Looking for funding? Deliberative Democracy & Public Engagement Grant Opportunity

By Stephanie South, Intern, American Democracy Project

The deadline for the Taylor L. Willingham Legacy Fund Grants has been extended until December 31, 2012.

This grant, from the National Issues Forums Institute, aims to enable an individual to develop an understanding of public engagement and deliberative democracy and to plan and launch one or more deliberative forums in their communities or organizations.

Grants are expected to be in the range of $500-1,000.

To learn more about how to apply, click here.

To learn more about Taylor L. Willingham and her work, click here.

Campus Spotlight: Illinois State University’s ADP launces ILSTU Views

ILLINOIS STATE’S AMERICAN DEMOCRACY PROJECT LAUNCHES NEW TECHNOLOGY FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

October 29, 2013 Press Release

NORMAL, Ill. – Illinois State’s American Democracy Project (ADP) has launched a new project that seeks to encourage students and others to critically assess and interact with important social issues. ILSTU Views in an innovative internet and social media tool that could revolutionize civil debate and political communication. The ILSTU Views system will employ digital media displays located around campus, at which students and members of the community will engage in civil discourse by responding to local, national, and global questions.

Each ILSTU Views kiosk will use a touch screen, computer, and USB camera, with the system linked through a central website to social media (e.g. Facebook). ILSTU Views is part of an integrated campaign at Illinois State to promote understanding of social issues, with discussion in a range of classes reflecting topics featured on the displays.

ILSTU Views kiosk

According to Stephen Hunt, Co-Chair of ISU’s ADP and Professor of Communication, “We envision ILSTU Views as an experiment in the use of digital media to encourage individuals to engage in constructive dialog on the most important issues of the day. If successful, our interactive kiosks will foster a sense of community, sharpen participants’ abilities to critically consume information, and promote responsibility for participants’ own voice.” The ILSTU Views team is also interested in how this project can help participants use digital media and their social networks to create change for the common good. The first ILSTU Views kiosk is installed in the lobby of Fell Hall on ISU’s campus!

The American Democracy Project is dedicated to educating students on responsible civic and political engagement. Illinois State was selected along with 10 other campuses nationwide as model political engagement institutions by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) in 2006 and received the national Program of Excellence Award for Political Engagement in 2011.

For more information about ILSTU Views, please contact Alauna Akins: cas_asakins@ilstu.edu, or visit the ILSTU Views website at http://ilstuviews.illinoisstate.edu/.

For more information about Illinois State’s American Democracy Project or School of Communication, please contact Steve Hunt: skhunt2@ilstu.edu, or visit Illinois State’s ADP website at http://americandemocracy.illinoisstate.edu/.

Campus Spotlight: Weber State’s Deliberative Democracy Day

By Leah Murray, Associate Professor, Political Science and Philosophy and ADP Campus Co-Coordinator, Weber State University

Weber State University, located in Ogden, Utah, is a comprehensive public University that serves a dual mission – as an open-enrollment community college for Northern Utah as well as a regional university offering a full range of baccalaureate and masters degrees. The Academic Affairs and Student Affairs divisions at Weber State University co-manage the American Democracy Project, which reflects a larger institutional commitment to a strong division partnership. Weber State University’s Deliberative Democracy Day is one model of that management, although we run all of our programming in this manner.

In 2009, Weber State University hosted its first Deliberative Democracy Day. The process begins in student government when student senators choose a topic they would like to deliberate. Each of the four times we have hosted Deliberative Democracy Day, the students chose a difficult topic: immigration reform, education access, health care reform and gay marriage. Once a topic is selected, a committee of faculty experts in the field is convened to plan the day. The committee, in conversation with students, chooses a slate of panelists who will come and be available to answer questions from students. The committee also creates a list of interesting questions that students will discuss before hearing from the panel. A number of students are trained as focus group leaders and they facilitate conversation about the topic. On the day, students arrive planning to spend four to five hours together engaged in intense deliberation about an important political issue. This deliberation begins with focus groups and ends with asking questions of the expert panel.

