I hit up a lot in the last few days, but right now I am sitting in a panel of organizing the social web for change. The panel has Feministing's lovely tech lady, Deanna Zandt, along with Chris Rabb from Afro-netizen, Andrew Slack, Craig Newmark (craigslist) and Ruby Sinreich.

They are talking about how we use the web for social change. And asks the critical questions, "How can social networking impact politics and policies, and what new technologies will revolutionize organizing in the future?"

Earlier today I hit up "Netroots: What's Next?" about the power of the political blogosphere. It was interesting, but I am really apprehensive about the role of political blogs in the changing political landscape. The panel asked some key questions, one of which I care about dearly, "How are the Netroots connecting with the grassroots and organizing for lasting change?"

After 3 days of hanging out with media reformers and media justicers, I am still stuck on this question. How do blogs and online technologies connect with real grassroots efforts? I know you can give me a list of online efforts, campaigns, petition signings, action centers that have in fact been effective. But the communities that I work with aren't online in the same way that we are. They don't use the web in the way that many of us do, let alone go to a blog to understand how it can help in their campaigns and on their issues. As long as that disconnect exists and only certain people are producing and consuming blogs, I don't see how it is creating this democratic space that so many big political bloggers claim it to be.

Other ideas? How do we use the web to connect with people doing work on the ground? Email lists, listervs, blogs, online journals, myspace? Is Feministing doing this? Are we creating a space where organizers can come together to work on their issues in a real way, make connections and create impact?