Will the internet determine the outcome of the general election?

I am pleased to have been asked to participate in a round-table event with this title next Thursday 11th March starting at 10am hosted by the BCS as part of their "Savvy Citizens" initiative.

Here are the details:

On 11 March 2010 at 10am, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT will host a round-table debate at the BCS headquarters in London, as part of the ongoing Savvy Citizens campaign.

The topic to be debated will be: ‘Will the internet determine the outcome of the next general election?’

The panellists are:

Elizabeth Sparrow, President, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT

Paul Staines, leading political blogger Guido Fawkes

Jag Singh, former advisor to Hillary Clinton; founder of political ad agency MessageSpace

Derek Wyatt, Labour MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey

Mark Thompson, Liberal Democrat blogger at Mark Reckons

Michael Cross, a freelance journalist and regular contributor to The Guardian, will chair the session.

You are invited to watch this live at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/citizenshippanel

The event will be live-tweeted from the Savvy Citizens Twitter account: @SavvyCitizens

Questions to be put to the panel should be submitted in advance via Twitter @SavvyCitizens or via email savvycitizens@bcs.org or as a comment to this blog post.

I am very much looking forward to the event. As a software engineer (by training) and IT Director in my non-political life I am particularly pleased that the BCS is getting involved in debates like this.