EchoDitto

The first episode of D.C. NetSquared's Podcast Series! Organized by EchoDitto's Michael Silberman, this Meetup convenes once a month to discuss how technology canbe used to propel social change.

At our June meetup last Tuesday (June 20), we were joined by Ian Schuler, the ICT
Project Manager at the National Democratic Institute (or NDI) who kicked off a conversation about how mobile technologies can be used in the political realm. Specifically, he covered NDI's operation in Montenegro last month, during which SMS technologies were successfully employed to monitor the May 21 referendum on withdrawal from the Union of Serbia and Montenegro.

Check out Dillon M.'s Frogloop post for more details on the gathering!

MP3:
D.C. NetSquared Podcast Series (June 20, 2006).mp3 (8.6MB)

Alan Rosenblatt writes,

About a year or so after I finished my dissertation on Presidential use of TV to move public opinion in 1992 I was introduced to Mosaic by a housemate. I was familiar with the Internet from my work at American U. I was on a team that prepared the University for becoming an Internet node in 1988.

When I saw Mosaic, I realized the potential impact on politics. I was already teaching at George Mason U. and started talking about the Internet with my colleagues over lunch. From those discussions, Bob Dudley and I decided to teach a course called The Politics of Cyberspace: The Luddite vs. the Technofreak. He played the luddite, I played the freak. We were each a little of both.

Today, Alan continues to teach at American University and heads up The Internet Advocacy Center. Friday afternoon, Joshua and Tim sat down with him to talk about how he's seen the relationship between politics and the internet change in the past 20 years.

For the past 10 days, a movement has been growing in Crawford, Texas in support of Cindy Sheehan's challenge to President Bush. Japhet Els has been on the ground there for the past few days; Tim Jones and Michael Silberman spoke with him Tuesday afternoon to find out what's going on.

• Japhet is blogging on The Crawford Update.
• You can learn more and help out at MeetWithCindy.org.

Photo from upfish on flickr

Michael Silberman and Nathan Qazi speak with Japhet Els about the Rainforest Action Network, online organizing, and environmentalism today.

Sign RAN's Freedom From Oil Declaration.

Music: Band of Bees

Photo: 00rini hartman on Flickr

On April 4, 2004, Humvee Specialist Casey Sheehan of the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry was killed in Sadr City, Iraq.

On August 6, 2005, Casey's mother Cindy Sheehan arrived in Crawford Texas to ask President Bush to take time out from his vacation to answer her questions about why the war that took her son's life was started and why it is being continued.

Earlier this afternoon, JoeTrippi.com hosted a conference call with Cindy. We're podcasting the recording on EchoRadio.

Michael Silberman talks with David Merrill, executive director of the National Global Warming Coalition about his—and his coalition members'—work battling one of the greatest threats to our civilization.

Billions of us around the world understand that global warming represents a crisis, but David and his team are among a minority of people in the United States working towards a solution. Listen to the podcast to hear about the 3 R's of a global warming solution.

Soundtrack: Afu-Ra, Bjork

Photo via hasensaft on flickr

EchoRadio personnel spent Monday podcasting from the Personal Democracy Forum conference in New York City. There are some fantastic conversations here with the new masters of internet and politics. Click on over and give them a listen.

Ed and Alex discuss the recently-passed HR1268, which not only destroys the US/Mexican wetlands, but also bypasses the Supreme Court in order to do so.

Links: HR1268, Contact your Senator

Ed and Tim talk to Ian MacKaye about his life as a musician, the ever-present deterioration of copyright, Ian's marxist references on "Straight Edge," The DC Music scene, and words that he feels are important to take back. Ian is the guitarist/vocalist in Fugazi, Minor Threat, and now The Evens. Ian owns the record label Dischord.

Soundtrack: Fugazi, Minor Threat, The Evens, The Soft Pink Truth

Photo via Rory on flickr

David K. Cohen talks with Bill Garrett of Cleanpeace about record high oil prices, the global peak oil crisis, and the opportunity to use current, undepleteable hydrogen technologies to stave off major global shifts in diplomatic, military, political, and cultural power.

Soundtrack: The Herbaliser, Boards of Canada

Photo via vectormonkey on flickr.