'Next Up, Comprehensive Immigration Reform' at the Center for American Progress - Part 2

cross-posted from Sum of Change

--Latinos' Political Support Over the Last Decade

Following up on our post from Monday, I'd like to bring you a few more clips from a panel entitled 'Next Up, Comprehensive Immigration Reform' at the Center for American Progress in Washington DC. This took place in late January, but it operated under the assumption that health care reform would actually pass (at some point and the belief that once it did pass, immigration reform must be the next major issue addressed. In last Monday's post our panelists discussed what the situation with a reform bill is currently and what we can expect the next steps in the effort will be.  The videos in this post, however, will add context to what is going on off the hill and how the efforts on and off the hill relate.

Though America's immigration laws (obviously) affect people from nations all around the world, the population most affected by them in America are those from Latin America.  So in the video above, Markos Moulitsas Zúñiga, the Founder and Editor of Daily Kos, goes into the how Latinos have formed their political affiliations over the last decade. Then in the first video below, María Elena Durazo, the Executive Secretary-Treasurer of The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, and Andrea Nill, an Immigration Blogger and Researcher with Think Progress go into how Immigration is beneficial to everyone and would support both employers and their workers.

Next, Mrs Durazo goes into how it is the workers who need to be supported more with this immigration bill (not surprisingly from someone who is a part of the labor) and how by strengthening the power of the workers, the proposed bill can improve the outset for everyone in America. Finally, all three of our experts go into detail on one aspect of the bill, the guest/temporary worker program. This is only one part of the bill, but it is one that can be very divisive, even amongst immigration reform supporters, and their thoughts on the subject are quite provocative.

--Immigration Reform Supports Employers and Workers

--Temporary Worker Programs

--Supporting The Unsung Hard Workers Through Immigration Reform

The panel was sponsored by The Center for American Progress, America's Voice, and Netroots Nation and held at The Center for America Progress' offices in downtown Washington DC.

For Part One, please click here.

For more videos from Sum of Change, please go to www.SumofChange.com

'Next Up, Comprehensive Immigration Reform' at the Center for American Progress - Part 1

cross-posted from Sum of Change

On the same historic day that President Obama's health care reform bill initially passed, hundreds of thousands of people gathered on the mall to remind those running our government that even though health care reform is a major accomplishment, there are many other issues, most notably immigration reform, that need to be addressed, and soon. In this same vein, The Center for American Progress, America's Voice, and Netroots Nation held a panel discussion a few months earlier on an immigration reform bill, it's advantages and issues, and it's likelihood of passage. The panel, moderated by Nico Pitney, National Editor of The Huffington Post, featured María Elena Durazo, the Executive Secretary-Treasurer of The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, Andrea Nill, an Immigration Blogger and Researcher with Think Progress, and Markos Moulitsas Zúñiga, the Founder and Editor of Daily Kos.

In this post, Mrs Durazo discusses the priority issues of an immigration reform bill, Ms Nill talks about a progressive immigration reform bill already introduced by Rep Luis Guitierrez (D- IL), and Mr Moulitasas-Zuniga ponders how the immigration reform debate could effect the upcoming 2010 mid term elections. Check back on Wednesday for Part 2 with more clips from these speakers.

--What Are The Priority Issues of Immigration Reform- María Elena Duraz

--The Effect of the Gutierrez Immigration Reform Bill - Andrea Nill

--The Importance of Immigration to the 2010 Elections - Markos Moulitsas Zúñiga

To see more immigration reform related videos from Sum of Change, please click here

For all other coverage from Sum of Change, please go to www.SumofChange.com

Chris Hayes' Speech At Sum of Change/Grow the Hope House Meeting

Yesterday, we were humbled when folks from the DC/MD/VA area packed into the living room of David Hart, founder of Grow the Hope, for a fundraiser to help us cover the annual Netroots Nation conference. We could not have been more thrilled with the level of energy in the room.

