When someone talks about “politics and the Internet,” they are probably talking about how candidates use Internet strategies to get elected like campaign blogs, campaign ads on YouTube, outreach on Myspace, building e-mail lists for volunteers and raising money. I’ve been involved in political campaigning for three years now (I was the Director of Online Organizing for Howard Dean’s Campaign), and have talked to people all over the world who are eager to learn how politicians in the United States use the net to garner more press and power during campaigns.

But most of political life happens outside of elections. The capacity to transform governance through the Internet is even greater than the capacity to transform elections.

The Internet can change how legislation is prioritized, drafted, passed, implemented, and reviewed, and how elected officials interact with their constituents on a daily basis. The lists of volunteers built during campaigns can be mobilized to engage citizens in research, public education, and collecting stories from offline constituents.