To say that Americans have had a love affair with technology is the most humdrum of cliches. The idea that new technologies will not only make life easier for us, but will help bring us together as a people, is not new theme in American folklore. Long before there was the Web, or the radio, or even a developed telephone network, American philosophers and social critics dreamed of how new technologies might transform us, make us into a community in all of our diversity. In 1892, as a relatively young man, George Herbert Mead, a pragmatic philosopher in the American grain, wrote a letter to his wife's parents. It's worth quoting.

"But it seems to me clearer every day that the telegraph and locomotive are the great spiritualizers of society because they bind man and man so close together that the interest of the individual must be more completely the interest of all day by day. And America in pushing this spiritualizing of nature is doing more than all in bringing the day when every man will be my neighbor and all life shall be saturated with the divine life." (See, Gary A. Cook, George Herbert Mead, The Making of a Social Pragmatist, p. 31)

This relatively youthful Mead thought that the locomotive and the telegraph would bring us closer together. And so they did in their own ways. Now the Internet appears to be doing so in a qualitatively different fashion. But before moving on to discuss the Internet's place in the current election, it's worth reminding ourselves about the dark side of our commitment to technology. For example, we have recently been promised nearly bloodless wars in which burnished flying machines, decked out with starship instrumentation, will seek out and destroy our enemies. The Iraq nightmare began with the promise that high tech would produce "Shock and Awe," and a quick end to war.

But in this election, the prospect of utilizing technology to make Americans feel as if they are part of a national political community, is no longer merely a fantasy of the early devotees of Apple computers. Although it has been said many times and in many ways, and in ways that were suspect, it does seem that the Internet has finally come of age. No doubt Obama would not be where he is today without his campaign's creative use of Internet technologies and software. (See, Joshua Green's piece, "The Amazing Money Machine" <http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200806/obama-finance> and Marc Ambinder's "His Space" in The Atlantic http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200806/am binder-obama

Yet technology by itself is blind. Obama's experience as a community organizer has let him frame how the technology could be used. He and his people have pioneered paths for merging the virtual and the real worlds, for moving from on-line communities to real world communities and back. What happens on the Web doesn't just stay on the Web. However, it's worth keeping in mind that Obama is part of an older American tradition, one that supported the development of technology without worshiping it. And one that spoke a great deal about community and social responsibility. Mead was part of this camp. And so was his good friend John Dewey. They were called progressives in the early 20th century. They were on the non-Marxist Left. (Yes, we once had a vital non-Marxist Left.) Sometimes we forget that this tradition preceded New Deal Liberalism.

What is happening is not just about Obama and his campaign. It is about words: their profusion, polyphony, and heartfeltness. People are writing to each other, again and again. And not just to friends (or one's wife's parents), but to strangers. Have Americans ever written so much in such a short space of time? Do all the words in all of the (paper) letters that Americans have written since the Declaration of Independence equal 1/10 of the words on the Web in the last five years? (No doubt, someone, somewhere, has made a calculation.) Commentaries abound from people who never had a voice in the mainstream media. They talk, argue, commiserate, plan, plot, comment, organize, and vent. Yes, a lot of junk, some hate, but also speaking and listening. Will this conversation resolve economic inequalities and racial divides? Of course not. As a matter of fact, we will have to work to make sure that new technologies don't increase class divisions or centralize power in unimagined ways. Yet, all in all, we are engaged in an impressive conversation. It may not be the New England Town Hall, but for a country of 300 million, it's an interesting way to help promote political communities and community.

For more on this and related topics, http://msa4.wordpress.com/

Awaiting the happy tidings just a few hours away - but, in the meantime...

Vary rarely are datasets relating to legislative process straightforward to handle. (In my small, cheapskate experience; with enough moolah and savvy, I suspect things can be different!)

Take as an example the roll call data I've been working on in the last few days: what I was after were the votes of individual Dem reps on 29 particular votes in the 109th House. The data required was available on one of the Voteview pages - but the array was too big to fit on a standard spreadsheet.

Cross posted at Firedoglake.

Many of you may know we are close to completion of our Roots Project beta site.  This Drupal site will provide a social networking and organizing infrastructure for progressives all over the country.  Whether people want to create groups based on their local communities, based on issues of interest or even based on lifestyle interests and hobbies, our site will provide the infrastructure for common people to gather together for the common good.  The site will be a place to create tools and best practices designed by locals for others to copy and adapt to their own circumstances all across the country.  The focus of the site is to connect people, making the distinction between the grassroots and the neetroots ultimately obsolete.

To get the site from its current 0.8 state to 1.0 during the next month, we need additional site development help.  Lambert from Correntewire, our highly talented and experienced lead developer, sent me the following information about who and what we need.  Please email me at pachacutec01 at gmail dot com if you think you can help.  Let me know what your programming experience has been and please provide me any references you may have that give me confidence you share our progressive values.   Those interested in helping complete what will be, I think, an historic project must be available for focused work right away, during this month of August.  Thanks!   

Here's what we need:

NOTE: This is fairly long and was written in response to questions that came out of attempts to discuss NN with Congressional staff; sometimes successfully, sometimes not.  It is intended to provide a general overview for NN 101. Cross posted at DKos.

The Technology Formerly Known As Phone does not want you to know about the significance of Net Neutrality for the future of America's ability to develop and produce innovative products and services on the Internet.  How did we get to this place, and what can you do to change it?

Back when telephone exchanges were still being built across America, the U.S. Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1934.  

OK, gang.  I'm getting ready to handle several websites for folks coming out of primaries.  Nothing fancy (no Senators, sorry).

I've never done a political campaign website before, and it is imperative that none of the legalities trip us up.  I run a for-profit business, and I'd rather not end up ruining my meager life's work trying to do the right thing for someone else if I can avoid it.

So, the question goes: in most cases these sites are going to be contributions in kind; what are the legalities of such contributions?  Where possible, I'd like to get a token payment so the candidates can say "Paid for by xxxxxx", but some may not be able to manage much.