Today is OneWebDay

Jonathan Tarr
9/22/2008 - 1:11pm
  1. Internet & Web 2.0
  2. Journalism & Media
  1. internets
  2. news
  3. OneWebDay
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September 22 is OneWebDay. A portion of the press release from OneWebDay's website explains a bit more about the phenomenon:

 

Virtual and In-person ActivitiesPlanned Nationwide to Celebrate the Internet and Its Effect onDemocratic Participation in this Election Year

 

New York, NY ? On the third annual ?Earth Day for the Internet?,communities across the country are holding events to learn about andadvocate for that marvel of modern infrastructure, the Internet. Ithappens in the United States and around the world on OneWebDay, Monday,September 22, 2008.

?Earth Day was the model when I founded OneWebDay in 2006,? saysSusan Crawford, a professor of law specializing in Internet issues atthe University of Michigan. ?In 1969, one man asked the people to dowhat their elected representatives would not: take the future of theenvironment into their own hands.? By 1972, the United States had afederal agency devoted to protecting the environment, the E.P.A., andtoday a worldwide citizens? movement has put the environment front andcenter politically. According to Crawford, ?peoples? lives now are asdependent on the Internet as they are on the basics like roads, energysupplies and running water. We can no longer take that for granted andwe must advocate for the Internet politically, and support its vitalitypersonally.?

The Internet has also become the means by which citizens around theworld build movements to hold their elected leaders accountable andsupport those who represent their interests; it is also increasinglythe medium through which citizens interact with their governments. Thetheme of this year?s OneWebDay is online participation in democracy,coinciding with the U.S. elections.

The online hub for OneWebDay 2008 is www.onewebday.org. There,anyone can: plan or find out about activities in their community; learnten things individuals can do to support the web; contribute their ownstories; read posts from 100 OneWebDay ambassadors; and learn aboutInternet advocacy groups.

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Events are being held worldwide to celebrate OneWebDay, and are aggregated on their wiki. Examples include submission of text and video stories of how the internet has affected your life in Greensboro, North Carolina and a panel on the wiki-based development of the plan for the city of Melbourne, Australia.

Photo of NYC OneWebDay panel shared by Flickr user (with Larry Lessig speaking) Aaron Uhrmacher, under a Creative Commons license