Netroots

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Netroots is a term coined in 2002 by

portmanteau of Internet and grassroots, reflecting the technological innovations that set netroots techniques apart from other forms of political participation. In the United States, the term is used mainly in left-leaning circles.[2]

The term necessarily overlaps with the related ideas of

Meetup, and the netroots-grassroots coalition that propelled the election of Howard Dean to the DNC
Chair in January, 2005.

At times, the term netroots is used interchangeably with the term

Think Progress.[1]

Advocates claim that the essential quality of the netroots is its flatness and inter-linked web connectiveness—that it constitutes communication points that reach out to influence traditional media, but is not directed outward from any one point. Through events like a blogswarm,[3] the netroots displays non-hierarchical and decentralized features.

American origins of term

The first popular use of the term in its modern definition is Netroots for Howard Dean,

political consultant Joe Trippi credits the short lived success of his then-client Howard Dean
to their listening and taking the lead from netroots activity.

The netroots also played a key role in drafting

George Allen. The remarks in question, in which Senator Allen referred to the volunteer as a "macaca" (the volunteer was of South Asian ethnicity), were viewed by many as being racially insensitive. The video was posted on the popular video-sharing website YouTube. The resulting netroots attention to the video triggered a series of events that resulted in the defeat of the incumbent senator. [citation needed] James Webb had, in fact, been the subject of a successful netroots draft, which resulted in his entry into the Virginia senate race. Netroots activists also supported Ned Lamont in his 2006 primary victory over Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman, wrote Ari Melber in The Nation magazine.[5]

Blog writers have contributed to more than a few controversies and early netroots attention. Amongst these were the remarks made by then-Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott at a birthday celebration for then-Senator Strom Thurmond, the Dubai Ports controversy, the Mark Foley congressional page controversy, and the recent US Attorney controversy.[6] In addition, the recent controversy regarding a Democratic presidential debate sponsored by Fox News, which the left-leaning netroots attempted to stop, ended with the debate being canceled.[7]

In a December 2005 interview with

ISBN 1-931498-99-7
).

William Safire explained the term's origin in The New York Times Magazine on November 19, 2006:

... 

University of California at San Diego, apparently complaining about an internal shake-up: "Too bad there's no netroots organization that can demand more than keyboard accountability from those who claim to be acting on behalf of the 'greater good.'" ... Popularizer of the term—unaware of the obscure, earlier citation when he used it—was the aforementioned (great old word) Armstrong on his blog, MyDD, on Dec. 18, 2002, as he went to work on the presidential campaign of Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont.... headlined his entry "Netroots for Dean in 2004" and told Internet readers where to get the first inkling of a groundswell: "O.K., so Dean is still polling 1 to 4 percent nationally, so what. Look at the netroots."[2]

Similar activities elsewhere

So-called netroots activity also takes place in

GetUp
has more members than all Australian political parties combined.

Netroots activity has also begun to spring up in student politics where online social networking programs such as Facebook have been used in student elections.

In Sweden Social Democratic Party have initiated a network open to all "progressive" bloggers in Sweden. The network meets on a regular basis and holds a yearly gathering, Nätrot (Netroot in Swedish)Netroots.se. The first Nätrot gathering was held in the Swedish parliament 2006 with Joe Trippi as guest speaker. The second one, 2008 also in the Swedish parliament, and the third, Nätrot '09 was in Visby, Almedalen featuring John Aravosis from Americablog and Jane Hamsher from Firedoglake.

In 2010, the book "Netroots - a progressive blog movement that set the agenda" (Netroots - En progressiv bloggrörelse som sätter agendan) was published in Sweden (author Johan Ulvenlöv). The book explains various bloggers about how media content changed after blog entry and how they are partially set the agenda.[9]

In 2012, the largest gathering of progressive bloggers in Scandinavia took place in Stockholm.

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4165-6010-4
    .
  2. ^ a b Safire, William (November 19, 2006). "Netroots". On Language (column). The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved 2006-11-19.
  3. ^ Gratsch, Bill (22 February 2005). "Blogswarm". Blawg's Blog. Archived from the original on 10 December 2008. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  4. ^ "My Daily Dose". Archived from the original on 2003-02-23.
  5. ^ a b "Ned Lamont's Digital Constituency". Archived from the original on 2006-08-13.
  6. ^ "You Did It".
  7. ^ "How Netroots Killed the Fox Debate". Politico.
  8. ^ NBC News
  9. ^ Burstrom, Evelina (July 5, 2010). "Boken om rödgröna bloggar". VK bloggen. Archived from the original on September 6, 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-06.

External links

  • Netroots Nation—Netroots Nation produces convenes the largest and most concentrated gathering of progressive bloggers an activists each year.
  • Netroots For Democracy—Netroots is a community-oriented website platform that allows people-powered campaigns and organizations to thrive.
  • Crashing the States—Crashing the States is a cross-country journey to capture firsthand the excitement and activism of netroots-supported campaigns.
  • Resources for Progressives—This netroots page was started in 1996 to bring together progressive-minded people with action alerts and links.
  • www.netroots.se—A Swedish network for progressive bloggers
  • www.netrootsuk.org—UK network for progressive digital activists
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