Faculty discuss same-sex marriage and its possible effects on democracy during Weber State University’s Deliberative Democracy Day.

This past year, the students chose gay marriage, which in Utah is banned. Student senators wanted to discuss the effects of gay marriage on society. Previous to the day, we surveyed students for their opinions and then we surveyed students who attended Deliberative Democracy Day. We examined the difference between the students who attended Deliberative Democracy Day and the general student population. Due to respondent identification issues, we cannot claim student opinion change, but we can claim a difference between the groups. As you see from Figure 1 below, students who attended the Deliberative Democracy day indicated a more favorable attitude toward same sex marriage than by students who did not attend.

Another feature of Deliberative Democracy Day is that an upper division Community-Based Learning political science methods course collaborated with the American Democracy Project to study the survey results and presented the research at an end of year symposium. As a result, information from our Deliberative Democracy Day was disseminated to a wider University audience while also serving to train political science majors.

Our student senators are currently debating the topic for 2013. Once they choose, we will begin the process. We also plan on resolving our respondent identification issues so we can demonstrate student opinion change on this year’s topic as a result of participating in Deliberative Democracy Day.

Figure 1. Do you think allowing same sex marriage will change our society for the better, it will have no effect, or for the worse?

Read more about Weber’s 2012 Deliberative Democracy Day here.

Learn more about ADP at Weber State University here.

Shaping Our Future Forums: Update & Free Moderator Training Webinar

THE NATION TALKS HIGHER EDUCATION – THE LATEST FROM SHAPING OUR FUTURE

Thank you for your interest in Shaping Our Future, our project to spur thoughtful, inclusive, and open deliberation on the future of higher education on campuses and in communities nationwide. Here’s an update from the National Issues Forums and the American Commonwealth Project on what’s happening this fall.

• Who’s Participating? More than 65 institutions have committed to hosting Shaping Our Future forums. See a list of the institutions that are taking part and learn more about the project at: http://niforums.wordpress.com/tag/shaping-our-future .

• Why It’s Important? Kettering Foundation president David Mathews made riveting closing remarks at Shaping Our Future’s September 4 kick-off event in Washington, DC on why this conversation is needed now. You can view them here: http://kettering.org/featured/david-mathews-shaping-our-future-closing-remarks-2/

• What Students Think. Students at Winona State University prepared a remarkable video about the importance and impact of these discussions. See it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR0U_LnStJI&feature=plcp

• Going Viral. And we expect the video idea to catch on. Shaping Our Future is collecting videos from forums around the country. Find out more about the DemocracyU Video project at: http://democracyu.wordpress.com/2012/09/25/democracyu-video-project-bringing-the-voices-of-the-citizen-dialogues-into-a-national-conversation/

• Blogging in the Huffington Post. Plus, we’re hoping to broaden the discussion by bringing the themes and ideas addressed in Shaping Our Future to the pages of The Huffington Post. Read recent op-eds by Harry Boyte and Bill Muse at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harry-boyte/civic-engagement-collectiveinterest_b_1825218.html , and by Jean Johnson at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jean-johnson/higher-educationreform_b_1900598.html.

• Get Started. Materials to launch community or campus forums-including  a discussion starter video, citizen’s issue guide, and moderator’s guide-are  available free of charge at: http://www.nifi.org/issue_books/detail.aspx?catID=6&itemID=21640 .

We welcome your comments, and please let us know if you’d like more information about participating in the Shaping Our Future Project.

Join Us For A Moderator Preparation Webinar
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2012:  2PM

This coming year, more than 60 campuses and communities will host shaping our future forums. Here’s your chance to find out how to participate.

This free webinar is designed specifically for anyone interested in hosting or moderating deliberative forums for the National Shaping Our Future Project. This project is a joint effort of the National Issues Forums Institute and the American Commonwealth Project.

Participants can ask questions and/or give comments via chat (or voice, if your computer has a microphone).