Our featured speaker, Chris Hayes, the DC Editor of The Nation, gave a rather fantastic speech about health care, Netroots Nation, and the importance of grassroots online video that we wanted to share with you all right away:


To contribute to our efforts to cover Netroots Nation please click here.

The video we showed folks right before Chris' speech was from last year's Netroots Nation panel @FDR Is There A New New Deal? And Chris is absolutely right that the video was only 1/5 of the story. You can find Nicholas Beaudrot's flowchart over at Donkeylicious.

Livefeed: Chris Hayes, Sum of Change, and Grow the Hope

Today at 2:00pm we are holding our first house party fundraiser for our efforts to cover Netroots Nation 2010. We have lined up a great set of speakers, opening with Chris Hayes, DC Editor of The Nation. We'll also hear from Nolan Treadway, the Logistics and Political Director of Netroots Nation, Julie Blust, the Communications Director at the Virginia Organizing Project, Jeremy Koulish, the Executive Director of the Carrots and Sticks Project, Yvette Lewis from Grow the Hope's Rapid Response Team, and our host, David Hart, the founder of Grow the Hope.

You can join us at the house party online today! We will be running a live camera feed of the event, so please hang around with us!

(Here is the rerun of Chris Hayes' speech, we'll have more of the house meeting up shortly)


I hope you enjoy the house party and all the great speakers. Then please contribute to help us in our efforts. Here's a list of what your contribution buys for us:

$5 = box of pens
$10 = Round of water bottles for the crew
$25 = roll of gaffers tape
$50 = lunch for a day for everyone
$100 = Gas card
$250 = Tapes for the trip
$500 = camera rental
$1000 = Hotel fees
$3000- $5000 = Sponsor Program

That should help you to visualize your contribution, give you something concrete to say to you are doing to help us get this work done. Please give what you can.

As many of you already know, Netroots Nation is a conference of progressives bloggers and online activists. One weekend every year, some of the greatest minds from the netroots gather to discuss the most important issues of the day. Last year, we covered Netroots Nation and came out with some 75 videos, mostly from panels. This year, we are going to expand our coverage immensely. To find out more, simply join us today for this house party.

Where Were You 6 Months Ago? - Netroots Nation Day 3 [VIDEO]

Yep. Six months ago was the last day of Netroots Nation in Pittsburgh. At this point, it was Saturday and I was running on maybe five hours of sleep since Wednesday. But we managed to stay awake long enough for another smattering of the day...

--Cutting-edge Evidence-based Best Practices:

-Regina Schwartz on Best Practices: Testing the 2008 Primary GOTV Calls



-Mary McClelland on Best Practices: Testing the Youth Vote




-Regina Schwartz on Color Campaign Lit



--Academic Studies of the Netroots:

-Chris Bowers: Misinformation on the Interet vs Television



-Dave Karpf: Hubs in Social Networking



-Dave Karpf: Who is winning YouTube?



-Matthew Kerbel & Dave Karpf: Who is ahead in the Blogosphere?



--Advocating for Reproductive Rights in the Age of Obama:

-Aimee Thorne-Thomsen on Reproductive Justice in the Age of Obama



-Jodi Jacobson on Discussing Reproductive Rights



-James Wagoner: How Our Health Statistics Stack Up



-James Wagoner: Lack of Science and Evidence in Reproductive Rights Debate



-Jodi Jacobson: Compromise Ignores the Real Issues



-Joreg Dreweke: Reproducive Issues Aren't Covered Properly



--How Technology can be Utilized to Enhance Democracy in Pittsburgh and beyond:

-Priya Narasimhan of YinzCam



-Paul Fireman of Vivo



-Brad Winney of Penopto



--Closing Keynote With Darcy Burner and Richard Trumka:

-Richard Trumka Gives Speech on Final Night of Netroots Nation '09







-Darcy Burner Gives Final Keynote at Netroots Nation '09, Intro from Markos





And then it was over.

