Virginia Tech's Choices and Challenges project was established in 1985 as an ongoing effort to identify and address social aspects of science and technology while encouraging citizen involvement for related policy development.
"Taking It to the Web: Political Participation in the Internet Age" is a free, full-day forum to be held Thursday, Oct. 30 at the Graduate Life Center (GLC, Donaldson Brown). "The rapid development of new information and communication technologies over the past three decades has brought new ways of participating in collective decision-making, new ways of seeking knowledge, and new ways of wielding power. This year's forum is a kind of interim report on these developments, which have yet to fully play out." The new website provides additional content and resource links, as well as podcast interviews featuring several experts.
The forum begins with coffee at 7:30 am at the GLC, followed by two concurrent background sessions from 8 until 10:45 am. Participants can choose from:
Digital vs. Analog Politics; History of Media
Join the Conversation; The (e)generation and Click and Pledge
E-campaigning; How the web is being used
Information & Conflict; Technology & Post Territorial Political Control
From 11 am until 1 pm at the Lyric Theatre, a panel discussion with Q&A session will feature Michael Cornfield (media and American politics); Andrea Kavanaugh (VT study of human computer interaction); and Doug Schuler (ESC Community Information Systems and Global Citizenship). VT Associate Professor Daniel Breslau will moderate.
Following lunch on your own, follow up sessions will include: Web 2.0; Transnational Terrorism & the Web; Empowered through Information; and Understanding Campaign & Voter Information Websites. The day will conclude with a coffee and dessert reception at Gillie's Restaurant from 4 until 5 pm.
Again, the program and parking is free (obtain parking pass at Visitor Center on Southgate Drive). Visit www.choicesandchallenges.sts.vt.edu for more details. Since some elected officials have websites and/or blogs (and some of these are linked to mainstream media while others are not), this may be a day well spent for incumbents or the politically ambiguous/ambitious.