The webinar will cover these topics and more:

• Overview: Shaping Our Future—its goals, rationale, and background
• A primer:  NIF’s approach to moderating to encourage deliberation and dialogue
• An introduction to the project’s print and video materials
• Tips on expanding the dialogue between campuses and communities
• Troubleshooting techniques
• A chance to talk with seasoned NIF moderators and learn from their experiences

Please click the link below to get registered today. Have specific questions? Send them to us ahead of time and we’ll include them in the webinar discussion period! (alee@kettering.org)

Specific web URL and user credentials to access the Webinar will be sent to you upon registration via the email address you provided during the registration process.  Register Now!

ADP Campus Coordinators’ Corner: Shaping Our Future

By Gregg Kaufman, ADP Campus Coordinator, Georgia College

Shaping Our Future: How Should Higher Education Help Us Create the Society We Want? is a National Issues Forum issue book developed in conjunction with the American Commonwealth Project and as a deliberative forum aid to A National Call for Action: A Crucible Moment: College Learning & Democracy’s Future prepared by The National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement. The NIF web site (www.nifi.org) offers free Shaping Our Future resources and a brief seven-minute introduction to the subject to use for deliberative forums.

How do we plan to use Shaping Our Future on our campuses and in the communities to which we relate? Is it possible to convene forums inclusive of citizens as well as college students, professors, and staff? NIF will collect feedback from forums across the country b using a convener/moderator survey form. In anticipation of the ADP Tenth Anniversary Meeting in Denver (June 6-8, 2013), it would be great to report that a healthy percentage of ADP campuses conducted forums and perhaps develop a presentation that would offer findings.

Please share your plans relative to incorporating Shaping Our Future into your 2012-13 ADP programming, by emailing Jen Domagal-Goldman, ADP National Manager at adp@aascu.org.

Have a great year!

Georgia College hosts NIF Forum on Public Purposes of Higher Education

By Gregg Kaufman, ADP Campus Coordinator, Georgia College

The Georgia College American Democracy Project’s Public Voice Partnership recently facilitated a “test forum” for a draft of a new National Issues Forum issue book, How Should Higher Education Help Us Create The Society We Want?

The forum was incorporated into a faculty workshop that explored how public deliberation methods can be used to enhance classroom discussion across the disciplines. Students, citizens, and faculty deliberated multiple options that offered distinctive actions aimed at imagining what we expect of colleges and universities with regard to creating the American society we want.

The issue book is related to the American Commonwealth Partnership mission of exploring higher education’s purposes and practices relative to civic life. The NIF authors observed the deliberation and participated in the workshop. The Georgia College forum is one of several forums being held on campuses and in communities prior to publishing the final version.

The Public Voice Partnership is the result of Georgia College’s participation with the Kettering Foundation research initiative, Organizing Centers for Public Life. Georgia College is the University System of Georgia’s designated Public Liberal Arts University.

For more information about ADP at Georgia College, go here.

Public Engagement Grants: NIFI Announces Taylor L. Willingham Legacy Fund Grants Program

By Jen Domagal-Goldman, National Manager, American Democracy Project

The National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI), an ADP partner organization, announced today a new grants program. The Taylor L. Willingham Legacy Fund Grants are intended to assist individuals in developing a better understanding of public engagement and/or to plan and launch deliberative forums in their communities. Grants are for use in 2012 and are anticipated to be between $500 and $1,000.

Taylor L. Willingham was a pioneer in the public engagement field and in National Issues Forums (NIF) work and served as a National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI) director. She died on Monday, September 5, 2011 at her home in Salado, Texas, after a year-long battle with kidney cancer. NIFI’s new grants program honors Taylor and her legacy and will help others continue the important work of strengthening our democracy.

I encourage ADP faculty, staff, students, and community partners to apply for grants to aid you in your tireless efforts to educate yourselves and others about public issues and to foster deliberative dialogue on your campuses and in your communities. Details about the Taylor L. Willingham Legacy Fund Grants Program are below.