We will be catching next summer's Netroots Nation in Vegas. We are more than doubling our efforts for it, bringing more people, more cameras, and more resources. And we could use your help. David Hart, the founder of Grow the Hope, is hosting a house meeting fundraiser for us next weekend. Join us in person if you are in the Bethesda area, or join us live online Sunday, February 21st at 2:00pm (EST).

Where Were You 6 Months Ago? - Netroots Nation Day 2 [VIDEO]

6 months ago today, after a long day 1, Sum of Change arose at 7am (after going to sleep at 5am) to drive under a mountain and over a river to day 2 of Netroots Nation 2009 in Pittsburgh. Here is a smathering of what we saw throughout the day in chronological order:

--Pennsylvania Leadership Forum (aka: Senatorial showdown of Sestak and Specter answering the same questions, although not at the same time)

-Congressman Joe Sestak on Single Payer Health Care



-Senator Specter on Progressive Issues He Can Support



-Congressman Sestak on Owing the Grassroots for Their Election Contributions



-Congressman Sestak on Fighting For Healthcare Reform



-Senator Specter on Fighting For Healthcare Reform



-Senator Specter Addressing Nate Silver and The 'Spectrometer'



-Congressman Sestak on the Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy and Marriage Equality



--Stepping It Up: Creating Powerful Multiracial Alliances With Progressive Bloggers

-Cheryl Contee and Will Coley: We Are A Nation Of Immigrants



-Cheryl Contee How White People Can Help



-Jacki Esposito: Immigration Issues and Statistics Go Unnoticed



-Jacki Esposito: Detention Isn't Just For Illegal Border Crossers



-Kyle de Beausset: Combatting 'Nativism' Online



-Kyle de Beausset: Disconnect Between Progressive & Pro Migrant Bloggers



-Rinku Sen: Comprehensive Immigration Reform Might Not Be Ideal



-Rinku Sen on Opposite Racial Images and Lasting Criminal Punishment



--Science Denial and Science Policy

-Joshua Rosenau, discussing science's "rightful place" in our country



-Michael Stebbins on How Science and Policy is Changing Under This New Administration



-Susan Wood Talking About Combating the Anti-Science Crowd



-Mark Sumner and Joshua Rosenau Discussing the Public's Stance on Science, Believing vs. Accepting



--Four Perspectives From the Social Change Blogosphere

Kety Esquivel National Council of La Raza's Online Activities



-Edmundo Rocha on Why the Immigration Issue is Important and Why Bloggers Should be Involved



-Edmundo Rocha and Prerna Lal on Debating Immigration Reform Online



-Prerna Lal Shares Her Personal Experience With the Struggle of Immigration



-David Bennion on Fighting for Immigration Reform



-David Bennion on the Immigration Battle on Capitol Hill Over the Last Five Years



--Organizing in Second Life

-Connecting Second Life With Real World Small Organizations



-Second LIfe as an Immersive Educational Opportunity



-Second Life an Opportunity for Satyrical Commentary



-Building Communities with Interactive Experiences



Day 2 was an awesome experience and we captured many diverse discussions on important progressive issues. But we were only able to make it to 4 of the 23 amazing panels all day and we want to capture many more of then of day two of Netroots Nation 2010 from Las Vegas. But to do so we are going to need your help.

Please join us, in person or online, on Sunday, February 21st, as we are begin fundraising our efforts to cover Netroots Nation 2010. Chris Hayes of The Nation, Nolan Treadway of Netroots Nation, and local grassroots organizers from inside and around the beltway will join us at a house party in Bethesda, MD. You can get more information about the event here. You can also join us live to view the event online at Sum Live Change beginning at 2:00pm on the 21st.

To see more videos from Netroots Nation 2009, please go to www.SumofChange.com/NetrootsNation

Where Were You 6 Months Ago? [VIDEO]

I know where we were. Six months ago today, we showed up in Pittsburgh for Netroots Nation '09.

