Tag Archives: conversations
An Exemplar of Civic Conversation
Owen Coyle, a friend of over thirty years duration, passed away a week ago and the time since has been filled with memories of political collaborations and stories shared about our other adventures. The collaborations started with sharing the same office at the Wisconsin headquarters of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Read more »
Posted in Perspectives Also tagged civic engagement, deliberation, democracy, generosity 1 Comment
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Connecting IF Reports to Current Issues in Public Discussions
A recent Frontline episode (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/vaccines/?utm_campaign=homepage&utm_medium=bigimage&utm_source=bigimage_) exploring the vaccine controversy was fascinating and suggests several openings by which a couple of our less discussed reports might find some legs. Both the Regulation and Science reports connect nicely to this current controversy and help to make a visceral political debate much more depersonalized by getting to the Read more »
Posted in Perspectives Also tagged civic engagement, conceptual possibilities, discussion process, facilitation Leave a comment
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Dealing With Difference
Difference is a fundamental fact of human life. There is similarity too. But difference is the reason why we need to have discussions about public policy. It is also the reason why they should occur face-to-face, over extended periods of time, and with the assistance of a skilled but neutral facilitator. If we all agreed Read more »
Posted in Perspectives Also tagged attitude, governance, personal development, reasoning skills 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 citizen discussions, civic engagement, communication skills, discussion process 1 Comment
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Recruiting for Public Discussions: Use Groups, Don’t Create Them
It’s time to declare individual recruiting a dead-end approach. The results of upwards of 60 IF public discussions are clear: group-based recruiting is superior. Whether thought of in terms of “’efficiency” or “sustainability,” its advantages over individual recruiting are now patently obvious—or whatever is more obvious than that. It’s time we stop trying to create Read more »
Posted in Perspectives Also tagged challenges, participation, Public Discussions, recruiting Leave a comment
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Public Discussion: We’ve All Done It Before
Some people think there’s something magical or mystical about IF-style citizen discussions. Others think they’re just plain mysterious. They are none of these things. In fact, they’re a lot like the kind of thing most of us do on our own when faced with difficult and important personal or family decisions. Consider the following decision, Read more »
Posted in Perspectives Also tagged citizen discussions, communication skills, personal development, Public Discussions Leave a comment
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Where Do We Make Public Policy Choices?
IF public discussions are intended to help you think through the public policy choices you make. But it may be hard to see where and when such choices might actually present themselves. It may be difficult to see how you could actually influence “public policy.” To a large extent, we can blame this difficulty on Read more »
Posted in Perspectives Also tagged citizen discussions, civic engagement, Public Discussions Leave a comment
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'property' in the arts
The following list of links arose out of an impromptu conversation (with Keally and Jack) after one of our Intellectual Property discussions. The Yes Men – undermining corporate authority and thinking The Art Guys – questioning values and behavior The Situationist International – marxist – surrealist attack on capitalist thinking and ideology Banksy – subverting Read more »
My Young Friend, Jay Stern
I’d like to offer a brief word of farewell to commemorate the passing of a dear friend and mentor, Jay Stern. Jay passed away this past Saturday, June 13, 2009. He was 95 (you can find his obituary here). Jay was, among many other things in his long life, the founder and President of the Read more »
Not So Benign a Conflict
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