Advocacy, Activism, and the Internet
Community Organization and Social Policy

Notes on Contributors

David Barnhizer is Professor of Law at the Cleveland State University where he teaches environmental law, international trade, strategy and trial advocacy. He is Senior Advisor to the International Program of the Natural Resources Defence Council, a Board member of Earth Summit Watch and Steering Committee member of the Industrial Shrimp Action Network (ISA Net). He has worked on environmental and human rights activities in a diverse range of countries, including Mongolia, Thailand, Ecuador, Honduras, Russia, Bangladesh, Colombia, Ecuador and Honduras as well as most European nations. He is author of THE WARRIOR LAWYER, which applies Japanese and Chinese strategic thinking to law practice, and STRATEGIES FOR SUSTAINABLE SOCIETIES. He is currently completing two books for Ashgate Publishing dealing with effective strategies for human rights protection.

Jennifer Bartron is Senior Planner at United Way of the Capital Area in Hartford, Connecticut. She supervises an outcome measurement initiative; researches and recommends program priorities; and directs grant administration. Ms. Bartron holds her M.S.W. in community organization, policy, planning and administration from Boston College, and a B.S. in Family Studies, Summa Cum Laude, from University of Connecticut. She has policy expertise from experience in organizations such as United Way of Massachusetts Bay and the Worcester Office of Elder Affairs. Her contributions to studies of e-advocacy and e-fundraising have been presented at national conferences. Ms. Bartron resides in Columbia, Connecticut.

Katherine Mary Boland is a researcher with the Department of Institutional Research and Planning at Rowan University. She has been co-investigator for a number of studies on electronic advocacy and has published and presented papers on a variety of topics related to technology and advocacy. She was also involved in creating an on-line advocacy program for a regional organization advocating for children and youth.

Nick Buxton is Communications and Networks Executive at Jubilee 2000 Coalition in the UK and has worked for the debt campaign since 1996, shortly after it was launched.

Craig Campbell, MSW. He is a graduate of the MSW Program, Indiana University School of Social Work with a specialization is Macro practice. Currently, Mr. Campbell is the Member Benefits and Technology Manager with Indiana Youth Services Association and Associate Faculty in the BSW Program at Indiana University. The focus of his paper presentations and publications is mainly on technology and community practice.

Joe Clarke received his MSW from Boston College (97). He works for Catholic Social Services of Philadelphia as an outreach worker to some 21 urban parishes. He came to social work after a twenty year career in information technology, and now works to combine information management techniques with principles of community organizing. Joe is a board member of the Digital Miracles initiative, which is joint-effort sponsored by the Center for Community Partnerships of the University of Pennsylvania, schools, community organizations and other institutions to bridge the gaps in resource access to the surrounding communities of West & Southwest Philadelphia.

George Haskett has been Associate Professor of Social Work at Marywood University since 1985. He has been actively involved in public welfare programs since 1967. He has worked as an administrator, researcher, and lobbyist/advocate. His recent research interests have included child welfare, family violence, poverty, and public welfare programs.

Steven Hick is an academic, author and humanitarian activist with interests in human rights, social work, and the Internet. He is a professor at Carleton University, founder and Director of War Child Canada, Director of a human rights research centre, and an accomplished writer, researcher and new media producer. He recently published Human Rights and the Internet, a textbook entitled Social Work in Canada: An Introduction and two journal articles and four chapters on the Internet and activism. He has been working extensively in Cuba collaborating with the University of Havana as they network the campus for Internet access.

On-Kwok LAI is professor in the School of Policy Studies, Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan, holding an honorary professorship in Social Work & Social Administration and an honorary research fellowship of the Centre of Urban Planning and Environmental Management, both at the University of Hong Kong. He gained his Dr.rer.pol.at the University of Bremen, Germany and has done research and taught in Germany, Hong Kong, and New Zealand. His research interests are on comparative socio-political analysis of environmental, social and urban issues.

John McNutt teaches policy, research and macro practice in the Graduate School of Social Work at Boston College. His research is in the area of advocacy and activism on the Internet. He is chair of the Technology Symposium at the CSWE Annual Program Meeting and has presented, copresented or published over a 100 scholarly works.

