netroots - meaning "internet grassroots," a "netmanteau"?

[William Palmer]

I have no comment on the subject...just tryting to see if I am able to post,
using my GMail.  Since I changed computers, I can't post using Bellsouth,
altho I can read posts by other members.

Bill P

On Fri, Jan 21, 2011 at 10:54 AM, Tom Zurinskas <truespel at hotmail.com>wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      netroots - meaning "internet grassroots," a "netmanteau"?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Shall we "blogswarm" to the term "netroots?"  I heard the word, "netroots",
> on TV yesterday on "Hardball" as if it were common parlance.  Not to me, but
> said often enough on TV and it could be. The Wikipedia definition is below.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netroots
>
> Netroots is a term coined in 2002 by Jerome Armstrong[1] to describe
> political activism organized through blogs and other online media, including
> wikis and social network services. The word is a portmanteau of Internet and
> grassroots, reflecting the technological innovations that set netroots
> techniques apart from other forms of political participation. In the United
> States, the term is used mainly in left-leaning circles.[2]
>
> At times the term netroots is used interchangeably with the term
> blogosphere, though the blogosphere is considered a subset of netroots in
> that blogosphere describes just the online community of blogs, where
> netroots includes that plus a number of larger liberal on-line outposts such
> as MoveOn, Media Matters for America and Think Progress.[1]
>
> Advocates claim that the essential quality of the netroots is its flatness
> and inter-linked web connectiveness -- that it constitutes communication
> points that reach out to influence traditional media, but is not directed
> outward from any one point. Through events like a blogswarm, the netroots
> displays non-hierarchical and decentralized features.
>
> first popular use of the term in its modern definition is Netroots for
> Howard Dean, by Jerome Armstrong in December 2002 on MyDD. Democratic
> political consultant Joe Trippi credits the short lived success of his
> then-client Howard Dean to their listening and taking the lead from netroots
> activity.
>
> William Safire explained the term's origin in the New York Times Magazine
> on November 19, 2006:
>
>
>
> Tom Zurinskas, from Conn 20 yrs, then Tenn 3, NJ 33, now FL 8.
> Free English-based phonetic converter, URL and text , at truespel.com
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
Bill Palmer
4 Timberlyne Road
Chapel Hill NC 27514
919-929-7431
919-593-5195 (Mobile)

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org