Crell

As the hosts of your various shows, you've said before that you're "just the talent" and "don't let the talent run the show". (I forget which episode that was on, but I know you said it.)

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So... how much editorial input do you have on a regular basis? Do you get to approve every story you do, how it's edited, etc., or do they just hand you a script and say "here, read this and go home"? I'm assuming it's somewhere in the middle, but quite curious where.

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(This question is for both of you, so feel free to answer separately.)

What was the genesis of Make Me Smart? How drunk were you when you came up with the idea? Which of you needed to convince the other? Where did the "Make Me Smart Question" come from? That sort of thing. :-)

Prof. Lessig,

I've been a supporter of your efforts for some time, from Represent.Us to UnitedRepublic to the American Anti-Corruption Act to now MayDay (to which I have already proudly pledged). Thank you for all that you do.

However, I must say I'm continually confused; there seem to be so many different angles being played I don't know which one to put effort behind. As an example, I had an account on the UnitedRepublic site for their "action kit" to spread the word about the AACA to people; I'd managed to get about 50 people to sign on as co-sponsors through me, which is awesome. But now the site is directing peple to Represent.us, where there's no account sign in that I can find for links to send people to.

It seems the strategy keeps shifting so fast I can't keep up. What call-to-action should I be encouraging people to follow this week? Is the AACA strategy (get 1 million citizen supporters, get candidates on the record for/against, then take-down the ones that are against) dead? Or is this step 2 of the AACA? Honestly I can't tell anymore.

I guess my question is... is there some clear process being followed that I can point people to? Or is it just a lot of try-and-see with little coordination? I want to know how best to direct people I talk to to get them on board, not just with understanding the problem but in taking action. And I feel somewhat lost of late as to what call-to-action to give them in any given week.