Summary: I know jonl@well.com from way back before the Web, but we never met in person until I filmed this interview in Austin, Texas, last June. Jon and I recorded for an hour and a half; the video here is 2-minutes. We left out most of what we talked about, including the origins of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Wired, HotWired, Mondo2000, bOING bOING, FringeWare, Salon, The WELL, and the battle to bring free WiFi to Austin. What remains is Extreme Democracy, a new collection of essays on how technology is changing the way politics is played. The video is long enough for a brief reflection on how the Howard Dean campaign used the net -- thats the origin of this book. The destination? The Internet has become the volunteer coordinater and cash machine fueling modern political campaigns. Will we soon have Internet voting? The Mayor of New Orleans proposed to make this city the first to hold Internet elections, but the state government shot that down. Internet voting is coming, and Extreme Democracy is a timely look at what form it will likely take. Youll also find Jon Lebkowsky hanging out at his own blog, Weblogsky, or the consulting firm he runs, Polycot.
