e-Democracy Web growing (or failing) in the future?
We have 10 full days to pack the Time Capsule with the great content YOU submit. Go to http://timecapsule.onewebday.
On One Web Day, September 22, we will hold a closing ceremony for the Time Capsule at the New America Foundation. Stay tuned for details.
Why a Time Capsule? Both politics and technology move so fast, sometimes we forget to recognize that these new tools and the people who use them have opened a brand new chapter in the big social experiment we call "democracy." We built a central hub to gather and document all of the amazing things that people are doing online to participate politically. Furthermore, the Internet of the future may be very different than the one we know today. As Internet gatekeepers strive to put fences around our new public squares, we will work in the coming weeks and months to find historians and archivists to help us create a physical, non-digital version of the Time Capsule that can be shared, studied, and used for discussion and debate for generations to come.
We hope you will join us in documenting the progress we have made in empower people online and in building a future that delivers on the fuller potential of the e-Democracy Web!
Visit timecapsule.onewebday.org
Cheers,
The DC OWD Planning Committee