 

Taylor L. Willingham (1957-2011)

Details:

Applications are currently being accepted for a grant from the National Issues Forums Institute to enable an individual to develop an understanding of deliberative democracy and to launch one or more deliberative forums in their communities or organizations.  Grants are expected to be in the range of $500-1,000.

The application should consist of: (1) a resume describing your experience and education; (2) a cover letter that explains why you are interested in becoming involved in the deliberative democracy movement and what specific course of action you propose to become familiar with this work and how and where you would implement forums; and (3) a budget indicating how the grant would be spent.

Applications are welcomed from any U.S. Resident, with special consideration given to residents of Texas. The application should be received on or before December 1, 2011 and e-mailed to bmuse@nifi.org or mailed to:
National Issues Forums Institute
100 Commons Road
Dayton, Ohio 45459

Grants will be made by February 1, 2012 and will be for use during 2012.  A report on activities will be required on or before November 30, 2012.

Click here for more information about Taylor L. Willingham and her work.

Donations to the fund are welcome and can be made securely online.  All donated money will go toward grant awards.

The Need for Online Civility in a Hyperconnected World

By Andrea Weckerle, Founder, CiviliNation

As the founder of CiviliNation, I see examples of online hostility and attacks every single day and am fully aware of the negative effects this has on individual targets and on society as a whole. In fact, CiviliNation was created specifically to address this epidemic.

CiviliNation’s mission is to foster an online culture where every person can freely participate in a democratic, open, rational and truth-based exchange of ideas and information, without fear or threat of being the target of unwarranted abuse, harassment, or lies. We view freedom of expression as a fundamental human right that no person should have taken away from them. We also know that unless people start listening instead of screaming at each other with their strongly-held beliefs and viewpoints, the ability to move forward on some of the most pressing issues of our times will be severely hampered.

As part of our outreach, we’re launching our “Taking a Stand” campaign where we invite people from around the world to take a stand for civil digital discourse by signing our pledge and sending us a short video explaining, in their own words, why civil discourse is important to them. Two examples, one of me and one from a CiviliNation supporter, among others, can be found on our YouTube channel.

Because of the importance of online civility, especially in the college environment, I’m honored to have been invited to speak at the American Democracy Project National Meeting in Orlando on June 3 about “The Need for Online Civility in a Hyperconnected World.” My session will outline the extent of the problem, address the emotional, physical and reputational effects on victims, and discuss what can be done to create a healthy online environment where everyone can fully engage and contribute without fear or threat. I’ll specifically address why the unique culture of college-age students makes them particularly vulnerable to online hostility, both as targets and as perpetrators, and what college institutions need to do to prevent this from escalating. Certainly the death of Tyler Clementi at Rudger’s University and other similar tragic examples serve as a wake-up call that this is a serious issue that needs immediate and concrete attention.

A Deliberative Forums Project about Privacy – The American Library Association

From National Issues Forum Website

Join a FREE online workshop: about hosting forums on April 13th; Download FREE issue forum participant’s guide and forum hosting guide

For links to download moderator guide and participants guide To register for online workshop: Tips on Hosting a Deliberative Forum on Privacy To register for online workshop: How to Moderate a Deliberative Forum on Privacy

Who Do I Trust to Protect My Privacy?
Privacy Conversation Deliberative Forums

Presenting a New Project from the American Library Association (ALA) Center for Public Life/Libraries Fostering Civic Engagement Membership Initiative Group (MIG) and ALA Office of Intellectual Freedom

About the Project and about the Issue:

The ALA Membership Initiative Group (MIG), Libraries Fostering Civic Engagement is promoting public deliberation on the topic, Who Do I Trust My Privacy To? Using a discussion guide written by members, Nancy Kranich and Carolyn Caywood, participants will examine approaches to protecting privacy that relies on three possible strategies for protecting privacy:

Approach 1:  The Marketplace

The marketplace is the source of innovation in security and privacy protection technology and it also has a vested interest in privacy that secures the integrity of financial data.

