I took a 4:30 am train yesterday morning to attend the daylong personal democracy conference in New York. Conference title: “How Technology is Changing Politics.”
After a bit, I decided that talking to other attendees was more worthwhile than attending the speeches and panels. I also sent four employees. I felt a little bit detached, like an anthropologist observing the natives. There sure are a lot of people, some of whom are pretty smart, who are obsessed with the internet and politics nowadays, and many of them are apparently very busy trying to make a name for themselves. I heard the term “technopoliticos” bandied about to describe them. Not sure I like the neologism. The field seems to be developing its own A-list, but I am continuing to sort out for myself just whom I like and trust. One way that I am doing that is to ask some of the movers and shakers to list five others in the field that they respect. I have been collecting those responses. All in all, it was very similar to the PoliticsOnline conference, but further away. Will take me a few days to digest.
One thing that I noticed. A lot of people seem to have very similar ideas about innovations that are needed in political technology. The group is something of an echochamber.