Do you have an interesting research idea related to the use of the Internet in U.S. 2004 elections? As you many know E-Democracy.Org is known for implementing low cost (all volunteer that is) projects that lead to relatively large results. Right now we are in the process of launching our "lean and mean" directory of election 2004 links <http://www.e-democracy.us>. Because our site has a strong Google rank foundation, we have found that whatever pages we add our relatively high rankings bring in traffic. As a non-profit, non-partisan effort we work to gather inspired volunteers with an idea they want to carry out. Right now we are putting up the virtual nets to bring in the next generation of "e-citizens." There may be a research opportunity within this initiative for you. At some point we would also be open to some sort of opt-in survey on our site. Because we are non-partisan you might get a more interesting mix of users than on niche or candidate sites. We also have a number of really cool ideas floating around that will probably only see the light of day if various new media/Internet/computer science/etc. university research departments use their resources to implement them as part of their existing research program. We have the brand (since 1994) and the willingness to work with others who bring new ideas to see what works. If you have a research proposal or a special project to propose, please send it along: clift@publicus.net (It will soon be too late to generate new knowledge about the Internet's role in the next election, because our ten years of experience tells us that people turn to the Internet when there is a scarcity of information in other media. At the presidential level, the worst three months to study will September, October, and November 2004.) Thanks, Steven Clift Board Chair, E-Democracy clift@publicus.net E-Democracy.Org ----------------- The Citizen-based, Non-profit, Non-partisan Online Political Resource http://www.e-democracy.org Three quick updates: 1. Election 2004 The new E-Democracy.US Election 2004 directory is now open at: http://www.e-democracy.us Sections include links to the best election 2004 directories, major media sites with dedicated campaign 2004 news, the best non-profit and government election-related resources, and a special section with Presidential campaign information. 2. White House 2004 E-mail Announcement List Receive press releases and announcements from substantial Presidential campaigns as well as information on new online resources related to the 2004 U.S. presidential election conveniently via e- mail. To subscribe, e-mail: wh2004-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Full details on this lower volume, moderated e-mail service is available at: http://www.e-democracy.org/us/2004/wh2004.html 3. Volunteer Ye E-Citizens! E-Democracy launched the world's first election-oriented web site in 1994. We are expanding our volunteer-based, non-profit, non-partisan efforts to increase public use and awareness of reliable, high- quality election information resources in the 2004 U.S. election. This is your chance to help build a comprehensive directory of the best election 2004 resources based on the citizen perspective. We need your help to locate and organize the best election resources that others have spent so much time developing. Please volunteer using our comment form. Please indicate your volunteer interests and your related skills: http://www.e-democracy.org/comments.html E-Democracy.Org ----------------- The Citizen-based, Non-profit, Non-partisan Online Political Resource http://www.e-democracy.org Steven Clift http://www.publicus.net Interested in democracy, politics, government and the Internet? Join the Democracies Online Newswire: http://e-democracy.org/do