Town meeting on Americaʹs coastal future: using the Internet to promote coastal stewardship

Ten national organizations developed a comprehensive vision for Americaʹs coastal future and then conducted a national dialogue about coastal futures over the Internet. Using the Internet town meeting, more than 7000 participants shared their views and perspectives about alternative coastal futures over a six-month period.This paper describes the development and implementation of the Internet town meeting and draws lessons for using the Internet to communicate at the grassroots level. It reports the results of the Internet town meeting and considers their implications for National Ocean and coastal management efforts.