March Bulletin

Hello Friends of Deliberative Democracy—
Happy Spring to all (though I know many of us are still tending to our relationship with an extended winter).

Some New Reports Out There
Check out this important new report from our friends at Philanthropy Northwest, “The Promise and Challenge of Community Democracy.” It is chock-full of interesting findings and conclusions. Like this one: “A conclusion that we draw from our work with Community Democracy Workshop is that institutions have to be prepared to change when choosing to engage in this work. To put a fine point on it, all of us want change, but we generally want to stay in control while someone else does the changing. This process must be about changing power relationships, which means loosening the reins of control that institutions now have.” I personally love a report that has a section entitled “CONCLUSION: POWER AND INFLUENCE.”

And this four-part series on the importance of engagement in transforming health systems. Warning: There is a fair amount of jargon. But if you can overlook that, there are some interesting conclusions (and a very compelling framing of the questions).

How We Behave
The Atlantic recently reported on a massive MIT study of  how news moves on Twitter. The study examined every contested news story in the history of the platform. Here’s the big conclusion: “By every common metric, falsehood consistently dominates the truth on Twitter, the study finds: Fake news and false rumors reach more people, penetrate deeper into the social network, and spread much faster than accurate stories.”  If you read nothing else today, read this. There are important conclusions both about human nature and about the news ecosystem we are working within.

My favorite person, Maria Popova, recently highlighted  Erich Fromm’s six rules of listening in Brainpickings. It’s really worth the quick read. Plus, if you don’t already subscribe to Brainpickings, do so immediately.

I can’t stop thinking about this Slow Thought Manifesto.  Consider how much better off we would be if we committed ourselves to “lingering, tarrying, waiting” and . . . making “an appeal to reflection before conviction, clarity before a call to action. “

Come Closer
Sally Osberg of the Skoll Foundation writes about the importance of proximity both between individuals and between institutions and the people they serve. Hot take: “the structures and principles of democracy must have proximity to interact with the structure and models of free enterprise if we are to realize our ambitions for equity, justice, and shared prosperity.”

George Mombiot reports on the Somerset town of Frome (in the U.K.), which has drastically reduced hospitalizations and other health crises. The theory is that social and community interventions is making the town healthier: “What this provisional data appears to show is that when isolated people who have health problems are supported by community groups and volunteers, the number of emergency admissions to hospital falls spectacularly.” Read the whole thing. It’ll make you feel better.

But Keep Your Distance
This article`argues that people have increased expectations of government’s use of social media. According to a 2016 survey, ”85 percent of respondents said they expect the same or higher quality from government digital services as they do from commercial organizations, up from 73 percent in 2014.” The whole second half of the piece focuses on the potential for AI to help create two-way communication between government and the public. Beware the chatbot!

Plus, this very useful explanation on how Facebook data is collected, segmented, and used. The frightening title: “Facebook is killing democracy with its personality profiling data.”

Bragging About Our Friends
Tufts’ own Nancy Thomas recently appeared on National Public Radio to discuss the recent uptick in youth engagement.  The whole thing is worth a listen or a read. Here’s a teaser: “I think we have a generation of students who are claiming they aren’t quite convinced democracy is working. And the best way for them to experience a functioning democracy is if they participate in it and they see the results of their participation.” Here is more about Tufts’ work on youth and young adult engagement by Peter Levine.

And, Mayor Bill DeBlasio recently introduced Participatory Budgeting into all New York City High Schools. Nice work, PBP!

Upcoming
Many, many of our friends are involved in the National Week of Conversation, April 20-28. I hope you all will consider hosting or attending a conversation in your community.

The fabulous Frontiers of Democracy Conference will be held at the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts June 21-23, 2018. Head over to reserve your spot!

Our friends over at NCDD have announced that the 2018 conference will be held in Denver on November 2-4.  Here’s the announcement, plus you can subscribe for conference updates.

That’s it for now. Stay in touch. Send notes and tidbits. Remember, if you are interested in becoming a member of DDC, contact me at wendywddc@gmail.com

See you next month,

Wendy