The American's recently concluded national election was historic: It was the first election campaign conducted with the participation of members via electronic media.
An important part of the preparation for this process was the development of two electronic mailing lists of members who are online. One is designed to facilitate ongoing discussion by members; the other was an “elections list,” assembled from the members' list but including only those members who expressed interest in receiving transmissions about the elections. (See “The Members' List: A New Way to Stay in Touch” and “apsa.org: To the Members, To the World,” TAP 31/4.)
By means of the very active elections list, candidates, supporters, and members wishing to grill candidates on their views were able to address the entire list with the stroke of a key. Their comments or letters were automatically distributed to all subscribers by the same Internet computer that handles the APsaA Web site. Anyone wishing to respond had only to submit a reply to gain access to the eyes and ears of the candidates and all the other attentive members.
As a result of this new capability, the candidates spelled out their platforms at a level of detail unknown until now, with an impact on the electorate that has not been achievable in the past. The usual system is to have candidates create statements during the summer for inclusion in the fall edition of TAP. This approach precludes the opportunity for rebuttal or debate and lacks the immediacy and poignancy of the quick but thoughtful exchanges available online.
Beyond the election, a compilation of the opinions, concerns, and desires of members, as expressed on the members' list, demonstrates how very alert and alive many members are and how many matters are central to their concerns.
An incomplete list of uses to which the e-mail list has been put includes discussions about ethics, philosophy of psychoanalytic underpinnings, validity of findings, and the application of our findings to law. Beyond these debates, those searching for bibliographic references, seeking referrals for patients relocating to other parts of the country, or hoping for diagnostic help have sought assistance from others. Those hoping to learn from the experiences of other individuals, societies, or institutes have all been able to place questions and requests online and to receive answers quickly. As this article was being written (January 1998), there was a very interesting, clarifying, and educating exchange going on about our participation in Medicare.
We have the chance to study, exchange, learn, and come to decisions about major problems confronting us much more quickly than in the past. The American, it has been estimated, has regularly taken from 10 to 13 years to reach consensus on issues that touch on our core identities. Using electronic media should help to speed up this process and interest more members who have been turned away from our political process in the past by interminable debates with no conclusions. A recent article in the Atlantic Monthly opined that the greatest change produced by e-mail and Internet connection will be a further expansion of democratic processes.
We urge our members to equip and teach themselves how to participate in electronic exchanges, which will soon become as necessary as cars and telephones. Learning one's way around a computer is no longer the ordeal it used to be. I can recall when electric starters replaced cranking for starting cars. Computers are about at a place comparable to the introduction of automatic transmissions. We hope you will all try to get on board.
Melvin Mandel, M.D., is a member of the Task Force on Communications and Information.