Great article Katie, especially the international aspects of 2024.
My feedback: I’ll be frank, in my view tech has seriously dropped the ball when it comes to elections and politics – specifically campaigning. As a matter of fact – it might be the only industry that tech has made more expensive and less reliable.
But I am not all bad news and sour grapes :0) I plan on fixing this problem by doing what every Elections Dept should have done sometime around 2007 – I’m creating an online, mobile, and social campaigning platform designed for democracy – not advertisers. Think the Voter Information Booklet and Sample Ballot, meets social media.
There is nothing original about the platform – as a matter of fact, we’re just coping what 10+ “disruptors” have already done. We’re connecting buyers and sellers (in this case candidates and voters) on a two-sided marketplace and giving them all the information they need to “do business.”
We are pre-launch, although we’ve done the National Student Mock Election (150K mobile) and the kids (and teachers) loved it!
I’d love to talk with you for more reasons than I can list here :0)
I’d be happy to make myself available any time to demo the platform...
Congrats Katie! This is great. Please let me know if you need contributors -- a one-off piece here and there for thoughts on tech and democracy in the Global south. I've been following India's strict rules on tech and the tussle with WhatsApp. I wonder what this will mean for other countries in the Global south. In Africa for example, only 17 of 54 countries have cyber laws... I've signed up!
Congratulations Katie. I used to think about you frequently wondering how all of the Facebook stuff was impacting you. I guess I see that now. Like many in your generation you had great excitement about the potential power of social media platforms. Many didn’t live up to the promise of open dialogue as you hoped and worked hard for. It is still hard for me to comprehend the degree to which the big media and social platforms have worked to shut down voices that don’t think like them. That is very dangerous (although not exactly unprecedented in history). Open dialogue from all sides allows for a much more free population and has made America the place people from all over the world have sacrificed to come to (and sacrificed to protect). I hope your newsletter and platform helps bring back some of that open discussion and gives people much needed information without bias.
Deciding to leave a big company which you served for many years to trace your own path is an act of courage, that I admire. Kudos and all the very best. Looking forward to reading your posts and being enlightened.
It seems like there's so much hope and also a lot of reason to be anxious for the next several years. At least for me, I'm struggling to allow myself to worry about things I can't control for only a few hours a day so I don't go completely crazy. That said, if there's someone who is a thoughtful change agent, it's you.
This is CC'd to LinkedIN
Great article Katie, especially the international aspects of 2024.
My feedback: I’ll be frank, in my view tech has seriously dropped the ball when it comes to elections and politics – specifically campaigning. As a matter of fact – it might be the only industry that tech has made more expensive and less reliable.
But I am not all bad news and sour grapes :0) I plan on fixing this problem by doing what every Elections Dept should have done sometime around 2007 – I’m creating an online, mobile, and social campaigning platform designed for democracy – not advertisers. Think the Voter Information Booklet and Sample Ballot, meets social media.
There is nothing original about the platform – as a matter of fact, we’re just coping what 10+ “disruptors” have already done. We’re connecting buyers and sellers (in this case candidates and voters) on a two-sided marketplace and giving them all the information they need to “do business.”
We are pre-launch, although we’ve done the National Student Mock Election (150K mobile) and the kids (and teachers) loved it!
I’d love to talk with you for more reasons than I can list here :0)
I’d be happy to make myself available any time to demo the platform...
Best, Jim
Katie, thanks for so many good referrals out to material and congrats on the venture. Just stumbled on the news, so here is a late congrats!
Love this newsletter. Great to read such honest and vulnerable writing from your perspective!
Congrats Katie! This is great. Please let me know if you need contributors -- a one-off piece here and there for thoughts on tech and democracy in the Global south. I've been following India's strict rules on tech and the tussle with WhatsApp. I wonder what this will mean for other countries in the Global south. In Africa for example, only 17 of 54 countries have cyber laws... I've signed up!
Congratulations Katie. I used to think about you frequently wondering how all of the Facebook stuff was impacting you. I guess I see that now. Like many in your generation you had great excitement about the potential power of social media platforms. Many didn’t live up to the promise of open dialogue as you hoped and worked hard for. It is still hard for me to comprehend the degree to which the big media and social platforms have worked to shut down voices that don’t think like them. That is very dangerous (although not exactly unprecedented in history). Open dialogue from all sides allows for a much more free population and has made America the place people from all over the world have sacrificed to come to (and sacrificed to protect). I hope your newsletter and platform helps bring back some of that open discussion and gives people much needed information without bias.
Been missing you, so glad to sign up!
Congratulations Katie! Looking forward to your latest endeavors!
signing up now!!!
Deciding to leave a big company which you served for many years to trace your own path is an act of courage, that I admire. Kudos and all the very best. Looking forward to reading your posts and being enlightened.
It seems like there's so much hope and also a lot of reason to be anxious for the next several years. At least for me, I'm struggling to allow myself to worry about things I can't control for only a few hours a day so I don't go completely crazy. That said, if there's someone who is a thoughtful change agent, it's you.