Electronic Advocacy and Social Welfare Policy Education

The rapid increase in the number of low-cost computers, the proliferation of user-friendly software, and the development of electronic networks have created the "informatics era." The Internet is a rapidly growing communication resource that is becoming mainstream in the American society. Computer-based electronic political advocacy by social workers attempting to influence public policy has proliferated in recent years. Advocacy using high-tech lobbying tools has spread to all social policy debates. Despite this exploration of electronic advocacy, scholars have made little effort to study this area. This paper will discuss the following four dimensions: (1) definition of computer-based electronic advocacy, (2) advantages of computer-based electronic advocacy, (3) challenges of computer-based electronic advocacy, and (4) incorp-orating computer-based electronic advocacy into social welfare policy education. (C) 2005 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.