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Subject: Error Condition Re: U.S. Sen & MN Gov Debates On-line

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HELP SPREAD THE WORD.

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MN E-DEMOCRACY, E-DEBATES 1994

announcement

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The Minnesota Electronic Democracy Project proudly presents the first ever

on-line debate for U.S. Senate and the first ever on-line debate for the

Governor of Minnesota.

Thus far, the Independent Republican candidate, Rod Grams, and the

Democratic Farmer Labor candidate, Ann Wynia, have agreed to participate in

the Senate debate. The Independent Republican candidate and incumbent

Governor, Arne Carlson, and the Democratic Labor Farmer candidate, John

Marty, have agreed to participate in the gubernatorial debate. The League

of Women Voters of Minnesota has endorsed the debate. The Twin Cities

Free-Net and the Minnesota Regional Network will provide technical support.

The Senate debate is planned to run from Monday, October 31 to Friday,

November 4. The gubernatorial debate will run from Monday, October 24 to

Friday, October 28.

We will provide a fully secure forum where the candidates will respond to

questions previously chosen by the on-line community. The candidates will

than rebut an opponent's response. This forum will be open for public

view. Responses from the public, however, will not be allowed.

Instead, we will provide an un-moderated public discussion forum to which

the debate will be forwarded.

To sign up for the E-Debates follow the directions below.

For those interested parties, we have included an in depth explanation of

"MN E-Democracy, E-Debate 1994", and directions to the E-Democracy Project

via gopher, WWW, telnet, etc.

Scott Aikens

E-Debate Coordinator,

Minnesota E-Democracy 1994

aikens@Free-Net.Mpls-StPaul.MN.US

612-724-1956

Steven Clift

E-Democracy Coordinator

Minnesota E-Democracy 1994

E-Democracy@free-net.mpls-stpaul.mn.us

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Directions to MN-POLITICS@MR.Net

Minnesota Politics and Public Policy Electronic-Mail Forum

(Facilities provided by the Minnesota Regional Network)

MN-POLITICS is the un-moderated Internet electronic-mail list that will

function as the public hall for the debate. If you want to follow the

debate but avoid the public commentary join MN-DEBATE.

E-mail users with Internet access can SUBSCRIBE to MN-POLITICS and

MN-DEBATE by sending the following command to:

Majordomo@MR.NET

To SUBSCRIBE to MN-POLITICS write in the text portion*:

subscribe mn-politics

Or, to SUBSCRIBE to MN-DEBATE *after October 21, 1994* write:

subscribe mn-debate

Once you have joined MN-POLITICS, send your opinions to MN-POLITICS@MR.Net.

MN-DEBATE will be a moderated list and will not accept messages.

*WARNING: Do NOT write anything after "mn-politics". Majordomo does

accept the inclusion of any text after the list name. If text is included

(like your name) we will not be able to notify you of this error.

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MN E-DEMOCRACY, E-DEBATE 1994

description

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THE DEBATES:

The Minnesota Electronic Democracy Project will host two Electronic

Debates; one for the U.S. Senate and one for the Governor of Minnesota.

The E-Democracy Project will prepare three electronic discussion lists that

will be used as the forums for the debates.

* The first discussion list, "mn-candidates", will be a

moderated forum accessible only to the candidates and the debate moderator

(like the stage in a live debate).

* The second list, "mn-debate", will be a moderated list

where the public can view the debate without comment.

* The third discussion list, "mn-politics", will be an

un-moderated forum for citizen participation. This list already exists and

has attracted upwards of 300 people.

All of the comments posted to the first list, the fully secure candidates

forum, will be forwarded to the second and third lists, the open forums,

where citizens can watch and participate in the debate at a distance from

the candidates.

BACKGROUND:

With the help of such organizations as the Twin Cities Free-Net, MRNet, and

the Minneapolis Telecommunications Network, as well as the participation of

hundreds of citizens across the country, the Minnesota E-Democracy Project

has achieved astonishing results. In founding Minnesota E-Democracy only a

few months ago, Steven Clift, has moved forward his and others vision for

invigorating the democratic process through the use of the computer

mediated communications.

