Customer Reviews

The Websters' Dictionary: How to Use the Web to Transform the World

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Ralph Benko's "The Websters Dictionary" does an excellent job detailing the power of web 2.0. Benko spent two-years looking at how various organizations, businesses, and campaigns have leveraged their message via the Internet, and has distilled down what works and what does not, in this easy-to-read overview.

I work at Bureaucrash, an organization that promotes activism for freedom. Bureaucrash is small in terms of paid staff and budget, so we utilize the Internet, new media, and Web 2.0 to have a larger footprint. As such, I found Benko's book invaluable, especially as we're transitioning to a more decentralized approach.

Take-aways that can be gleaned from the book that are applicable to virtually any such organization include being clear and concise, understanding your community to better support/encourage it, being transparent to give community a stake in outcomes, facilitating spontaneity, and that content is king. Further advice is to take calculated risks, but to start small and scale up if they pay off.

Rather than advocate a top-down approach, Benko, in "The Websters Dictionary", embraces the ideas and actions that stem from a bottom-up, community-driven approach, and he provides research-backed suggestions on how to make that happen. All of this can be summarized by Benko's statement that "the potential of this medium [Web 2.0] is huge, and I hope that out of this thing comes a million things we can't imagine."

If you're involved with any issue, the web is the way to get the word out, but few people have the grasp, understanding, and clarity that Ralph Benko brings to the subject. Essential reading for anyone who plans to advocate a point of view...or just build a viral web presence for fun and games.

Disclaimer: this book features an interview with me, so I might be biased.
Ralph has done a wonderful job looking at how moveon.org and dailykos and other progressive groups harnessed the power of the web to mobilize millions of people. I learned a lot reading the book. His research and conclusions are solid.
He offers, for the novice, the basics of web site building: domain registration, hosting, how to find a developer, etc. And then, for those already involved, does a great job of looking at the bigger implications of how the Web is transforming, for the better, our politics and our culture. Ralph self-identifies as a conservative Republican, but he is at heart a true populist and the Websters' Dictionary is, at its core, a populist bible for anyone of any political stripe.

This book is outstanding work, full of informatin to anyone serious on web programs and how to get the most our of their web sites. Very Very high recommendation

Ralph Benko's "The Websters Dictionary" is a primer for utilizing the web for fun and profit. He covers the basics (domain registration, web site building, hosting, etc.) but also considers greater cultural -- and political -- implications of web usage. In short, this is a terrific how-to book and should be required reading for anyone eager to make use of the Web's awesome power to connect, recruit, and persuade.

2008 was the year that politics went digital, with a masterful social networking web-based campaign by Barack Obama that left John McCain and the Republican party in the digital dust. Ralph Benko -- one of Washington's premier political agitators on the side of personal empowerment and opportunity - has written a primer that will empower us all with the extraordinary opportunities of the web. 2008 made clear that you simply can't engage in politics in any meaningful sense in the 21st century without exploiting those digital opportunities, and Benko's book is the best I've read in telling us how to do it. A tour de force that combines political insight, tech savvy and decades of rabble-rousing experience in a must-have manual for every agitator and just plain Joe out there with the humble ambition of changing the world. Embrace the change - buy this book!

The Webster's Dictionary is a superior work. Not only is it beautifully illustrated, but interesting and couched in words that everyone from the "internet challenged" to the internet pro can understand. It is not only applicable to policy promotion but all types of promotion. It is usable to those with a zero budget (like me) and those who are well heeled. Following the methodology of the book I have created a community networking web site to promote the FairTax and in just 12 days the community is "growing like a weed". To see what a novice like myself can do following the guidance of Webster's Dictionary, visit my site at www.zaptheirs.ning.com. If you support the FairTax welcome aboard. Mr. Benko has created a wonderful way to promote policy through the internet.
John Hanson
Bristol, VA

This book is incredibly valuable to anyone tasked with building communities on the Internet or seeking to influence others via the web. But it is equally relevant to everyone who uses the Internet as a resource for entertainment, information, or communication, and who wants to "look behind the curtain" and see how individuals and groups can influence and even manipulate populations, opinions and political outcomes. Read this book for all the facts it contains but pay close attention to the subtext because you may learn things about this world that you don't really want to hear.