1) Barack Obama campaigned on creating unprecedented openness and transparency in government and engaging citizens directly in solving problems. 2) Obama's campaign made innovative use of online tools and social media to engage millions of supporters. 3) However, some argue that Obama did not fully deliver on promises of more participatory democracy and open government once in office. Critics question if the movement empowered ordinary citizens in the long run.

1. “ The Promise and Contradictions of E-Democracy, Obama-Style” Micah L. Sifry @mlsif

2. Act I

5. How did this:

6. Produce this?

7. Welcome to the Age of Mass Participation

11. Who’s Online?

13. Swimming in a Sea of User-Generated Content

15. Who was empowered?

16. Act II

17. The Myth

22. Small-donor revolution? Not in the “early money”

23. $1000+ donors dominated

24. Small donors: 2008 vs 2004

25. What happened to the movement?

26. Obama, April 30, 2008

27. “We’ve built a structure that can sustain itself after the campaign…Volunteers, they built the campaign…people made this structure.”

29. "Our e-mail list had reached 13 million people. We had essentially created our own television network, only better , because we communicated with no filter to what would amount to about 20 percent of the total number of votes we would need to win…”

30. What happened to making government more open, participatory and collaborative?

41. The response of the general public?

43. Obama, January 22, 2010

44. I didn't run for President to turn away from these challenges. I didn't run for President to kick them down the road. I ran for President to confront them - once and for all. I ran for this office to rebuild our economy so it works not just for a fortunate few, but for hardworking people in this country.... I had no illusions when I took on health care.... I took this up because I want to ease the burdens on all the families and small businesses that can't afford to pay outrageous rates. I want to protect mothers, fathers, children from being targeted by the worst practices of the insurance industry.

45. What happened to us ?

48. Let’s keep the conversation going… June 3-4, NYC personaldemocracy.com