The Dot-Commons: A Virtual Tour of the Online Civic Sector
The Center for Digital Democracy offers a glimpse of what a future online space devoted to the civic sector might look like. This virtual tour includes examples of advocacy, education, culture, and government resources on the Internet.
KQED Public Radio: Public Broadcasting in the Digital Age
KQED in San Francisco has launched an initiative to prepare organizations for digital conversion using online and offline programs and discussions. This radio program kicked off the initiative and featured a roundtable discussion where guests and callers discussed the potential role of public broadcasters and nonprofit organizations in a new digital space.
Nonprofit Domain Names: Prelude to Precedent
Ryan Turner from OMBWatch's Nonprofits' Policy and Technology Project has written this overview of copyright, patent and trademark law as it relates to domain name disputes. Turner profiles several nonprofit organizations that have been targeted by large corporations for trademark infringement.
Why the Comcast/AT&T Talks Are An Opportunity For Activists
The Civil Rights Forum's Mark Lloyd looks at how talks between AT&T and Comcast could result in more opportunities for community-centered broadcasting on public access stations and how to improve the quality of that programming.
Public Interest Policy Information and Media Advocacy
Ryan Turner discusses the rise of online news information and its potential impact on quality public policy information. According to Turner, traditional media organizations have increasingly ignored public interest news including positive coverage of government agencies.
The
DOT-US Campaign: Making ".us" Work for All of US
There is ".com" and ".org" and ".gov" -- there's also ".us". Katharina Kopp of the Benton Foundation examines how the ".us" space on the Internet could be compared to our national parks and other public spaces that belong to all. How this valuable real estate should be used, leased or sold, for example, should be decided with the interests of all Americans in mind. For a long time the .us name space has not been utilized in the most efficient and creative ways. It is a public resource of great value. What we do with this resource and how to utilize it best in the interest of all Americans are the questions that are before us now.
A Digital Gift to the Nation
This report, sponsored by numerous foundations (Carnegie, Century , Knight, MacArthur, OSI), calls on the U.S. government to set up a technology trust for museums, universities and nonprofits with money raised by the sale of public airwaves.
GiveVoice.org
Independent Sector's multi-organization collaboration encourages this public to participate in a range of public policy issues impacting the nonprofit sector. For example, the group recently pushed for regulation that will allow taxpayers who use the short form to deduct charitable contributions.
Nonprofits as Engines of Social Benefit
Nonprofits play a unique role in delivering public interest benefits to the American people; we must develop policies that ensure that nonprofits will have the opportunity to play a similar role and advance in the information age.
What's At Stake I
We're headed into the "digital age" of high-speed networks and information
on demand. Multimedia, microchips, and megabits will change how
we live, learn, work, and play. But despite all the press coverage,
the public debate has yet to offer the context or perspective we
need to understand how we can build these new tools in the public
interest. With deregulation, how do we define and achieve the public
interest? What communications capabilities should be available and
affordable for all Americans? How will public interest communicators
reach their audience in the digital age? Amid technological change
and social upheaval, we need gathering spots where we can learn,
reflect, interact, and weave a social fabric. Also view What's
At Stake II.
