All of the IF Fellows will participate in the 8th National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation. It will take place in Denver, Colorado, November 2-4, 2018. IF has participated in NCDD conferences over the years and we found them a great place to form new partnerships, learn about the art and science of dialogue and deliberation, and see how the latest technologies are offering to assist us in engaging in dialogue around the world.
Check out the schedule of the conference here. And if you’re interested to join, you can still register here. If you decide to come to the conference, we hope to see you in one of the 5 sessions that IF Fellows are co-facilitating. Here are their descriptions:
- Developing Materials, Identifying Challenges, and Embracing Opportunities for Dialogue and Deliberation in Rural America
“This session will offer an exploration of an effort by the Interactivity Foundation to develop a discussion guide on the future of agriculture and rural communities regarding the effort to share strategies for organizing rural discussions and organizing discussions in urban communities on rural themes. This session will critically examine the so-called urban/rural divide. In addition to this particular resource, presenters will share stories of connecting into rural deliberative systems, highlighting challenges and opportunities for working in rural communities such as Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Oregon, and Arizona.”
- Enriching Journalism and D&D through Collaboration
“This interactive session highlights multiple approaches to collaboration between journalists and D&D. The presenters will draw on their experience leading efforts connecting journalists and the communities they serve through dialogue and deliberation-based engagement efforts. We’ll highlight three of our projects, and reference others, to surface best practices for building D&D approaches into journalism and ensuring D&D efforts resonate with media organizations to support meaningful community change. We’ll then move into interactive, small group discussions to identify and critique ideas for incorporating these practices into the efforts and projects of session attendees, developing ideas from the perspectives of both D&D practitioners and journalists.”
- Growing the Next Generation of D&D Leaders through Campus Dialogues
“How might we grow the next generation of D&D leaders? In this session, we’ll share different co-curricular approaches to student-facilitated campus dialogues that could play a role. We represent 5 different schools of various sizes (UC Davis, Oklahoma State, Emory, University of Tampa, and Wesleyan College) and different non-profits (Sustained Dialogue Institute and the Interactivity Foundation). Together with workshop attendees, we’ll explore what it takes to create and sustain the ecosystem for co-curricular D&D programs, the challenges and promises for this work, and lessons learned so far.”
- NCDD Showcase—Let’s Talk About Race
“For many of us, it’s scarier than talking about sex but arguably never more needed in our Republic. Come and brainstorm some ideas for adding to the #AmericaStrongChallenge effort that invites all Americans to broaden their social circles and share the connections they make via social media. How do we inspire ourselves to go where we haven’t gone before, make great new connections, and live out the best of our American Dreams? What can we in the dialogue space do to make spaces and opportunities for Americans across the country to connect in new ways and bridge outdated social silos? Enjoy some hors d’oeuvres and cocktails while you join us for some interactivity and a whole lot of imaginative brainstorming fun!”
- Social Media and Online Dialogue and Deliberation: Experiences, Challenges, and Solutions
“This workshop will start with a brief review of a few specific and recent instances of online discussion on social media gone bad. In smaller group discussions thereafter, participants will be encouraged to share, discuss and explore their ideas about more general online challenges, including, for example: challenges arising from the for-profit or commercial side of social media, the increasing polarization & decreasing participation online generally, and the often “drive-by” commentary fostered online and other incivilities that discourage deeper citizen engagement–among other online challenges. The workshop will culminate with a discussion focused on identifying and developing some ideas and strategies for addressing these challenges.”
If you cannot be at the NCDD conference in person this year, you can still follow the event on social media, including live updates on IF’s Facebook page and Twitter @IN_IF_Fellow.