Steven L. Clift
Welcome.

Network Global.  Build Local.

Table of Contents


 
 

Online Strategies Consultant - This is my new undertaking.  My first contract is to the International Advisory Group for the Markle Foundation's E-mail for All Outreach Campaign. I plan to add a couple more part-time contracts as well as public speaking engagements in 1998.  Consulting for good projects is paying the bills as I work to establish Democracies Online. 


Democracies Online, Director - This initiative now offers the Democracy Notes newsletter and the Democracies Online Newswire service. 

I left the Minnesota Office of Technology and my Project Coordinator position with the State of Minnesota's goverment online efforts in the fall of 1997.   To leave a GOL project (on very good terms) that had just received one million dollars in funding from our state legislature is either brave or stupid.  I feel that the need and potential impact of a project like Democracies Online is worth the risk. 

I am now working on an expanded proposal for full establishment of Democracies Online in the Center for Democracy and Citizenship at the Humprhey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota.  The million dollar plus budget will cover at least three years.  Since this is my first major fund raising effort, some help and mentoring along the way would be helpful.  Seed money would also help get the project planning off on the right foot. 

In the last two years I have given presentations, held meetings, and in most cases was interviewed by the media in Stockholm, Amsterdam, London, Brighton, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Barcelona, Geneva, Munich, Vienna, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Toronto, Paris, Sydney (Australia and Nova Scotia), Melbourne, Canberra, Wellington, Auckland, New York City, Milwaukee, and even in Minnesota. 

Perhaps I give a good speech?  Combining online and in-person outreach is important, so I am always open to invitations.   In most of these places I have stayed in people's homes and managed to cover my costs.  I will be organizing a Democracies Online outreach tour in 1998 and 1999.  If you'd like to host a visit in your area, please let me know. 


G7 Government Online and Democracy White Paper, Co-Editor - Olov Ostberg, Sweden's contact to the G7 GOL effort recruited me to serve as co-editor with him for the G7 GOL and Democracy White Paper.  This is quite a challenge.  The final paper will soon be released. 

Sweden is one of 25 or so countries involved with the G7 Government Online initiative. In May 1996 I worked for the Statskontoret - Swedish Agency for Administrative Development in Sweden.  I started building international GOL connections in 1995 when I started GOV-NET an e-mail forum geared toward top-level government WWW sites. While the forum is relatively quiet now, it helped me build ties to leaders across the world who are working to make government more open and service-friendly from the inside.  I guess I have one foot on the inside and one on the outside. 


Minnesota E-Democracy, Board Chair - I am committed to building "citizen-based" electronic democracy. In 1994 with the help of many volunteers we created the world's first election-oriented WWW site. We also launched the MN-POLITICS e-mail forum which is the interactive heartbeat of our continuing effort. You find my tips for online political discussions useful.  If you want to get a quick snap shot of my perspective, read my Putting Pen to Paper: Electronic Democracy, Write On! essay.  The project has received extensive global and local media coverage including this article by WCCO's Channel 4000.  I'd like to see local, regional, and national projects like Minnesota E-Democracy and United Kingdom Citizens Online Democracy around the world.  It is a lot of work, but I have no shortage of advice. 


State of Minnesota North Star Project, Project Coordinator - From late 1994 through July 1997, I coordinated the State of Minnesota's primary government online initiative.  My decision to leave the Office of Technology at the end of this summer, just when we obtained a one million dollar two year budget, was a difficult one.  I decided that the project would be in good hands and that I had contributed most of the value that I could by helping it get off the ground, funded!, and into law.  I guess I like to be on the edge where I feel I can make the next important contribution based on my abilities, interests, and energy. 

If you want to explore our behind the scenes GOL handy work, check out the Development Center. North Star received a Minnesota Freedom of Information Award in 1996.  I also serve on the coordinating committee for the GOVNEWS effort which is building a global collection of "governmental" newsgroups where I think much of what I wrote about in 1993 will happen on a large scale.  In both my professional and volunteer work I endeavor to revolutionize the way citizens interact with each other and with government. 


