The campaigner's guide to the web

John Preece talks about the awesome campaigning potential of the net, and gives his top 10 websites for the dedicated e-campaigner.

''You can quickly discover organisations and networks you never even knew about.'' One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) - a project to get cheap, hand-powered laptops out to the developing world.

No longer limited to the technologically adept, the internet is quickly becoming the medium of choice for campaigners all over the world. Most will agree that there's no substitute for doing things face-to-face, but the 1 billion web users (as of 2005) represent the largest audience you're ever likely to tackle.

If you're interested in a particular issue, the chances are that someone's already written a website about it. The web is an amazing tool in this respect, as you can quickly discover organisations and networks you never even knew about. As well as finding information, you can get in touch with veteran campaigners, discuss topics in online communities and hear about local events. Go ahead and try it. Surf your way over to scroogle.org or clusty.com and search for your favourite issue. Irrelevant results? Try adding search terms such as the name of your town, the name of an organisation or keywords like "campaign".

So what if you want to start an entirely new campaign or put your own opinion out there? If you have (or know someone with) a bit of web knowledge then you can easily get a website built, complete with mailing lists and discussion forums. Another way is through a blog (weblog) - an online diary where you can share your thoughts with anyone who cares to read it. Blogs have become immensely popular, with free services such as blogger.com and livejournal.com adding to their growth. A good blog has a point of view you wouldn't find anywhere else, addresses important and current issues, and is updated frequently. Widely-read ones provide some of the most insightful commentary anywhere.

The web has huge (and often surprising) potential, exemplified by sites such as arkive.org and tacticalvoter.net, but remember it's only one of the myriad techniques a campaigner has at his or her disposal. Use them all!

10 essential sites for the e-campaigner

Access: www.greenisp.net
A UK-based ethical internet provider (also offers hosting and domain names).

Interface: www.mozilla.com
Do your surfing and e-mailing with Firefox and Thunderbird, open source projects that outperform their corporate rivals.

News: www.indymedia.org.uk
A network of activists and organisations offering non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of social and political issues. You can publish your own news here as well.

Comment: www.technorati.com
A search engine for blogs, updated every time a blog is. Every conceivable opinion and idea on a subject can be found here - including your own.

Light reading: www.worldchanging.com
An extremely well-written and thoroughly researched blog about positive change in the world around us.

Research: www.wikimedia.org
Open source projects for finding and sharing all kinds of information.

Engagement: www.theyworkforyou.com
A volunteer-run series of websites based around keeping tabs on your MP and making sure he or she represents you properly in Parliament.

Campaigning: peopleandplanet.org/groups/guide
Everything you need to know to start running your own campaign, from strategy planning to giving interviews.

Mail and hosting: www.riseup.net
A collective providing e-mail accounts, mailing lists and web hosting for social change initiatives. Run and maintained by donations and volunteers.

Blogging: wordpress.org
Open source blogging software, perfect for sharing your views with the world.