Goutham M. Menon is Assistant Professor at the College of Social Work, University of South Carolina. Dr. Menon’s area of work is focused on the utilization of technology for Social Work practice and education. Dr. Menon is on the board of editors for the Journal of Technology in Human Services and also reviews papers for the journal Social Development Issues. He manages the websites for the Inter-University Consortium for International Social Development, the International Commission of the Council on Social Work Education and oversees the working of SWAN. Dr. Menon also follows developments in the areas of International Social Development, Immigration Policy and Asian Mental Health.

Irene Queiro-Tajalli She is Professor and Director of the BSW Program at Indiana University School of Social Work. Her areas of practice and teaching are generalist practice and community practice. Dr. Queiro-Tajalli devotes part of her time to presenting workshops, mainly on Latinos, aging, and technology, and is the author of several publications. A focus area of her recent writings is organizing in an information society.

Emily Reich brings a lifelong interest in social aspects of computer networking. She has a degree in computer science/technology & society from Amherst College and an International MBA. She has rich experience developing web-based applications in a variety of organizational settings. She has designed and maintained web sites for non-profit groups (with an emphasis on sites that let people "take action" and get involved in political issues) as well as intranets for global orgs with projects around the world. Emily is currently working as a Project Director for GroupJazz.

Edward Schwartz is presently President of the Institute for the Study of Civic Values, an organization that he founded in 1973 to develop education, research, and action programs that relate contemporary issues to America's historic ideals. Presently, the Institute sponsors a Social Contract Project, which helps neighborhood organizations develop social contracts with local government defining shared responsibilities for community improvemet. Dr. Schwartz received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Rutgers University in 1986. He is a 1965 graduate of Oberlin College. A student activist throughout the 1960's, he was national President of the National Student Association in 1967-68, spearheading a major movement for Astudent power.@ He has served as a visiting lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania and has taught classes at Haverford College and and Temple. In 1984, Dr. Schwartz was elected a Councilman-at-Large in Philadelphia. In just 3 2 years, he emerged as a major force in developing innovative strategies for neighborhood economic development. He fought successfully to hold pre-paid fares on the City's public transit system, SEPTA, below $1.00. He also was a leader in holding City departments accountable to set standards of performance. As a Councilman, he was the first Philadelphia elected official to use computer-generated data bases to monitor the work of City departments and as early as 1986 participated regularly in an on-line local computer bulletin board to exchange views on public issues with computer-literate constituents. In 1984, Philadelphia Magazine gave Dr. Schwartz an award as an, "Honest Politician," and he won "Best of Philly" awards as "Best Local Politician" and "Best City Councilman" in succeeding years as well.

Jan Steyaert PhD is lector in 'Social infrastructure and technology' at the Fontys university of professional education in Eindhoven (the Netherlands). He has published widely on the application of technology in human services as well as on the dynamics between technology and social quality of society. His work focuses on research and developments projects for local agencies, (local/national) government and international work for the European Union. He can be reached at J.Steyaert@fontys.nl

Ryan Turner directs nonprofit policy and technology projects at OMB Watch, an effort to provide a voice for nonprofits in the technology development and practices that affect their use of information and communications tools in public policy activities. This includes research, demonstration projects, and informaiton dissemination and outreach work; and the identification of emerging trends and model practices of nonprofit technology. Prior to joining OMB Watch, Ryan worked as a research specialist with the Washington, DC-based Police Executive Research Forum, where he assisted in information analysis for a federally-funded homicide investigation improvement model-development program. He also was the projects coordinator and editor for the Character Education Partnership, a national nonprofit coalition of organizations and individuals providing resource information on moral education programs in the United States.

Stephen P. Wernet is Professor of Social Work and Public Policy Studies at Saint Louis University. He is a nationally recognized social work educator and researcher in the field of non-profit and social work administration. . His recent research program also focuses upon web-enhanced and distributed learning in higher education, and in particular social work education. Professor Wernet has authored numerous articles and papers on non-profit organizations, social work administration and distributed learning. He recently completed an edited book, Managed Care in Human Service (Lyceum Books, Inc. 1999) and coauthored Cases in Macro Social Work Practice (Allyn and Bacon, Inc. 2000) with David P. Fauri and F. Ellen Netting.