Press Room

It's happening on the web

The best way to cover this story is to follow the links out of this website.

Currently, the best way to experience the breadth of the project is thru the 10 Random Essays CGI script running on the project's Macintosh scripting server.

For more paths thru the essaybase, check out Reading the Essays.

Background

My name is Dave Winer. I'm a software developer and an online columnist. Like many people who consider the Internet a precious resource for two-way human expression, I want to do what I can to protect it from forces that fear it.

Last week I floated an idea to a bunch of friends who feel the same way and it caught on. So now it's a project! 24 hours of Democracy. We know we're good people doing great stuff. Let's show the world that there's more than pornography on the net.

For more background, check out the DaveNets page on this site. Thanks!

Press contacts

Primary press contact: Ken Montgomery, Alexander Communications, kmontgomery@alexander-pr.com, 415-923-1660.

Announcements

Be sure to watch the News page for pointers to announcements and related news stories.

If you want to help

If you're a writer, please write your own essay on what freedom of speech means to you. When you're interviewing people over the next few days ask them if they plan to write their own 24 Hours essay. The more participation there is, the more democracy, the more powerful we *all* become.

This is a non-commerical site

There won't be any ads on this site. No one will profit directly from sponsorship of the project.

Participation is free. Sponsors have contributed services and communications resources.

All the content is generated by Internet users.

It's a totally open and free system. All indices generated by the project will be availble for FTP download for any use by any Internet user, for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial.

At the end of the project I plan to upload all my scripts, and the Clay Basket source code for this website. I encourage other participants to do so too. They will be freely usable by anyone for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial.

What this is about

We're going to listen on the 22nd. We're going to speak. We'll be heard. We'll certainly learn a lot. And make some new friends. It'll be fun!

We're developing new technology. If it works this time, we can do it again.

I hope everyone who has hope will write an essay. The Internet can be ours. But we have to use it.

It's the right time to write.

Still diggin!

Dave Winer
Chief Sysop and Editorial Director for 24 Hours of Democracy

PS: The best part for me is that I get to do a website and keep my DaveNet voice. I think that's coooooool!