Session notes

Session Title: Civic Engagement

Discussion Leaders:

• Joseph Porcelli, Neighbor to Neighbor
• Joe Edelman, Citizen Logistics 

Notes

Agenda:

- definition of citizen engagement

- def of citizen = needs to include youth, immigrant, incarcerated

- how mobilize internally/manage

- agenda (whose?); building a culture of trust

- capacity - how raise skill level?

- segmentation / digital divide - who's in? who's out?

--- how handle fear of tech? fear of failure?

- intersection of existing modes of civic engagement with new Gov 2.0 tools

Defining "citizen" or resident or stakeholder engagement

attention vs participating

-consume/read/watch…know…lurk

- vote, representation

- act, join, show-up, speak, needs assessment, build organizations

- lead/influencing other neighbors and/or policy

levels of involvement

No idea

lurk

active conversation

(Groundswell 90-9-1%)

Alinsky - com org

Healthy Engagement across silos (MLK)

1. learn

2. educate across silos

3. stick to

4. negotiate

5. act peacefully

6. resolve to live as one community

models of engagement:

- spoke/wheel

- decentralized (neighbor to neighbor)

- members vs followers (co-create or co-organize) --> power

make content sharable

- viral

- citizen journalism

Lingering questions:

how does intermediaries solve the digital divide? mobilize iphone users to put points on a map and make meals on wheels more efficient (Joe Edelson, Citizen Logistics)

Themes:

• social contract
• govt end users
• defining the terms then good case studies
• increased efficiency through intermedia
• combining traditional and new
• shareability is where it all needs to start
• cost saving through leveraging these tools and redefining assets
• get City of Boston to share their best practice
• do all the math that necessary to make the case
• blend offline and on-line strategies

Challenges:

• Telling
• Expectation that everyone's going to jump on board
• realizing it takes time to build these strategies
• getting over the lack of trust with govt and with other; social media can build new accountability structures

Follow-Up Items

• Add more case studies here!