We were here, @FDR Is There A New Deal?:











And here, From Prop 8 to Full Equality in All 50 States: Fighting for Marriage Equality and LGBT Rights Across America:











And we were here, The Myth of Post-Racial America:







Oh, and we were here, also, too, How to Get The Most Out Of The Polling Data You Read About:







And here, Bloggers and Blue-Collar Workers Unite: You have Nothing to Lose but Wall Street Domination:









We also plotted, The Secret Plan to Defeat the Right Forever:







It was an exciting first day. Hopefully you will join us next summer at Netroots Nation in Las Vegas! And check back tomorrow when we will relive Netroots Nation '09 Day 2.

Next Sunday, February 21st, we are beginning our fundraising for our efforts to cover Netroots Nation 2010. Chris Hayes, Nolan Treadway, and local grassroots organizers from inside and around the beltway will join us at a house party in Bethesda, MD. You can also join us online at Sum Live Change (we'll be running a live camera feed of the event), at 2:00pm on the 21st.

Green Bank Action Briefing Live Feed, And More

We have three great events coming up that we will be broadcasting live over at Sum Live Change.

To begin with, The Green Bank Action Briefing on Tuesday, January 12th from 1:00-3:00pm (EST):

The Carrots and Sticks Project invites you to a briefing on Green Bank legislation on January 12th from 1:00-3:00 (Cannon House Office Building, room 121). The Green Bank is one of the most powerful and efficient ways to finance the clean energy economy. The briefing will examine how a Green Bank can create jobs, reduce carbon pollution, and promote energy independence.

Click here to RSVP for this event!

We will primarily be discussing Congressman Chris Van Hollen's Green Bank Act of 2009 (HR 1698). In addition to substantive policy concerns, this briefing will look at where HR 1698 and related green bank legislation currently stand in the legislative process, and what next steps would be best to move it forward. Finally, we will examine how best to frame the Green Bank in order to generate the largest possible amount of public support for it both before and after bill passage.

Click here to reserve your spot!

We expect a invigorating discussion of how this proposal can clean up our environment, create jobs, and renew our economy, and we look forward to your participation! Light refreshments will be served.

For more information on Carrots and Sticks, please visit our website at http://carrotsandsticks.org.

Panelists will include:

* Dean Baker is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC.

* Bill Parsons [invited] is the Legislative Director for Congressman Chris Van Hollen.

* Jeffrey Feldman is the editor-in-chief of the influential political blog Frameshop, and the author of the books Framing the Debate, and Outright Barbarous: How the Violent Language of the Right Poisons American Democracy.

* Jeremy Koulish is the founder and Executive Director of the Carrots and Sticks Project.

Click here to register!

Next up on the schedule is a Grow the Hope/Rapid Response House Party on Sunday, January 17th from 2:00-4:00pm (EST):

A new year is upon us, and it is time to get back to work. We are hosting our first House Party of 2010 and it should be a good one.

We will focus on building the emerging Rapid Response Action Team which will counter lies and distortions in the media about the President and about legislation. We will hear from exciting speakers including Yvette Lewis and Jon Randall.

Get a sense of the wonderful energy behind this effort by watching this short video:

Last, but certainly not least, is a fundraising house party that Grow the Hope is hosting for us to help in our efforts to cover Netroots Nation 2010 on Sunday, February 21st from 2:00-4:00pm (EST):

We are excited to be hosting a house meeting fundraiser for Sum of Change and their efforts to cover Netroots Nation 2010. For one weekend every year, Netroots Nation brings together many of the greatest minds in the progressive netroots. Sum of Change was on the scene at last year's conference in Pittsburgh, but they want to expand and improve their coverage of next year's conference in Las Vegas and they could use your help.

Our featured speaker will be Chris Hayes, the Washington DC Editor of The Nation, and a fellow at the New America Foundation. From his website: "Since 2002, he’s written on issues including union organizing and economic democracy, the culture of right-wing email forwards, the worldview of the anti-globalist right, and the culture of technology. His essays, articles and reviews have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Nation, The American Prospect, The New Republic, The Washington Monthly, The Guardian, and The Chicago Reader. From 2005 to 2006, Hayes was a Schumann Center Writing Fellow at In These Times." Mr Hayes is also the subject of Sum of Change’s most popular video, “Christropher Hayes, Netroots Nation Day 1, Simple Explanation of the Proposed Public Option” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2aV6uJGkP0)

Nolan Treadway, the Logistics and Political Director of Netroots Nation will join us and address the group. The program will also include several other speakers, such as Will Urquhart and Mitch Malasky from Sum of Change who will discuss the connection between online journalism and community organizing and showcase some short videos from last years Netroots Nation 2009.

