‘What should we do?’ seems to be a fulcrum of our public discussions today. This is a question that is raised in the streets of Madison and Washington alike. The question—‘What should we do?’—is a precursor to action. It recognizes certain problems and wants to do...
The Interactivity Foundation (IF) focuses upon three major discussion areas: sanctuary project discussions designed to develop public policy possibilities in our selected areas of concern, public discussions of the contrasting policy possibilities presented in our...
At the dawn of western philosophy Socrates was asking questions in the Athenian agora. The whole of western thought has arguably been developed in search of answers to the questions he asked. But our understanding of philosophy and science has developed not so much...
One of the core aspects of IF is that the policy possibilities in our discussion reports are not developed by politicians and policy wonks, but by citizens for their fellow citizens. Our project facilitators are charged with seeing that our panelists focus upon...
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...
To date, I've held back in posting any of my own, all too unique "Perspectives" on this site, so today I venture into new and hopefully not entirely dangerous waters. While it doesn’t slice bread or otherwise provide all the answers, and bearing the not...
Life imitates art, or so they say. But not always. At least not completely. Take the story of Chicken Little. True, we’ve got no shortage these days of Chicken Littles. It’s hard to turn around without bumping into a Chicken Little leading a parade of experts,...
One of the benefits of ongoing citizen conversation is the ability to talk about issues that might impact individuals and communities long before they become controversial or partisan. This type of citizen re-imagining was once part of our approach to governance....
It almost goes without saying that many professionals could be more helpful to the cause of citizen discussion. Educators, lawyers, social workers, communicators, planners, and administrators throughout the profit, non-profit, and public sectors could all make...
The “ambush” of US Congressional representatives over the summer of 2009 by the foes of national health care reform did little to endear expanded citizen participation to those who bore the brunt of bullying and disruption at so-called “town hall” meetings on the...