The Equal Justice Society is proud to support Netroots Nation, the country’s top convention for progressive online activists. We’re encouraging bloggers and social media activists of color to submit session ideas for this year’s gathering by March 31. (Contact me if you need help with submissions.)
The fourth annual gathering of the Netroots (formerly known as the YearlyKos Convention) will be held August 13–16 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pa.
For those of you in Northern California, join us on Friday, April 17, at the Netroots Nation’s Bay Area New Media Summit + Celebration in San Francisco. Learn how to use new media to promote your cause or organization.
Netroots Nation 2009 will include panels led by national and international experts; a progressive film screening series; practical training sessions and workshops; and the most concentrated gathering of progressive bloggers to date.
Past gatherings have included a Presidential Leadership Forum that drew seven Democratic candidates, a surprise visit from Al Gore; an interactive Ask the Speaker session with Nancy Pelosi; and hundreds of panels, roundtables, training sessions, workshops and keynotes.
Watch President Obama’s video address to last year’s Netroots Nation convention.
Netroots Nation amplifies progressive voices by providing an online and in-person campus for exchanging ideas and learning how to be more effective in using technology to influence the public debate. Through our annual convention and a series of regional salons held throughout the year, we strengthen our community, inspire action and serve as an incubator for ideas that challenge the status quo and ultimately affect change in the public sphere.
The origin of Netroots Nation is traced to a time when a tremendous and growing number of citizens gathered every day in the virtual world to raise their collective voice and proactively influence their government. That group is broadly called the Netroots and has since grown to include progressive organizations and politicians who use new media technologies to communicate with their constituents.
The convention rebranded to Netroots Nation in 2007 in an effort to more accurately reflect the makeup of its audience and mission of implementing programs that teach and empower Netroots communities to affect change in the public sphere.
Netroots Nation is committed to fostering a legacy of environmental stewardship. We believe we have a responsibility to not only green our event, but to use our gathering to educate others about sustainability issues. Netroots Nation 2009 will be held at the first and largest certified “green” convention center in the world (Gold LEED certified) and will incorporate green practices such as minimizing waste and donating leftover food to reducing our greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible.
Netroots Nation is a project of Bloggerpower.org with the generous support of the Netroots Arts and Education Initiative (NAEI).
If you’d like more information on Netroots Nation and how you can participate in shaping this year’s agenda, contact EJS Director of Communications Keith Kamisugi at kkamisugi@equaljusticesociety.org or at 415-288-8710.