Approach 2: The Government

The government has a responsiblity to provide for public safety which includes identity protection and to secure the rights necessary to a free society.

Approach 3: Myself

I, myself, recognize that privacy values are individual and varied and that no one cares more about my needs than me.

About the issue materials that are available:

Participant’s Guide and Moderator’s Guide are now available in Conjunction with ALA’s Privacy Week. May 2-8, 2010.

About the Free Online Training Workshops:

You are invited to participate in free online workshops about hosting and moderating deliberative forums about the issue of Who Do I Trust to Protect my Privacy?

Learn to convene and moderate community discussions on privacy. Register Now to participate in one or both of these free online workshops:

How to Moderate a Deliberative Forum on Privacy

April 13, 2010, 2:00 – 4:00 EDT; 1:00 – 3:00 CDT; 11:00 – 1:00 PDT

For More Information, contact:

Taylor Willingham, taylor@austin-pacific.com

Nancy Kranich, nancy.kranich@ny.edu

Angela Maycock, amaycock@ala.org

The American Library Association’s Center for Public Life was established in 2010 in conjunction with the Kettering Foundation.  The Center’s role is to train librarians from different types of libraries to convene and moderate deliberative forums and frame issues of local and national concern, using National Issues Forums materials and processes.

==================================
Nancy Kranich
Special Projects Librarian
Rutgers University Libraries
228 Alexander Library
New Brunswick, NJ  08901
732-932-7129 x153
Lecturer
Rutgers University School of Communication and Information

Past President, American Library Association
Civic Librarian

Contact Information:
136 N. 7th Avenue
Highland Park, NJ  08904-2932
nancy.kranich@rutgers.edu
nancy.kranich@nyu.edu
732-932-7129, x 153; 732-985-1599;
732-306-3535 (c), 917-386-2515 (f)

Civic Discourse and Opposing Views (aka Talking with the Enemy)

By:  Gerri Perreault, Chair of the American Democracy Project/Provost’s Office, University of Northern Iowa

Civil civic discourse, especially with those who have views strongly opposed to one’s own, is an integral component of a democracy that depends upon deliberative processes with a fair exchange of views.  To help prepare students for their civic roles, the University of Northern Iowa’s American Democracy Project/ Provost’s Office initiated a Civic Discourse and Opposing Views series (aka Talking With the Enemy) to promote such discourse.

The series is composed of controversial topics (e.g., “Should people be permitted to carry loaded and concealed guns in parks?”)  selected as the content for learning about civil dialogue.  Each session consists of two parts.  In part one, participants are paired up and provided pro and con talking points.  They take turns trying to persuade the partners of their view.  Each person has to do both the pro and the con sides.  Participants are instructed to try to pretend they are the person that holds that view, although some find this difficult to do.  Throughout the session, the importance of respect and civil dialogue are stressed.

The second part is a panel of people representing at least two sides of the issue.  The purpose of the panel is to demonstrate to the students that people can remain civil in their disagreements.   This purpose is conveyed to the panelists when they are confirmed for the panel.

The benefits and consequences of listening to those with whom one disagrees are discussed during the session, and participants are provided a handout that lists the following potential benefits:

1. You may learn something you did not know.
2. When you understand the view someone holds, whether or not you agree, you may respect the person more and they may respect you more.
3. Because listening to and understanding each other tends to build respect, and you build trust and a basis for working together in the future.
4. You may have more civility and less divisiveness in your group, business, etc.
5. In a conflict, you might find a way to settle the conflict.
6. Studies of successful leaders indicate that a key factor in their success is related to being able to understand the perspective of another person.
7. Being willing to listen and hear the views of others may lead to other opportunities because people will perceive you as fair and open-minded.
8. You may make a new friend or co-worker.
9. If you still maintain you own view as is, you can better present your own position.

UNI’s ADP believes it is important to promote civil dialogue among people with opposing views.  As Moshe Dayan, Israeli general and politician, said, “If you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your friends.  You talk to your enemies.”