This event should be very educational and exciting and we hope you can join us. Whether you can give $5 or $5,000, we would love to have you.

All these events will be aired live at Sum Live Change, I hope you will join us!

Netroots Nation '09: This Video Will Save Your Campaign Lots of Money

(Reposted as part of our staff picks from 2009, originally written by Will Urquhart on 8/18/2009)

This is not spam. This is not a commercial. This will seriously save your campaign money, and make it more effective at the same time.



There is a lot more to show from the "Cutting-Edge Evidence-Based Best Practices" panel. We are going to release a long version (almost the entire 1.5 hour panel), sometime over the next week or two at our Netroots Nation page.

This test, done by the Analyst Institute, reminds me of one specific mail piece. I had just come home, from door to door canvassing. I was working on a City Council race at the time, but there was a heated Mayoral race as well. There were three typical lit pieces in my mail box. Big, glossy, nice color work. All typical. Then there was one letter from one of the candidates office. It was in a normal envelope, just a black and white, typed out letter. A dear neighbor letter. At the bottom were signatures, seven of them to be exact. Each signature was from one of my neighbors, someone that lived no more than a mile from me. The letter read off a few of the reasons that these neighbors were supporting this candidate for Mayor. I cannot name a single specific detail about any of the other lit pieces. Clearly, one piece drove itself into my memory, and the others simply did not.

For more video of Netroots Nation, visit the Sum of Change NN'09 page.

Creating Powerful Multiracial Alliances With Progressive Bloggers

(Reposted as part of our staff picks from 2009, originally written by Mitch Malasky on 8/21/2009)

These videos are from an excellent panel on Friday afternoon at Netroots Nation 09 in Pittsburgh called Stepping it Up: Creating Powerful Multiracial Alliances with Progressive Bloggers. Hosted by Will Coley, the co-founder of Aquifer Media, the panel featured Cheryl Contee, a partner at Fission Strategy and a co-founder of JackandJillPolitics.com, Jacki Esposito, the policy coordinator at the Detention Watch Network, Kyle de Beausset, an immigrant himself who runs the blog CitizenOrange.com, and Rinku Sen, the executive director of the Applied Research Center (ARC) and Publisher of ARC's ColorLines Magazine.













Together, these speakers are at the center of the pro-migrant blogosphere, which is small but slowly growing. Though most immigrant blogging so far has come out of the latino blogs, all of the members of this panel are working to develop an online network for immigrants, legal and illegal. The web is especially a great forum for illegal immigrants who are unable or afraid to speak out in public for fear of detention or deportation. Online they can speak out and share their stories anonymously to an audience who cares about what happens to them. The online strategizing also works to build a community, a collective voice, who jointly can speak for those individuals who have been silenced by pressure and by force. They are fighting an uphill battle which will only get tougher once immigration reform (finally) gets to congress. But by joining together online, they are developing a diverse unified front to counteract long established anti-migrant organizations.

Please keep checking http://www.SumofChange.com/NetrootsNation for more videos from Netroots Nation 2009 in Pittsburgh. We will have more videos from this panel up shortly. A don't forget to go to the recently redesigned www.SumofChange.com for all your socially, politically, and culturally conscious media.

Four Perspectives from the Social Change Blogosphere

(Reposted as part of our staff picks from 2009, originally written by Will Urquhart on 8/30/2009)

Recently, we posted some videos from the Netroots Nation panel 'Four Perspectives from the Social Change Blogosphere'. Today we would like to present a few more videos from this panel. So, without further ado, we present round 2...

