It's hip to be netroots
This past weekend, many of the best and brightest progressive and new media minds met in Las Vegas to discuss the state of the nation on a variety of levels, from tough timely issues like immigration reform to tactics for using tools like Twitter in campaigns. Netroots Nation, surprisingly organized in a more traditional conference setting, provided some really smart sessions.
Formerly called the Yearly Kos Convention, Netroots Nation is run by a San Francisco based nonprofit organization, including an educational component that helps provide resources for progressive causes. Founded six years ago by volunteers in the Daily Kos community (headquartered in Berkeley, but a widely dispersed, remote group of collaborative activists and bloggers), Netroots Nation has grown to upwards of 2300 attendees this year - many of whom volunteered to make the event a success.
It's not just the social media geeks we see here in the Bay Area that attend, from the original online organizers at AlterNet to the uber-chic millennials. Bloggers and organizers from all walks of life found themselves in Las Vegas, meeting and tweeting for the cause. And as Politico noted, NN has become one of the annual destinations for candidates and elected officials seeking both media attention and support from the grassroots Democratic groups. Unions also came out in force: AFLCIO, AFT, and NEA to name a few. It's almost becoming - dare I say it - mainstream to attend.
As a more recent member of their advisory committee (disclaimer), I haven't played as large a role as a lot of others in the community, but over the past few years, I've observed enough to report that this is one of the more useful and well run conferences - on stage and backstage - for online organizers and bloggers that's out there. For anyone who considers him/herself a progressive, it's worth researching.
And for those on the conservative side, the smaller Right Online conference also took place in Las Vegas this week. Wearing my non-partisan hat, I would've liked to have attended to see what it was all about, but I was too busy hanging out with 2300 of my closest friends up the street.
Posted By: Sarah Granger (Email) | July 28 2010 at 12:18 PM
Listed Under: Government, New Media, Politics
7/28/2010
City Brights: Sarah Granger : It's hip to be netroots
via sfgate.com
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