Wired News: Netizens Rally for Dean Team

A new site has popped up on the Net to help elect Howard Dean president, using a network of independent "nodes" of supporters to collaborate, share news and even design multimedia campaign materials.

A group of software developers has formed Americans for Dean, a site designed to help organize those who support the former Vermont governor's bid for president.

Instead of taking directions from the top down, small groups of Dean supporters can organize their own "campaign node." Each local node, like Milwaukee for Dean or Quilters for Dean, for example, will be able to host forums and post its own news, blogs and calendar using open-source tools assembled by the developers.

Those nodes then will plug into larger nodes, like statewide Dean groups, higher in the network's hierarchy. The larger nodes will keep track of the local nodes and house a repository of Rich Summary Site feeds, enabling the groups to share relevant articles and news.

A collection of campaign-related pictures, videos and audio also will be hosted on the local nodes. All of the media will be licensed under the Creative Commons, and people are encouraged to sample and modify the media, like setting photos to music or creating snazzy new fliers to distribute.