We'll start with Edmundo Rocha, speaking briefly, yet passionately, on why the immigration issue is important and why bloggers should be involved:


Next up is David Bennion talking about the immigration battle on capitol hill over the last five years:


Last, but certainly not least, Prerna Lal shares her personal experience with the struggle of immigration:


I hope you enjoy these videos. We will release a round 3 shortly. Check back at our Netroots Nation page for new videos.

Bloggers and Blue-Collar Workers Unite!!!

(Reposted as part of our staff picks from 2009, originally written by Mitch Malasky on 8/24/2009)











Here are some snippets from an excellent panel at Netroots Nation 2009 in Pittsburgh called, 'Bloggers and Blue-Collar Workers Unite: You Have Nothing To Lose But Wall Street Domination'. The diverse set of panelists was all presented interesting insight from a variety of viewpoints. Present were three labor representatives- the moderator, Scott Paul, President of the American Alliance for Manufacturing, Leo Gerard, President of the United Steelworkers (USW), and Tula Connell, Managing Editor of the Website and Blog of the AFL-CIO, two industry analysts, Bob Borosage, President of the Institute for America's Future and Marcy Wheeler, blogger at Institute for America's Future and at Firedoglake, and one US Congresswoman, Donna Edwards, a Democrat from Maryland's 4th congressional district. (We have already posted videos from Marcy Wheeler, Donna Edwards and another video from Leo Gerard here.)

This group had an obvious pro-labor bias (which we share), but they focused on specifics of how American labor and manufacturing could help America recover from it's current economic situation. They talked about how manufacturing can help to break out of the boom a bust cycle and build a solid base for a sturdy economy. Recognizing that labor and manufacturing have been on the downswing for years, the are looking for ways to revitalize and modernize industry to help build a stronger, improved America. From Cars, to steel, to paper, manufacturing and production employ millions of people and reinvest American money back into the United States in a direct manor.

We will continue to release more snippets and longer versions of panels from Netroots Nation 2009 in Pittsburgh over the next weeks. Keep checking back to our Netroots Nation Page for more blogs and videos.

The Secret Plan to Defeat the Right Forever

(Reposted as part of our staff picks from 2009, originally written by Will Urquhart on 8/23/2009)

One of the panels I attended at Netroots Nation on Day 1, Thursday August 13th, was titled 'The Secret Plan to Defeat the Right Forever'. The panel focused on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA). Stewart Acuff does a great job explaining some of the more important details of EFCA:



He also talks a little bit about what it is going to take to get this legislation passed:



And Tanya Tarr explains why EFCA is the secret plan to defeat the right forever:



We've got lots more videos from Netroots Nation available, and we will be releasing plenty more over the coming weeks at the Sum of Change NN09 page.

The Online Immigration Debate - Netroots Nation '09

(Reposted as part of our staff picks from 2009, originally written by Mitch Malasky on August 19th 2009)

Three of today's video's come from 'Four Perspectives from the Social Change Blogosphere: Case Studies from Civil Rights/ Pro-Migrant Bloggers' a panel at Netroots Nation 2009 in Pittsburgh hosted by Kety Equivel, the New Media Manager for the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), with David Bennion, a non-profit immigration attorney, Prerna Lal, a blogger, youth organizer, and new media consultant, Edmundo Rocha, the Publisher and Content Producer of Para Justica Y Libertad, a latino centered political blog, and Dee Perez-Scott, who runs the blog 'Immigration Talk with a Mexican American'. They all shared stories about their efforts to fight a struggling battle. They were not very optimistic, they all shared depressing stories and sentiments about numerous immigration inequities, but were hopeful and dedicated to getting comprehensive immigration reform passed. While the immigration reform bill in congress has taken a back seat to other issues, such as healthcare, there are millions of people whose lives and well being are being held hostage by the unjust execution of antiquated laws. While positive news on the national scene is hard to come by, these panelists are working to facilitate as many small scale successes as possible. Check back for more stories and thoughts from the panel over the next couple weeks.







