Brad Rourke’s Blog
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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…
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Poll: Veterans Ready To Serve On The Home Front
A new survey shows Afghanistan and Iraq veterans are ready to serve their communities, but face roadblocks.
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The Long View
In this week’s edition of my podcast, Public Life Today, I talk about a simple test public leaders might use when faced with the need to act when emotions are high. It’s the “Long View Test.” It’s simple: Think about how you want to look back on this moment. How would you like to remember…
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The Trolls Vs. The Vigilantes In Public Life
My latest piece is posted at Public Square Today, my blog at Washington Times Communities: The Trolls Vs. The Vigilantes In Public Life At an online community I co-manage, there’s a conflict. The community in question is a forum for people to discuss local issues, and we’ve set it up intentionally so there are a…
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Why We Still Need Professional Journalism
The meaning of “professional” has changed drastically over time. It used to solely designate someone who had completed specialized training and been accepted into an organized group of others who pursue the same calling. These days, it often just means “someone who gets paid for what they do,” or “someone who works in an office.”…
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Seven Things I Can Control
The other day I was talking to a friend of mine about some things that were troubling me. I was unhappy with the behavior of others. As we discussed the situation, it became clear that the behavior may well have been driven by others’ reactions to my own behavior. “You can’t control what they do,”…
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Freedom And Responsibility In Public Life
In this week’s edition of my podcast, Public Life Today, I talk about the balance that needs to be struck between freedom and responsibility. For people who run online communities this can be especially troubling, as the relative anonymity of the online world makes it easy to go too far and say things that infringe…
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Framework For Deliberating About Childhood Drinking
I have been working on a project with a number of collaborators to create an issue guide for communities to deliberate on the issue of childhood drinking. Our framework is in an early-draft state, but it is gettting better with each iteration. (By “better,” I mean that it will stimulate dialogue.) In preparation for a…
