VOTE

Name: Jim Gilliam

Nominated category: Individual

URL: http://jimgilliam.com

Area: Social Activism, Politics, Advocacy, Technology

About:

A self-described “geeky activist,” Jim Gilliam uses internet tools to shake up the American political system.

Description:

Before the 2008 presidential election, Gilliam started White House 2, a web site that imagines how the United States would work if run democratically by thousands of people online: Scrolling down the main page, site visitors can see listed initiatives asking “President Obama please …” change or enact something, with buttons for visitors to “endorse” or “oppose.” Gilliam is now turning White House 2 into a platform, NationBuilder where people can better apply democratic processes to their own business, governments or organizations; there are people from Brazil, Denmark, Zambia and Portugal, among other countries, signed up for NationBuilder, and its currently being used for Australia 2 and Parliament 2 (Canada).

Gilliam has also harnessed the potential of Twitter for civic engagement purposes with projects like Tweet Progress (a directory of progressives), GovLuv (connecting citizens and leaders via Twitter) and act.ly (activism tools for Twitter, such as petitions and retweets). In explaining the creation of act.ly petitions — where one can create a petition, and others can “sign” it simply by retweeting, and the tweet then shows up in their mentions –� Gilliam said in a June 29 blog post, “Recent events have made it clear there is huge potential to tweet change. Act.ly can help.”Before Gilliam (and, well, the rest of the world) became more involved in Twitter, he was best known for spreading the word about progressive documentary films via web strategies.

After the start of the Iraq war in 2003, with filmmaker Robert Greenwald, Gilliam researched “Uncovered: The War on Iraq” and helped the film find an audience through activists holding free screenings in their homes and businesses. The success of this led to Gilliam’s free web service, Brave New Theaters, which enables filmmakers to “use the same techniques to tell stories the traditional media is … afraid to touch.”

He’s made a number or other grassroots political documentaries with Greenwald since, and there’s been impact where intended: “Iraq for Sale” led to Senate hearing on war profiteering and oversight of military contractors. Also notable: the film raised part of its funds from small donations online — $260,000 from more than 3,000 different people.

WHO: Jim Gilliam

WHAT: Trying to rattle American politics through web-based activism, and creating tools for people all around the world to instigate social media-enabled change.

WHERE: U.S. based, domestic and international causes.

HOW to get involved: Follow Gilliam on Twitter and his blog, and use his tools.

What other people are saying:

TechPresident interview with Gilliam about act.ly

Newsweek piece on Democrats and Republicans on Twitter

Washington Post piece on Gilliam

Washington Post on Creative Commons

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