The combination of state-level on-line campaign information and substantive

political discussion is unparalleled anywhere in the country, if not the

world. The E-Democracy Project has created a space on-line for the

distribution of candidate position papers, and other information pertaining

to the 1994 election season in Minnesota. The project has also created an

on-line discussion forum, a proto-type for the "electronic town-hall", if

you will.

It is this last element of the E-Democracy Project that captured the

attention of Scott Aikens, a Doctoral candidate at the University of

Cambridge in England, studying the relationship between the new medium of

communication and traditional media as these impact upon the democratic

process. Mr. Aikens, who has worked in research at NBC News and at the

Museum of Television & Radio in New York City, came to Minneapolis to

observe and participate in this pioneer effort to improve upon the American

democratic tradition.

In tracking the project, and discussing how computer mediated

communications would come to reshape the American political landscape, Mr.

Clift and Mr. Aikens agreed that an on-line candidates debate would make

the fullest use of the interactive nature of the medium and have the most

profound affect upon American society.

They concluded that an on-line debate could be structured to give the

candidates a fully protected, non-partisan platform within which to conduct

a substantive discussion of the issues. Simultaneously, a location (if you

regard cyberspace as a place) already existed that would allow the

citizenry an unprecedented degree of input into the debate and opportunity

to participate, contributing their own ideas in an appropriate but separate

forum.

FORMAT:

Each debate will consist of three questions previously decided upon by the

participants in cyberspace and approved by appropriate committees. These

questions will be spread over a five day period. The candidates will be

required to respond to each question and to rebut the other candidates

original response to each question. The candidate must be involved with

the formulation of the response and rebuttal. They are not, however,

required to type or appear on-line in real time. This is the extent of the

commitment required of the candidate. The debate is designed to minimize

the time commitment for the candidate while maximizing the opportunity for

substantive dialogue within the community. Further, given the fact that

this will be the first official debate in cyberspace, we believe there will

be a high amount of local, national and international media coverage .

A REQUEST FOR YOUR SUPPORT:

So far we have had unanimous support for our efforts.

Again, therefore, we ask the various organizations that have the capability

to make the E-Debates an unqualified success for their help. Currently, we

have candidates, we have the League of Women's Voters, and we have

technical support:

We need the continuing support of the on-line community. We will inform

the appropriate individuals and organizations throughout the internet.

This will increase participation in the event and exposure dramatically.

We also need the support of the traditional print and broadcast media. We

feel these debates will make an important and entertaining news-story. An

edited version of each debate, including the responses of the participants

in the un-moderated forum, will provide a compelling look into the

political future of Minnesota and the electronic future of the United

States. Already, we have received an enthusiastic response from Ron Clark,

the Opinion Page Editor at the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Furthermore, we

have the technology to promote this event locally, nationally, and

globally.

CONCLUSION:

This debate is an exciting opportunity for all concerned to participate in

an unavoidable societal transformation. All of us involved with the

E-Democracy Project are awed at this opportunity to play a role in a larger

process which, if conducted competently, will result in the betterment of

the democratic process for all concerned.

It is a matter of great importance to us that the National Information

Infrastructure be constructed competently, so that its latent potential may

be realized. It is our feeling that this responsibility, in part, rests on

the young, on those who understand the new technology best.

This is the spirit in which the E-Debates have been conceived.

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Instructions on how to reach the Minnesota E-Democracy Internet Server

World-Wide-Web: http://free-net.mpls-stpaul.mn.us:8000/govt/e-democracy/

Gopher: free-net.mpls-stpaul.mn.us, port 8001

Twin Cities Free-Net Main Menu/ (through these folders)

The Government Center/

The Minnesota E-Democracy Project/

*The server is also listed on the "Mother" Gopher at the University

of Minnesota (gopher.tc.umn.edu) via the following path:

/Other Gopher and Information Servers/North America/USA/Minnesota/

Telnet: free-net.mpls-stpaul.mn.us - Login: guest - No password necessary.

20 minute time limit. VT100 terminal emulation advised.

E-mail Send the following e-mail message to

Retrieval: "Majordomo@Free-Net.Mpls-StPaul.MN.US" with the following

text (case-sensitive) in the message body: info E-Democracy

Thank you for participating in Minnesota E-Democracy 1994. Please send your

comments or questions to us at: E-Democracy@Free-Net.Mpls-StPaul.MN.US

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