Click On Democracy - of the Internet and Civic Renewal

In this review of Click On Democracy the focus is on who benefits from a close look at the Internet's role in modern civic life. The book argues that the 2000 election's most important effect was social rather than electoral, and readers interested in political communication or community organizing will find the analysis revealing. This review finds the collection useful for understanding how online networking shaped grassroots civic engagement and why that shift matters beyond votes and fundraising.

Key Features

• Historical focus: A detailed examination of Election 2000 that highlights the Internet's emerging influence on political behavior rather than short-term electoral returns.
• Bottom-up perspective: Contributors foreground grassroots actors and organizers, showing how online tools built political communities and civic ties.
• Primary interviews: Contains conversations with people actively using the Internet for civic action, providing firsthand reporting and practical examples.
• Analytic argument: Advances the claim that the Internet's most profound impact was social renewal of civic engagement, offering a different interpretive lens for scholars and practitioners.
• New foreword: A contemporary framing by Scott Heiferman and William Finkel of Meetup connects early observations to later developments in online community organizing.

Who It's For

Click On Democracy is well suited for students, researchers, and civic practitioners curious about the early political uses of the Internet and how networked communication reshapes participation. The book is especially useful for those studying political sociology, digital organizing, or the history of online civic tools.

Readers seeking a how-to manual for present-day digital campaigns or up-to-the-minute technical advice should look elsewhere; the strength here is interpretation and historical reporting rather than current platform tactics.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Provides a clear, social-centered interpretation of the Internet's political role that challenges narrow electoral narratives.
• Collects firsthand interviews and practitioner perspectives that give concrete examples of online civic activity.
• Connects early Internet organizing to later community platforms through an informative new foreword.

Cons

• The material focuses on Election 2000 and the early web era, so readers wanting contemporary platform analysis will find limited technical applicability.

Specifications

Our Verdict

Click On Democracy is a thoughtful, historically grounded collection that convincingly reframes the Internet's political significance as social and communal. It is good value for students and civic-minded readers who want to understand the roots of online organizing and the non-electoral ways technology reshapes participation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this book focus on a single election?
Yes, the contributors examine Election 2000 as the pivotal national contest in which the Internet played a major role.

Is this a practical guide for digital campaigning?
No; the book is interpretive and historical rather than a step-by-step campaign manual.

Who wrote the foreword?
The new foreword is by Scott Heiferman and William Finkel, connecting the book's themes to later community platforms.