Category: citizen-centric world
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Thoughts on Civic Muscle
I have the privilege to be part of PACE, a network of philanthropies who think together periodically about fundamental questions related to civic engagement. Over the past two days we have been exploring the idea of flexing and developing “civic muscle,” especially at a time when society faces multiple crises at once. The idea of…
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The Apparatus
There is a memorable scene in Aaron Sorkin’s HBO series The Newsroom. It is the culmination of an ongoing argument between Jim Harper and Hallie Shea: Harper is a national network TV news producer and Shea is a correspondent-turned-blogger. In the 3rd season episode “Contempt,” Harper and Shea are arguing over whether Shea was right…
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Add To Our Basic Needs: Balance
I am traveling today, so rather than post a lengthy article, I’d instead like to point you to a friend’s piece from earlier this year. One of my favorite thinkers on public life (and a good friend and colleague), John Creighton, wrote a wide-ranging essay as the new year turned about the mood of America.…
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Cognitive And Civic Surplus
Andrea Jarrell drew my attention to this talk by one of the deepest thinkers about the new structures in society, Clay Shirky. In this talk, Shirky describes the idea of cognitive surplus, and relates it to the way media gets produced and consumed. I urge you to watch the whole fifteen minutes, it is chock…
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What Would Citizen Centric Institutions Look Like?
As many of my readers know, I have been thinking with my colleague John Creighton about the role of institutions in public life. We have been discussing the rise of the citizen-centric world and the resulting erosion of our previous institution-centric lifestyles. In his most recent article at the Washington Times Communities in his blog…
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Membership Rolls Dropping. What Does 'Support' Look Like?
My latest article on my blog at the Washington Times Communities, Public Square Today, is now live: Membership Rolls Dropping. What Does ‘Support’ Look Like? Yesterday on the DC Metro, I found myself seated behind someone who was reviewing the minutes from a board meeting. I don’t normally read over shoulders but this was just…
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How Social Media May Affect Civic Life
Next week I will be talking to a group of civic participation experts about social media and how it may (or may not be) affecting democracy, dialog, and deliberation. I began to put my thoughts together in a series of bullet points and it rapidly became an outline for a longer paper. I thought I…
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Transparency Is The New Accountability
My latest piece is posted at Public Square Today, my blog at Washington Times Communities: Transparency Is The New Accountability In the new Citizen-Centric World, the relationships and roles of institutions and citizens are changing. People are demanding that public institutions cater to them, rather than fitting their behavior to the needs of the institution.…
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Welcome To The Citizen Centric World
Today I had the great fortune to be able to co-present with my friends Joe Peters and David Campt on using new technologies to engage citizens. We led a workshop at the National League Of Cities’ Annual Congress in San Antonio. We each covered a different aspect of what it means for public-facing institutions to…
Brad Rourke 