Government Information Access Council, Interim Executive Director - In late 1993 I wrote a North Star-like proposal for the state's Information Policy Office.  It lead to a Governor's budget proposal for an online system which was turned by the legislature into a policy council.  In the fall of 1994 I joined the IPO full time to help staff the council.  (I started Minnesota E-Democracy just prior to rejoining the IPO.)  GIAC was one of only two state-level reviews of information access policy in recent years.  Their final principles, full report, and a report on government use of copyright are of most interest.  It was a pleasure to work with the members of the citizen-focused council. 


Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota - This is where I completed my Masters course work in 1994. For two years I worked for the Center for Democracy and Citizenship and Project Public Life. Hence the citizen focus in most of my work.  I began my lessons in e-mail magic when I started the Public Policy Network - PUBPOL-L and PUBPOL-D E-mail Lists in 1993.  Prior to graduate school I worked for the Minnesota State Senate as a legislative aide. 

I first discovered the Internet in 1992 when I thought of it as clear reception shortwave radio.  Once I came to understand its nature, my political mind started thinking.  I came to the conclusion that it would become the primary tool for political agenda setting and organizing within the next decade or two.  It has moved much faster than that, but it isn't by nature a positive force.  People need to use its tools for worthy purposes I soon became disappointed with the ideological and acidic political discussions I first found.  So I started PUBPOL-L and never looked back.  As I have come along, I have shifted from global efforts to more and more local uses with a global perspective.  I recently collected e-mail addresses at my block picnic and extended family reunion!   Now that is local. 
 
Scribbles and Ideas - While a columnist for my college newspaper a number of years ago, my editor retitled my last article to "Clift's head becomes Ideas Factory." 

That is fairly accurate.  While not all my ideas are good ideas, I have so many which means some of them are worth sharing. 

Here are some highlights from the web and e-mail lists.  I tend to write rather spontaneously: 

For a broader glimpse at some of my ideas, please visit some of the e-mail lists that I contribute to on a regular basis. Here are some of my postings (searches may take a minute): 
 
Beyond the Resume 

I hope it is clear that I am sharing these "Gee, look what I did" facts based on my desire to make the world a better place.  What isn't so clear is that I am a fairly well-rounded person (I hope) and have lots of other interests.  As I edit this I am sitting on my small deck behind the duplex I live in.  I can hear the summer birds and leaves as they rustle in the wind.  Not far away are the coffee shops and places I frequent for weekend brunch with my New York Times or local neighborhood papers.  Over the ridge past the stately cemetary where Vice President Hubert Humphrey is buried is one of the Chain of Lakes with its bicycle and walking paths. 

(As I edit this in January 1998 it is now below zero F, but I did put up a bird feeder that I can see out my window as I work from home.) 

By way of family background, I am a fourth generation Minnesotan who was born in Minneapolis and raised in Minnetonka and Winona.  My mother's side of the family is Swedish and a personal highlight of my Sweden trip was visiting the farm where my great great grandfather Per Olaf Johannson was born with distant relatives who still live on the island of Öland. 

I have two younger brothers.   One is a ceramic artist in graduate school in Delaware and the other works with information systems in an international finance division of American Express.  My wonderful mother and her husband now live in Des Moines, Iowa. 

Winona, where I spent my formative years from age ten through college is a beautiful river town nestled in the bluffs along the Mississippi.  My interest in community, my extended family (I don't have one of my own yet), nature, gardens, travel, and a yearning for something bigger started in that smaller town. 

I believe in being grounded in your local community, while always being connected to the broader world.  Since I moved back to Minneapolis I continue to look for ways to become more grounded locally as my connections to the world multiply.  In fact a lot of what I hope to learn is related to what I'd like to apply back home. 

I have been very fortunate and am incredibly amazed by the wonderful hospitality of people who I have hosted my visits around the world.  I look forward to returning the favor when people come through Minnesota. 

At age 17 I learned the hard way, with the death of my father from cancer, that life can be cut short, so give life your all, take risks, make opportunities, and be a good person who measures their value in what they leave behind not what the use up along the way. 

Thanks for reading my page,