We will be releasing lots, and lots, of videos from Netroots Nation over the coming weeks, including some panels in entirety. For more videos, and a list of every event we filmed, please visit the Sum of Change NN'09 page.

From Prop 8 to Full Equality in all 50 States

(Reposted as part of our staff picks from 2009)

From Prop 8 to Full Equality in All 50 States - Netroots Nation Day 1 from Will Urquhart on Vimeo.

We at Sum of Change have been releasing lots of videos from Netroots Nation. We have released some 40 highlights videos, but today we release a panel in entirety for the first time. This was the first panel I attended, bright and early at 9:00am on Thursday, August 13th.

From Prop 8 to Full Equality in All 50 States: Fighting for Marriage Equality and LGBT Rights Across America
Thursday, August 13th 9:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Panel, 311
Time: Thursday, August 13th, 9:00am - 10:15am
Room: 311

From the passage of Prop 8 to the election of Barack Obama to the White House, the 2008 election had a profound impact on the fight for full LGBT equality in all 50 states.

This panel will tackle how we win and defend marriage equality state-by-state and how we build momentum for full LGBT equality across America. What are the lessons learned from the Prop 8 loss in California that Maine and other states can learn in their battle for marriage equality? How will we restore marriage equality to California? And how can the netroots help win these battles?

PANELISTS: Pam Spaulding, Monique Hoeflinger, Michael Wilson, Julia Rosen

I hope you enjoy this video. We will be releasing more coverage over the coming weeks. Visit the Sum of Change Netroots Nation page to see all our NN09 videos and a list of every event we covered. We do not have footage up from every event that we filmed yet, but we are making updates every day, and we will have at least one video from every event that we filmed. Once again, you can find a full list of everything we filmed in Pittsburgh at our NN09 page.

Thanks

Living a Double Life - Organizing in Second Life

One of the niche treats that we haven't yet shared from Netroots Nation 2009 in Pittsburgh was a panel we attended on Second Life, an online alternative universe where members create a 3d digital version of themselves, called an avatar, to live in a virtual world, that appears and operates much like our actual one. For the record I have never participated myself and probably never will, but the creative possibilities of Second Life are quite fascinating. By creating this realistic virtual world, Second Life allows people to express themselves in a world very similar to our own that they never could do in the real one. This gets played out in the creation of the avatar, for example, where one can build their appearance however they see fit, whether as an exact representation of themselves, a foil of themselves, or a dream character who they could never be in real life.

Personally I think it's nerdishly cool but pretty absurd and bizarre. Like Twitter, Second Life can be (and often is) used for personal superficial reasons, but also can be vehicles to build communities that address important social issues. Some waste time on twitter as a popularity contest, to build as many followers as possible and share every mundane insignificant detail of your life with the rest of the world, while others use it as a tool to build relationships and spread important information across the world. Anyone on twitter in the weeks after the Iran election will remember the green avatars, switching your hometown to Tehran, flooding the #IranElection and other various hashtags to make more traffic for Iranian officials to sort through while trying to locate protesters. Similarly, Second Life can be used to create an avatar that succumbs to all the excesses of life without the earthly consequences or one can use the Second Life character to make statements and connections surrounding important issues affecting the real world.

The people in these videos clearly fall into the latter category. In a variety of ways, their Avatars have taken creative but otherwise impossible actions in Second Life to confront important real world issues. They have taken advantage of the social networking possibilities Second Life offers and, in their own unique way, are taking a digital stand on actual issues...

--Connecting Second Life With Real World Small Organizations

--Second LIfe as an Immersive Educational Opportunity

--Second Life an Opportunity for Satyrical Commentary

--Building Communities with Interactive Experiences

For more videos from Netroots Nation 2009, go to www.SumofChange.com/NetrootsNation.

