Al Gore and the Internet

With the forthcoming book almost complete, there are one or two matters that I had to get to the bottom of. Foremost among them, Al Gore’s involvement in the development of the Internet, and the controversy that surrounded this question in the 2000 presidential election…

For a brief moment during the 2000 presidential election in the United States the history of the Internet became an issue of much debate. Al Gore, the Democratic Party candidate, came under attack because, it was reported, he had claimed to have invented the Internet. According to one estimate more than 4,800 television, newspaper and magazine items made reference

Civic Hacking (citizen activism online, and very 2.0)

Researching two-way politics and online citizen activism in the US for the forthcoming book, I spoke to John Tauberer recently. Josh set up the website GovTrack.us, an “independent, nonpartisan website that started the “civic hacking” movement in the United States”. The site contains data on the status of legislation, voting records of senators and congressmen, and a Q&A system that allows visitors to ask questions about a bill and see whether others have the answer. It also has a very promising bill viewer tool that shows changes to legislation as it passes through the law making machinery.

We discussed three questions. (click the link to read on)