Different political organizations - from splinter and single-issue groups to the major parties - are using the Internet and other on-line services to gather support and disseminate information. On-line communications are an inexpensive means of reaching many people and targeting particular segments of the population, making these networks well-suited to contemporary political activity. Using the 1996 presidential elections as a way to gauge the effects of on-line services, Wayne Rash examines the degree to which different political entities used the nets effectively and also evaluates the impact of the nets on forms of communication that have traditionally affected the outcome of our elections. A well-known Washington-based journalist and authority on the Internet, Rash studies these and other issues raised by politics on-line: Did the nets play the key role in the 1996 political process that television played in 1960? Do the nets tend to give an edge to one end of the political spectrum over the other? Are fringe groups aided disproportionately by electronic communications?
Wayne Rash has been a freelance writer and editor with a 35 year history covering technology. He's a frequent speaker on business, technology issues and enterprise computing. He currently writes for eWEEK and Techweb. Rash is a frequent guest on a variety of network news and talk shows, and has appeared recently on NPR, Fox Business News and NBC as a technology expert. He is the author of five books, including his most recent, "Politics on the Nets" which was featured on National Public Radio in July. He works as an editorial consultant and content provider for a number of technology companies, including Microsoft, Cisco, MarkMonitor and others.
Previously, he was Executive Editor and Washington Bureau Chief of the weekly technology news magazine eWEEK, eWEEK.com and Ziff Davis Events. He created and ran the eWEEK Knowledge Center, wrote the "Rash's Judgment" blog and wrote news and opinion pieces. Previously, Rash was a Senior Contributing Editor and a Senior Analyst in the InfoWorld Test Center. He was also a reviewer for Federal Computer Week and Information Security Magazine. He ran the reviews and events departments as Editor / Events at CMP's InternetWeek. He's a retired naval officer, a former principal at American Management Systems, a long-time columnist for Byte Magazine and a former News Director for a number of radio and television stations in Virginia, including NBC affiliate WVIR-TV in Charlottesville. While there he reported periodically for NBC. He is a regular contributor to Plane & Pilot Magazine and The Washington Post.
