Five minutes, 20 slides. What would you say?

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Washington, D.C. 20001
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Ignite DC #3

Ed Pastore

Delivering on the promise of democracy: how the web will set us free

We don't live in a real democracy... all of the world's advanced "democracies" are republics with some (usually very minor) democratic elements. Through all of human history, there have been insurmountable obstacles to genuine, effective direct democracy. That was before we had the internet and Web 2.0 technologies. Now, we have both the technical and social capabilities to make real democracy, where everyone has a say in anything that interests them. We have already see the basis of this idea work first with open source software and then with open content. Now it is time for open governance. This presentation describes this radical but practical vision of the near future, and very briefly introduces a few of the projects that are making it happen.

About Ed Pastore:

Ed Pastore is a founder and spokesperson for the Metagovernment project, a global group of projects and individuals supporting the development and use of Internet tools which enable the members of any community to fully participate in the governance of that community. His background is in philosophy, information technology, and web development.