Tag Archives: citizen discussions
Managing Anger in Public Discussion
IF public discussions provide participants with opportunities to discuss contrasting policy possibilities in neutral, non-partisan settings. Because these possibilities are meant to be anticipatory of possible policy approaches that allow participants to “re-imagine” how society handles issues, our discussions are generally “hopeful”. That does not mean that every participant agrees with each possibility (those possibilities Read more »
Posted in Perspectives Also tagged attitude, challenges, discussion process, facilitation, Public Discussions Leave a comment
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Hope, Change, and that Political Fog of Enthusiasm
Public policy possibilities are often developed and discussed within a fog of enthusiasm. It’s not that the people who advance them do not think at all about their possible practical consequences. But they tend to think a lot more about the consequences that are favorable to their goals–about what will happen if everything goes according Read more »
The Right Stuff
The raucous debate last month (March, 2010) over the health care bill was hardly unexpected. For more than one hundred years, efforts to provide better access to decent health care for all Americans have been thwarted. And, in fact, when universal health care was being debated in Canada decades ago, there was similar vitriol by Read more »
Posted in Perspectives Also tagged civic engagement, discussion process, facilitation, participation, Public Discussions, recruiting Leave a comment
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All Communication Is Not Created Equal: Observations on the Usefulness of Blogging
Blogging, like most forms of communication, can serve various purposes. It can contribute to both IF’s learning by doing (through recruiting, say) and teaching (by drawing attention to the lessons we have learned by doing). But it is a fundamental error to value blogging because it might create opportunities for discussion. Blogging might engender discussion, Read more »
Posted in Perspectives Also tagged civic engagement, communication skills, conversations, discussion process Leave a comment
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Practical Tips for Citizen Discussion of Possibilities: Part III-Managing and Wrapping Up a Discussion
Two previous installments in this practical tips series have attempted to glean wisdom from the facilitators who have led dozens of discussions on IF reports. We have looked at some of the issues involved in putting behinds in the seats and jump-starting conceptual discussion of the possibilities in our reports as key areas to focus Read more »
Posted in Perspectives Also tagged conceptual possibilities, discussion process, facilitation, Public Discussions Leave a comment
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Expense Forms – for IF sponsored classes and for citizen discussions
You can download MS Word copies of the expense cover sheets for IF sponsored courses and for citizen discussions by clicking on the following links: Expense Form for IF-Sponsored Courses Expense Form for Citizen Discussions Please include your receipts when you submit these forms, preferably scotch-taped to a separate full size sheet of paper. When Read more »
Lessons from Citizens Concerning “Starting Points” in Discussion
IF conducts projects that result in reports containing contrasting policy possibilities so that others may have the benefit of “starting points” in their own discussions of policy areas. Presumably, a helpful report could assist other citizens in getting an initial sense of the breadth of a topic, could suggest some of the significant questions that Read more »
Practical Tips for Citizen Discussion of Possibilities: Part II- Starting the Discussion
In my previous installment on practical tips I looked at recruitment of citizen groups. The who, what, and where of that first step of gathering the bodies exerts considerable influence on how you might want to initiate discussion of policy possibilities. We will start with the assumption that you want to engage the participants, make Read more »
Development of Possibilities in “Difficult” Policy Areas
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