Follow-up Resources for "Democracy Re-Wired: Lessons from Egypt, Challenges from...Washington?"

As we heard on this week's briefing call, "Democracy Re-Wired: Lessons from Egypt, Challenges from...Washington?", the Internet has been a critical tool for transforming civic engagement in the Middle East, in the U.S. and around the world. However, it is also a vulnerable tool and we must pay close attention to several policies in play in Washington that will determine whether it will remain open and accessible for all.

As Colin Crowell discussed on the call, one major issue moving in Congress right now is that of net neutrality, which was addressed in this New York Times editorial he recommended to participants. To learn the basics of net neutrality, check out this five-minute Net Neutrality Primer Video created by Jesse Dylan, which features the voices of prominent Internet advocates explaining the importance of net neutrality.

If you'd like to dig a little deeper into the content discussed in the call, visit the Ford Foundation's videos from its recent Wired for Change conference, which was mentioned by Jenny Toomey.

Here are some more articles on Internet policy that you may want to read: 

Al Franken: Net Neutrality is the Free Speech Issue of Our Time, Colorlines

America’s Internet Freedom Agenda, The Huffington Post

Digital Age is Slow to Arrive in Rural America, The New York Times

The FCC’s New Net Neutrality Rules Make Nobody Happy, Colorlines

Human Rights Have Moved Online: Rights in the 21st Century, Media and Democracy Fund

Verizon Blocks Messages of Abortion Rights Group, The New York Times

Two upcoming conferences provide excellent opportunities to learn more. The National Conference for Media Reform, convened by Free Press in Boston from April 8-10, is the major convening of funders, activists, media makers and policy makers interested in communications, technology and media issues. Media Democracy Fund will host a funder delegation, which you can register for here. At the Council on Foundations Conference in Philadelphia April 10-13, there will be two sessions on media and technology grantmaking, on Monday April 11th, beginning at noon.

Excellent ongoing resources are the web sites for Media Democracy Fund and Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media, as well as those organizations' Twitter feeds, @MedDemFund and @MediaFunders. We'd also like to point you to the website for Access, the group that call speaker Brett Solomon represents.

Also attached is a one-pager about Media Democracy Fund, which works with foundations and donors to protect the public's rights in the digital age.

Thank you for your time in joining us in investigating this topic that is critically important to civic engagement in the digital age.

AttachmentSize
MDF_one_pager.pdf145.76 KB