Topic: Politics

In this presentation, Stefan Magdalinski talks about his experiences and motives for building the site theyworkforyou.com. This site has many details about the activities of the British MPs and their track records in the British House of Commons. This site enables the common man to understand how his representatives are serving their causes in parliament. [ETech 2005 audio from IT Conversations]

Michael Frumin talks about Fundrace.org, which mapped the amount of contributions made by people to the candidates in the presidential race. He describes how he got the idea and the media frenzy that followed when all this public data was represented in a geospatial way on Fundrace.org. [Where 2.0 audio from IT Conversations]

Who owns the internet? This may seem like a meaningless question; of course the internet isn't "owned" by anyone. But without some knowledge of the arrangements under which packets are moved from one network to another, the foundations of the global infrastructure remain hidden and consumers have no way of knowing the commercial factors that frame the accessibility of bandwidth. This is one of many policy questions discussed in the Policy Workshop Panel from Supernova 2005. [Supernova 2005 Audio from IT Conversations]

From the Tech Nation Summer Archive Series, Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with Joe Trippi, the former manager of Howard Dean's U.S. Presidential campaign, and the wuthor of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised -- Democracy, The Internet, and the Overthrow of Everything." He'll tell us what was different about this Presidential campaign, one that made Internet history. From blogs to meet-ups to astonishing campaign contributions, the Internet enabled Howard Dean to come out of nowhere. [Tech Nation audio from IT Conversations]

Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with William Vollmann, philosopher and author of no less than seven works, all on the subject of violence. They'll discuss his moral calculus and his latest book, "Rising Up and Rising Down -- Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom and Urgent Means." [Tech Nation audio from IT Conversations]

Are unlimited copying, anonymity and unreliability limitations of the Internet or features? Promoters of copyfight, e-voting, spamfighting and trusted computing all will answer that they are obviously bugs. Cory Doctrow presents an alternative view of the Internet as a complex system with parasitic and often beneficial elements. He argues that, despite what some would have us believe, the Internet is not broken and that efforts to make it better highlight how business interests, lobbyists and technologists who don't understand can do more harm than good. [ETech 2005 audio from IT Conversations]

On this week's Tech Nation, Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with Barbara Kellerman, Research Director, Center for Public Leadership, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, and the author of "Bad Leadership: What It Is, How It Happens, Why It Matters" about what makes for bad leaders. Just so you know, Dr. Kellerman names names. (Tech Nation podcast on IT Conversations)

Mitch Kapor at the Web 2.0 Conference: "What's wrong with politics and what should technology do about it? How technology can help heal a broken political system, and how to make the system work for everyone?" (audio from IT Conversations)

Frans de Waal tries to convince us that we're all apes and that there's little difference between us except that we walk on two legs. At first you think he's joking. Perhaps not. He thinks that if we ignore the importance of power struggles in the study of human nature, we're making a big mistake. In his talk, he draws constant parallels between primate and human behavior and uses politicians as examples, including visuals of where aggression can also be used for reconciliation and how it plays a positive role, not just in politics, but in business and our social lives.

Frans de Waal, a comparative primatologist, is best known for his work on the social intelligence of primates, which he uses to explain human interactions. In this presentation, he considers the sociology of reconciliation, reciprocity and fairness including examples from American presidential politics and campaigns. [Renee Blodgett] Audio from Pop!Tech 2004 by IT Conversations.

(The Gillmor Gang on IT Conversations). Steve and The Gang may be suffering from post-election traumatic-stress syndrome. They consider the effect of the election on technology and vice versa. Reviewing a clip from a presentation by Thomas Barnett, they ask: Is keeping the peace really a system-administraton problem? The U.S. is clearly divided, even polarized. But is it dynamically stable or will it soon tip in one direction or another? And what is the effect of information (including blogging) on the country and the election process? Is there too much data for most people to absorb and understand?