With its over 30,000 registered members, dol2day (“democracy online today”) is the largest Germanlanguage community devoted to politics on the Internet. Numerous media, such as television, radio and the press, report via dol2day and government parties also endorse the community. At least three times a month, the site offers moderated live chats with German politicians; guests have included Franz Müntefering, Laurenz Meyer and Lothar Bisky, amongst others. Aside from chats with politicians, dol2day also offers series on diverse topics, for example, chats against right-wing extremism.

dol2day is the first community with a virtual party system. There are now 24 Internet parties, each of which is represented by an elected board. Every four months, the community democratically elects an Internet Chancellor. He/She can set up diverse forums for the length of his/her term, and so come to agreements with community members about his/her work. All measures must be put up for direct vote by the governing Internet Chancellor. Hence the community regards itself as a pilot project for implementing direct democracy, and explores the possibilities and difficulties of the technology involved. In addition to the participating Internet parties, there are now over 2,500 initiatives on a large variety of themes on dol2day. These include political topics, but also local issues or initiatives for sport fans, specific television shows and music groups. Within the framework of these initiatives and the Internet parties, there are also forums which are not open to the public; in them authorized members can carry out surveys, elect their boards or debate.

Apart from these many functions, which are augmented by a virtual registry office, the site offers a non-partisan “dol” newspaper that regularly appears online. Community members are responsible for the entire paper; they report on community events, conduct interviews as well as raise explosive real-life issues. The paper also covers actual encounters of its members—encounters which occur almost weekly somewhere in Germany.

dol2day has thus paved the way for political and democratic simulation on the Internet: it is the first community with a virtual party system and regularly held elections. Moreover, dol2day is unprecedented in how its community defines itself; it is determined by its members which are represented by their democratically-elected online government.

The Internet presents a unique opportunity for making the dynamics of politics discernible through the interactivity of the media itself. What is more it makes it possible to reach countless citizens and involve them actively in political events, and so arouse their enthusiasm for politics. Through the Internet, democracy for all citizens comes to life! The idea of improving political education via the Internet was what initially motivated its founders to establish the political community dol2day in 2000.