July 18, 2004
The Revolution Will Not be Televised
Just finished Joe Trippi's amazing new book, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (Regan Books, 2004) I highly recommend it to any of you interested in how the internet is reshaping politics (and everything else in our lives). As you know, this has been my pet topic for years and years -- including being the topic of my college thesis back in 1997 (feminist activism and community on the net) and most of my professional experience (working on web sites like the ACLU's, Common Cause, NARAL, Feminist Majority Foundation, campaign and PAC sites with Brian, etc.) These days Brian's the big expert on the topic, but it still gets my pulse racing.
I loved the book -- it tells the story of how the Dean campaign tapped the power of blogs and meetups, etc. to give the supporters an unprecedented role in the campaign. It made me wish more than anything that I had packed up all my stuff and gone to sleep on the floor of the campaign office in Vermont and reminded me why the campaign was so appealing and how revolutionary the people I was meeting at those meetups really were. He draws heavily on work by Howard Rheingold (Virtual Community and Smart Mobs) and Robert Putnam (Bowling Alone) -- two of my all-time favorite theorists, and quotes Joi Ito a bunch (who I've known as "Joi Ito, world's coolest guy" since I met him with Lisa in Japan in 1989.)
So check out the Change for America site, where they're continuing the revolution, and joetrippi.com where he's blogging about the book and press appearances.
Oh! And I almost forgot to point out that he went to San Jose State, so he's a local story here as well. And here's a photo of him that I took when Dean was here in San Jose at Zoe Lofgren's house for a fundraiser.