Brought to you by Sum of Change

How to Get The Most Out Of The Polling Data You Read About

There were a lot of good lessons to come out of the Netroots Nation panel, 'How to Get The Most Out Of The Polling Data You Read About'. Today, we present the panel in it's entirety. Our panelists are Greg Dworkin (DemFromCT), contributing editor at Daily Kos, Charlie Cook of The Cook Political Report, Mark Blumenthal, editor and publisher of Pollster.com, Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com, and Charles Franklin, the co-developer of Pollster.com.

Greg Dworkin was not lying when he called these men "experts." It is rare to find this much knowledge and experience with polling in one room. I hope you will take the time to watch this entire panel. Lastly, I will leave you with this brief interview we did with DemFromCT after the panel ended:



For more videos of Netroots Nation, visit our NN09 page. And if you enjoy these videos, sign-up to receive an email alert when we add a new video.

Advocating for Reproductive Rights in the Age of Obama, Round 2

We posted a couple videos recently from the Netroots Nation panel, 'Advocating for Reproductive Rights in the Age of Obama'. Today we present round 2. Today's speakers are: Jodi Jacobson, Senior Political Editor for RH Reality Check, Joerg Dreweke, of the Guttmacher Institute, James Wagoner, the President and Executive Director of Advocates for Youth since September 1997, and Amanda Marcotte, blogger for Pandagon.net and RH Reality Check...









I hope you enjoyed the videos. There are more Netroots Nation videos available at our NN09 page, and more are coming.

Creating Powerful Multiracial Alliances With Progressive Bloggers

These videos are from an excellent panel on Friday afternoon at Netroots Nation 09 in Pittsburgh called Stepping it Up: Creating Powerful Multiracial Alliances with Progressive Bloggers. Hosted by Will Coley, the co-founder of Aquifer Media, the panel featured Cheryl Contee, a partner at Fission Strategy and a co-founder of JackandJillPolitics.com, Jacki Esposito, the policy coordinator at the Detention Watch Network, Kyle de Beausset, an immigrant himself who runs the blog CitizenOrange.com, and Rinku Sen, the executive director of the Applied Research Center (ARC) and Publisher of ARC's ColorLines Magazine.

-Cheryl Contee and Will Coley: We Are A Nation Of Immigrants



-Jacki Esposito: Immigration Issues and Statistics Go Unnoticed



Jacki Esposito: Detention Isn't Just For Illegal Border Crossers



Kyle de Beausset: Combatting 'Nativism' Online



-Kyle de Beausset: Disconnect Between Progressive & Pro Migrant Bloggers



Rinku Sen: Comprehensive Immigration Reform Might Not Be Ideal



Together, these speakers are at the center of the pro-migrant blogosphere, which is small but slowly growing. Though most immigrant blogging so far has come out of the latino blogs, all of the members of this panel are working to develop an online network for immigrants, legal and illegal. The web is especially a great forum for illegal immigrants who are unable or afraid to speak out in public for fear of detention or deportation. Online they can speak out and share their stories anonymously to an audience who cares about what happens to them. The online strategizing also works to build a community, a collective voice, who jointly can speak for those individuals who have been silenced by pressure and by force. They are fighting an uphill battle which will only get tougher once immigration reform (finally) gets to congress. But by joining together online, they are developing a diverse unified front to counteract long established anti-migrant organizations.

Please keep checking http://www.SumofChange.com/NetrootsNation for more videos from Netroots Nation 2009 in Pittsburgh. We will have more videos from this panel up shortly. A don't forget to go to the recently redesigned www.SumofChange.com for all your socially, politically, and culturally conscious media.

Four Perspectives from the Social Change Blogosphere

Recently, we posted some videos from the Netroots Nation panel 'Four Perspectives from the Social Change Blogosphere'. Today we would like to present a few more videos from this panel. So, without further ado, we present round 2...

-Edmundo Rocha on Why the Immigration Issue is Important and Why Bloggers Should be Involved



-David Bennion on the Immigration Battle on Capitol Hill Over the Last Five Years



-Prerna Lal Shares Her Personal Experience With the Struggle of Immigration



I hope you enjoy these videos. We will release a round 3 shortly. Check back at our Netroots Nation page for new videos.