April 6, 2009         

MEDIA CONTACT: Marisa McNee
917-733-2351
Thai Phi Stone
tpstone@gwu.edu; 202-994-6424  

2009 POLITICS ONLINE CONFERENCE ATWITTER WITH RELEASE OF CONFIRMED PANELISTS

Conference Focuses on Use of Social Media
APRIL 20-21, 2009

EVENT:  

The Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet and Politics Magazine are co-hosting the 11th annual Politics Online Conference. Confirmed panelists Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash), Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas), Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and California Secretary of State Debra Bowen will discuss the use of the Internet and social media tools to better serve their constituents.

WHEN:  

Monday, April 20, 2009 8:30am - 8pm; Tuesday, April 21, 2009 8:30am - 6:30pm

WHERE:  

Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
1330 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, D.C. 20004

RSVP: 

The event is open to the public. Registration is $595. Media interested in attending must register on the day of the conference at the Ronald Reagan Building. For more information on the accreditation process, visit http://tinyurl.com/politicsonlinemedia.

BACKGROUND:

In its 11th year, the Politics Online Conference remains one of the premiere conferences for online political professionals in America, regularly attracting more than 700 attendees from across the globe.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Rep. John Culberson, Rep. Steve Israel and Rep. Tim Ryan will be part of the panel discussion "Elected and Connected: Uses, Dangers and Benefits of Being an Elected Official in a 2.0 World." It will focus on the use of social media tools to reach constituents, as well as how new technology helps members of Congress serve better as elected officials. They will discuss weighing privacy concerns against an increasing desire for transparency in government.

Secretaries of State Jennifer Brunner and Debra Bowen join the panel "Governance 2.0: How Secretaries of State are streamlining services in a 2.0 World," which focuses on the Internet to provide better services to their constituents, increase transparency of records and information and respond to the Help America Vote Act. The discussion will be moderated by Erin Kotecki Vest, political director and Election '08 producer for BlogHer.com. Kotecki Vest spent 10 years as a broadcast journalist in Los Angeles, Orlando and Detroit, winning six Golden Mic Awards with LA news institution KFWB.

The Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet is part of The George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. Its mission is to "democratize democracy" and promote the use of the Internet and new social media technologies in politics.

For more information about the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet, visit http://www.ipdi.org.
Follow the Graduate School of Political Management on Twitter @GSPMgwu.
For more news about The George Washington University, visit www.gwnewscenter.org.

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