“Quite often good things have hurtful consequences. There are instances of men who have been ruined by their money or killed by their courage” Aristotle Actions have consequences. Whatever we do in both our private and public lives has consequences. The policies that we enact on the local, state, and national levels affect individuals, groups, … Read more »
Read More attitude, deliberation, democracy, public discussion, reasoning skillsAnother New Year is here! One of the most popular things to do before a new year rushes in is to conjure many new beginnings—or to make a list of New Year’s resolutions—or, in other words, to set some personal goals to be achieved within a year. If you are like most Americans, you probably … Read more »
Read More attitude, contrasting possibilitiesI am currently taking a special topics course on Citizenship Learning, Participatory Democracy, and Social Change. Even before starting the course, I knew I would be able to link much of what is studied in the class to things I have learned through my involvement with IF. Recently, I read a piece by Jane Mansbridge … Read more »
Read More attitude, citizen discussions, communication skills, deliberation, facilitationNew participants in an Interactivity Foundation discussion project often wonder how to act when taking part in the discussion. Often when people hear that we’ll be engaged in thoughtful civic discussion, they think of this in terms of “debate” or “argument.” With the help of the comedian and political satirist Stephen Colbert, I’d like to … Read more »
Read More attitude, creativity, discussion process, facilitation, IF discussion process, Project DiscussionsThere are many different kinds of the interactivity going on in IF public discussions. But the interactivity of ideas is one of the most important ones. Our reports are developed by two groups of people who meet every month for over a year to explore, develop, and prepare public policy possibilities that they think would … Read more »
Read More attitude, citizen discussion reports, citizen discussions, civic engagement, conceptual possibilities, discussion process, Discussion Reports, IF discussion process, interactivity, Public Discussions‘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 something about them. The usual response by research institutes … Read more »
Read More attitude, citizen discussions, civic engagement, conceptual possibilities, contrasting possibilities, conversations, generating possibilities, governanceI recently participated in a conference on immigration policy in Washington DC. One of the speakers forestalled criticism by saying that his recommendations were neither new nor original, and that that none of the ideas in the current discussion of immigration policy were new or original. When I heard him say this, I remembered that … Read more »
Read More attitude, citizen discussions, contrasting possibilities, discussion process, Project Discussions, Public DiscussionsIF 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 »
Read More attitude, challenges, citizen discussions, discussion process, facilitation, Public DiscussionsDifference 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 »
Read More attitude, conversations, governance, personal development, reasoning skills
