Alternative Media Critical to Malaysian Election

marycjoyce@gmail.com — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:20:28 -0400

Malaysiakini.com, one of the biggest alternative news blogs in the country.

According to USINFO, a publication of the Department of State, alternative media played a key role in the March 8 parliamentary elections in Malaysia. The ruling Barisan National (BN) party received a surprising blow when it lost 58 seats in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat. Although the BN still holds 63% of seats, it lost its commanding two-thirds majority. The BN has ruled Malaysia for 50 years.

At a forum on April 1, at the University Malaya, columnist Datuk Johan Jaffar noted that alternative media had a crucial effect

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Larry Lessig for Congress

marycjoyce@gmail.com — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 20:40:12 -0300

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Why I Support Barack Obama

marycjoyce@gmail.com — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:04:47 -0400

I first became interested in politics through a civics class in my New Jersey high school. I learned that there are institutions in America that allow ordinary citizens to have a say in the direction of their country, fighting injustice, and having a positive presence in the world.

I volunteered for my first Democratic presidential campaign when I was a senior in high school. While my candidate, Bill Bradley, didn't win the nomination, I loved working for his campaign. I felt that I was part of a movement greater than myself, surrounded by idealists who wanted to make America a

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Show Your Love for Barack

marycjoyce@gmail.com — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:58:04 -0300

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Viral Video for Obama: Yes We Can

marycjoyce@gmail.com — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 12:07:00 -0300

A recent video made by some celebs for Obama. Certainly elegant, hopefully inspirationl (of course, I was already inspired before I saw it). This version on the video has been viewed over 500,000 times and it was posted 2 days ago.

If you are an American citizen and a resident of any of the following states, please vote in your state primary on Tuesday, February 5 (Super Duper Tuesday). Particularly for the Democrats, the race between the presidential candidates is very tight, so please take a moment out of your work day to participate in our democracy. We

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Semiotic Democracy: The Political Mashup

marycjoyce@gmail.com — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 12:56:09 -0300

A video mashup compares Hillary Clinton to cinematic go-getter Tracy Flick.

Semiotic democracy is a process by which ordinary citizens redefine culture by remixing and repurposing cultural elements and then disseminating them to a mass audience. The internet has been hugely helpful to this effort. While people have always been able to reinternpret cultural, they have never before had the ability to broadcast these reinterpretations to a mass audience. This final step is key, because it is only through mass redistribution that a reinterpretation of culture can become a generally-accepted norm. The internet, through personal web sites, blogs, and video

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Obama Wins!

marycjoyce@gmail.com — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 15:37:00 -0300

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Teaching Candidates How the Internet Works

marycjoyce@gmail.com — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 19:44:49 -0300

candidates treat the Internet as a soapbox and tip jar, but it's so much more

Matt Bai writes in this week's New York Times Magazine about how the presidential candidates still don't understand how the Internet works, even after Howard Dean:

...It seems clear that the candidates and their advisers absorbed the wrong lessons from Dean’s moment...these things can’t really be orchestrated. Dean’s campaign didn’t explode online because he somehow figured out a way to channel online politics; he managed this feat because his campaign... became channeled by people he had never met.... In the new and evolving online world,

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Grassroots Fundraising Hits $4 Million

marycjoyce@gmail.com — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 16:44:21 -0300

Now we know why Ron Paul is smiling.

UPDATE: See the YouTube video below

Trevor Lyman, a supporter of libertarian presidential candidate Ron Paul, decided to help his preferred candidate raise money. He bought the domain ThisNovember5th.com, the purpose of which was to encourage people to make a small donation on that day. The campaign was ridiculously successful. This past Monday, the site raised $4 million for Ron Paul's presidential campaign.

Interestingly enough, the site itself did not even collect the donations, but rather sent site visitors on the the official campaign site, RonPaul2008.com, to make their donation.

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Digital Activists in Morocco

marycjoyce@gmail.com — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 23:28:00 -0400

I said a few days ago that Moroccan democracy is near and dear to my heart and that while the government is shameful, the activists are inspiring. Well, I'd like to be more specific: these activists are inspiring. These three friends (two of then expats) created a photoblog site to record photos related to the upcoming election. You can read Jen Brea's interview with them here at Global Voices. Here are some examples of the photos on their site:

"no to corruption"

"we Moroccans living abroad want the right to vote."

I was also really tickled to learn that they

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