Goodbye to Microsoft – Day One
It has now been some twelve hours since I began the process of moving over from Microsoft’s proprietary software over to Ubuntu Linux. In this blog entry and the ones that follow, I want to…
Workers rights and online campaigns: Why the unions must set their own agenda
I have been helping organize online campaigns in support of workers’ rights for several years now. The latest campaign I’m helping with concerns Zimbabwe. It supports a call by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions…
Private equity, unions and the web
The issue of private equity has suddenly burst onto the trade union scene, almost out of nowhere. In the last few weeks, the GMB and other unions have picketed, demonstrated, issued press releases and campaigned…
Europe’s unions attempt an online campaign
You know that the technology of Internet-based campaigning has matured when even the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) starts using it.
Customized home pages
From the very earliest days of the web, browsers had something called a ‘home page’. This was the default web page that would come up when you’d launch your browser and connect to the net….
Webware and us
Long before the Internet became a household word, the founders of Sun Microsystems coined a corporate slogan which – at the time – made little sense: “The network is the computer.” I thought of that…
A new online battleground for union campaigns
Several years ago, shortly after it was launched I looked into Google’s keyword-based online advertising as a tool for trade union campaigns. I thought it seemed a really good idea, tested it, and promoted its…
Breaking through the ‘digital divide’
Often when left-wing people talk about the Internet, the subject of a “digital divide” comes up. According to the common wisdom, the Internet is all well and good when we’re talking about well-paid, educated people…
John Edwards, the net and the renewal of a democratic Left in America
Today, former Senator John Edwards announced his candidacy for the Presidency in the 2008 elections. And, you may be asking yourself, why would this even remotely concern me? After all, practically everything on this website…
Unions and the web – What’s changed in the last seven years?
The short answer is – everything and nothing. Let’s start with the “everything” part. Back in the twentieth century, unions were reluctant to embrace the net. The majority of union members were not yet online,…