Will digital campaign tactics change the way the Presidency uses technology?
How will the 44th President use the Internet? Will we see a blogger in
the next White House? A discussion about active government, political
leadership and the role of technology in the next administration.
Chair: Ari Schwartz - Deputy Director, Center for Democracy and Technology
Ari Schwartz is the Deputy Director of the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT). Schwartz's work focuses on increasing individual control over personal and public information. He promotes privacy protections in the digital age and expanding access to government information via the Internet. He regularly testifies before Congress and Executive Branch Agencies on these issues.
Schwartz also leads the Anti-Spyware Coalition (ASC) , anti-spyware software companies, academics, and public interest groups dedicated to defeating spyware. In 2006, Schwartz won the RSA award for Excellence in Public Policy for his work building the ASC and other efforts against spyware.
Ellen Miller - Executive Director, Sunlight Foundation
Ellen S. Miller is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Sunlight Foundation. Prior to assuming this position in January 2006, she served as Deputy Director of Campaign for America's Future, where she directed its Project for an Accountable Congress. She is the founder of two prominent Washington-based organizations in the field of money and politics -- the Center for Responsive Politics and Public Campaign -- and a nationally recognized expert on campaign finance and ethics issues. She is a well-recognized public speaker, commentator, and writer on these issues. She has written frequently for TomPaine.com, The Hill, The American Prospect, and The Nation. Her experience as a Washington advocate for more than 35 years spans the worlds of public interest advocacy, grass roots activism and journalism. In addition to her more than two decades of work on the issue of money in politics, Ms. Miller was the publisher of TomPaine.com and a senior fellow at The American Prospect. She spent nearly a decade working on Capitol Hill.
David Almacy - Vice President of Digital Strategies, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
David Almacy is vice president of Waggener Edstrom Worldwide’s Digital Strategies Group for the North American region. Based in Washington, D.C., David works closely with his regional counterparts in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and Asia Pacific (APAC) to develop new digital products and services designed to enhance strategic communications advantage for clients by harnessing the power of emerging channels of influence.
David came to Waggener Edstrom Worldwide in June 2007. He brings over 10 years of expertise at the intersection of government, public relations, marketing and digital communications with a background including top government, policy and media positions.
Before joining the agency, David was the Internet and E-Communciations director at the White House. In that role, he managed online communications strategy and served as a press spokesperson and lead contact for digital influentials. David was also the primary owner of the White House Web site (http://www.whitehouse.gov) and spearheaded the site's comprehensive redesign in March 2007.
Prior to joining the White House staff in early 2005, David was a senior advisor to the deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of Education, where he provided guidance on policy, media affairs and congressional relations. Before his government service, David was a consultant with an interactive media agency in Washington specializing in federal government and political digital strategies.
David began his career in Washington, D.C., working in broadcast services at the Republican National Committee, print advertising at the Washington Business Journal and spent several years representing C-SPAN’s marketing and affiliate relations efforts while traveling on the C-SPAN School Bus.
David has a bachelor’s degree in management from Widener University in Chester, Pa.
Rick White - Wood Bay Group
Rick White, former CEO of TechNet, was elected to the House of Representatives in 1994 as a Republican from Washington State’s 1st district. He was one of the leading promoters of an Internet free from government regulation and taxation and founded the Congressional Internet Caucus. He was the sponsor of the Internet Protection Act, which would have prevented the Federal Communications Commission from extending its regulatory grasp to the Internet, or any converging technologies, such as IP telephony. He was a co-sponsor and active booster of the Safety and Freedom through Encryption Act which guarantees the right of Americans to use and export strong encryption products. In the 104th Congress he worked on the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
Tom Steinberg - mySociety.org
Tom Steinberg is the founder and director of mySociety, a charitable body that runs many of the best-known democracy websites in the UK, from WriteToThem.com, to PledgeBank.com to the volunteer-founded TheyWorkForYou.com
to the No10 petitions website. mySociety's missions are to build
websites which give people simple, tangible benefits in the democratic
and community aspects of their lives, and which teach the public and
voluntary sector how they can use technology better to help citizens.
By trade Tom was a policy analyst and general 'wonk' who mainly cut his teeth at the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit
. His most recent publication is The Power of Information review, co authored with Ed Mayo and the Strategy Unit
Tom's other half is Harfenistin.
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