Summary
Democracy onAir is a nonpartisan, nonprofit where students bring together information, organizations, citizens, and their representatives to find common ground on key issues and deliver better solutions to support democracies.
Democracy onAir was chartered in Virginia in 2019 and received its 501c3 certification a year later. Over the past four years, George Mason University alumni, students, faculty, and staff have been developing the US onAir network of 50 state governance and election hubs and central US onAir Hub. For more information on the US onAir network … see this post.
Students onAir @GMU, Democracy onAir’s first onAir university chapter, is planning to launch the VA Government onAir hub this spring and, this summer, the US onAir network and, next winter, onAir networks in a number of democracies throughout the world.
OnAir Post: Democracy onAir
About
Democracy onAir, a 501c3 social enterprise, provides the web technology and support OnAir knowledge networks for democracies around the world. Democracy onAir assists students and partner organization to create, host, and sustain the onAir Hub for the networks they manage. Democracy onAir also develops and monitors the curation and moderation guidelines for the Hubs and manages the finances for each state hub.
Democracy onAir aims to address the current climate of divisiveness, tribalism, fact-free dialogue, and ad hominem attacks. We also see an opportunity to bring attention to the underserved area of state political issues and governance.
Our mission to promote a more informed, civil, and engaged civil citizenry is implemented by providing citizens in democratic societies easier, faster, and more efficient ways to:
- Learn about their government, representatives, candidates, and local/regional issues,
- Discuss with their fellow citizens and representatives in civil online and livestreamed forums, and
- Collaborate to find common ground on new legislation and initiatives
Directors
Todd Gillette, started Democracy onAir to address the weakening of democracy institutions and citizen engagement in the US and other global democracies. Todd, with other AIR networks’ associates, has introduced a number of students to the onAir platform and mission.
Three previous student interns who are currently Democracy onAir directors are members of the Board of Directors which Todd chairs. They are: Ben Murphy, Managing Director of the US onAir network; Ani Prakash, Chapter Director and future Managing Director of the India onAir network; and Joe Kubicki-Schar, Media Director for Democracy onAir.
Todd Gillette
Chair, Board of Directors
Todd Gillette is the visionary who inspired the political communication network of Hubs that are now being implemented by Democracy onAir.
Todd’s long-term goal for Democracy onAir to bring people into the political process by making it easier for them to find information that is directly relevant …then help them to realize how powerful they can be in terms of what happens in their community and states. We want to create an environment where people can discuss without misinformation and disinformation, to engender trust in Democracy onAir and each other. We will promote the posts, people, and comments that build bridges and understanding even while people disagree on the issues and policies.
Todd received a PhD in neuroscience from George Mason University’s Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study. His research centered on neuronal morphology with a focus on data mining and pattern analysis. Todd has degrees in Engineering and Computer Science from Swarthmore College. He is currently a software engineer at Northrop Grumman.
For more information about Todd, go to his post.
Ben Murphy
Ben is Managing Director of the US onAir network.
Ben is majoring in international politics with a concentration in International Relations at George Mason University. Ben previously interned with Democracy onAir through the Global Politics Fellows program with our spring 2022 cohort.
Our US onAir team believes that we can become a significant contributor to addressing voter apathy. By establishing onAir hubs and Student onAir chapters in universities across the United States, we can facilitate direct student involvement not only in the political process through the curation of news and aggregation of information surrounding government, but we can also provide the platform and resources that make bringing students and their representatives face to face possible.
People love to talk and be heard, this is particularly true of university students who are at a prime stage of discovering their self-identity and it’s my belief that the best way of doing so is being introduced to as many ideas or people as possible to start figuring out what you like and dislike.
We believe in our mission deeply and think this is a unique opportunity to get students involved by showing them that their participation matters and that there is a way to have their voices heard.”
Ani Prakash
Ani is Chapter Director for Democracy onAir and is Managing Director of India Government onAir network now under development.
Ani is majoring in Global Affairs at George Mason University. Ani previously interned with Democracy onAir through the Global Politics Fellows program with our spring 2022 cohort.
I am working with Democracy onAir because as someone who is keen on studying world affairs and who has developed an interest in domestic politics and foreign policy at a younger age, I have always expressed a passion towards improving the frameworks of our country’s democracy as well as electoral systems that are vital towards preserving the democratic freedoms our nation’s founders have developed.
Joe Kubicki
Joe is Media Director for Democracy onAir.
Joe is majoring in Government and International Politics at George Mason University. Joe previously interned with Democracy onAir through the Global Politics Fellows program with our spring 2022 cohort.
Democracy onAir is a perfect intersection of my interest in politics and my skills in journalism. Getting the word out to the people about what is going on in the world and why they should pay attention is something that is very important to me. So, I want to use my time at Democracy onAir to help spread awareness for issues that more often go unnoticed because people don’t know that these things are even happening.
