Swati Ramanathan Joins Madeleine Albright to Discuss Democracy and Technology at Silicon Valley Event

Swati Ramanathan, co-founder of the Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy in India, will join former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, chairman of the National Democratic Institute (NDI), at an April 24 panel of experts discussing the impact of technology on democracy and global affairs. Ramanathan created Janaagraha's two online initiatives: ipaidabribe.org, which tracks citizen reports of local corruption, and ichangemycity.org, which connects citizens in communities and empowers them to be activists for local issues of concern.

WHO: Secretary Albright; Ramanathan; Moisés Naím, senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of The End of Power; Tim O'Reilly, founder of O'Reilly Media; and Andrew Rasiej, founder of Personal Democracy Media.

WHERE: Computer History Museum, Hahn Auditorium, 1401 N. Shoreline Blvd, Mountain View, Calif.

WHEN: Wednesday, April 24. Registration opens at 11:30 a.m., luncheon program begins at 12 p.m., panel begins at 12:30 p.m.

WHAT: The panel discussion will explore the implications of rapidly changing technology on global affairs and democracy. It will examine the types of assistance needed to help representative democratic institutions in developed and developing democracies adapt to technological changes. Panelists will discuss the implications of these changes on international affairs, diplomacy and development. The panel will take questions from the audience.

This event will be streamed at www.ndi.org/live. Follow #tech4dem for updates.

The panel is the culminating event of a two-day conference, "Governing Democratically in a Tech-Empowered World," organized by NDI, Stanford University's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law, Omidyar Network and International IDEA.

NDI is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, nongovernmental organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government. For more information, visit www.ndi.org.