Case Study in "Worth a Try" Activism

[BlueJessamine]

TechPresident Daily Digest:Case Study in "Worth a Try" Activism
July 9, 2008
by Nancy Scola

The Get FISA Right movement we've been covering it this space has launched a last-ditch effort to raise heck around today's Senate debate of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, with a Night of Facebook Action to organize a virtual viewing of the congressional action. The group's wiki had this to say about this latest action: "it's worth a try" -- and that's an apt summary of how the anti-FISA group has approached its work over the last two weeks. They organized the biggest group ever on MyBarackObama.com, started up a Twitter channel, populated the wiki with ideas and action items, and are now turning to Facebook (though running into some of the roadblocks that face Facebook activists, including being tagged as spammers). This is a group for whom skill in using the Internet to advance an agenda goes down to the bone; says group's strategy notes on how to get attention on some of the web's most popular hubs, "Don't forget to mention it's on a wiki; Slashdotters loooove wikis." When the dust settles, Get FISA Right will be a fantastic case study on how digital activists built a ship while sailing, creating a vibrant movement at next-to-no cost, with no real home, and tied to no one medium. For now, focus turns to the Senate's final consideration of FISA and related amendments today and, perhaps, tomorrow. (Ars Technica's Timothy B. Lee has a useful reminder that this is a bill and debate that goes beyond telecom immunity.)

Links:
TechPresident:
http://www.techpresident.com/blog/entry/27162/daily_digest_fisa_is_case_study_in_worth_a_try_activism
Get FISA Right -

Night of Facebook Action: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=25252519501

Group's Wiki: http://get-fisa-right.wetpaint.com/?t=anon

"it's worth a try" : http://get-fisa-right.wetpaint.com/page/Night%20of%20Facebook%20action%20July%208%2F9?t=anon

The biggest group ever on MyBarackObama.com: http://my.barackobama.com/page/group/SenatorObama-PleaseVoteAgainstFISA

Twitter Channel:http://twitter.com/GetFISARight

A bill and debate that goes beyond telecom immunity: http://arstechnica.com/articles/culture/fisa-compromise.ars

FISA Update:Feingold Dodd fails 32-68. Vote now rescheduled for 2:15 PM EDT today. Group will be discussing the debate and the vote live on Night of Facebook Action.

Please accept the "watch the senate vote on FISA" in this group, and invite your friends!

Watch the debate on CSPAN: http://www.c-span.org/watch/cs_cspan2_wm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS2