SU Summer Institute to explore “The Internet and Democracy”

SU Summer Institute to explore “The Internet and Democracy”June 28, 2004Edward Byrnesedbyrnes@syr.edu

The Center for Digital Literacy (CDL) at Syracuse University, in conjunction with professors Larry Elin and Steve Davis of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and professor Grant Reeher of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, will present the 2004 Summer Institute on the Internet and Democracy on July 8-9 in Room 304 of SU’s Schine Student Center.

Confirmed keynote speakers include Phil Noble, founder of PoliticsOnline.com; S.B. Woo, former lieutenant governor of Delaware and founder of the 80-20 Initiative; William Finkel of Meetup.com; Ben Green of Crossroads Strategies, a consultant to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry’s e-campaign; John Hlinko, of Grassroots Enterprise and founder and leader of Wesley Clark’s presidential e-campaign; and Lynette Guastaferro, executive director of Teaching Matters, Inc. Jon Gant, a faculty member of both the School of Information Studies and the Maxwell School at SU, has organized a panel on digital literacy and empowerment in developing countries. There will also be special sessions designed for high school educators.

The event will bring together some of the minds that organized groups and movements of people during the 2000 U.S. Presidential campaigns and those who have worked toward building civic action ever since, including the current 2004 Presidential campaigns. Educators, government officials and community activists will gather on the SU campus to learn how to build movements using the power of the Internet.

Attendees must register at http://digital-literacy.syr.edu/conferences/summer_conf.htm/ or contact Josh Shear, conference coordinator, at (315) 443-6144 or josh@joshshear.com. The event will be Webcast, and will be available at http://istwebcast.syr.edu/. For more information, visit the Institute’s web site at http://digital-literacy.syr.edu/conferences/summer_conf.htm/.

The Center for Digital Literacy is an interdisciplinary, research and development center, partnering the Schools of Information Studies, Public Communications, and Education at Syracuse University. Professors Elin, Davis and Reeher are the authors of “Click on Democracy: The Internet’s Power to Change Political Apathy into Civic Action” (Westview Press, 2002).

Officially chartered in 1870 as a private, coeducational institution of higher education, Syracuse University is a leading student-centered research university. Syracuse’s 12 schools and colleges share a common mission: to promote learning through teaching, research, scholarship, creative accomplishment and service while embracing the core values of quality, caring, diversity, innovation and service. The 938-acre campus is home to more than 18,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and 90 countries.