Brad Rourke

Brad Rourke’s Blog

  • So Dreadfull A Judgment

    Last weekend my band, The West End, played a show and in the midst of it I had just the best feeling. I looked out at the audience and saw that everyone was paying attention, listening to the music. They weren’t distracted by the ball game behind the bar, weren’t playing Liar’s Poker, weren’t embroiled…

  • Three Kinds Of Social Media Losers: Charlatans, Sharks, And Geeks

    Peter Shankman and Sarah Evans have co-written an article titled, “Is your social media expert really an expert?” If you have spent even a little bit of time exploring social media, you probably know that these are two very credible, serious people. Their 25-point list is very useful to anyone thinking about seeking outside help.…

  • Social Media In The Service of Civic Engagement

    Today, Joe Peters of Ascentum and I led our session called “Tech Savvy Citizenry” at the No Better Time conference at the University of New  Hampshire. We had a great turnout and there were people from across the spectrum of practitioners and institutions in the “deliberative democracy” movement. My post this morning described a quick…

  • Thematic Taxonomy Of Social Media Tools

    At the No Better Time conference, my friend Joe Peters and I will be running a session called “Tech Savvy Citizenry.” That could mean a lot of things, but for us it means we are going to talk about different ways of using social media to engage the public. One thing we’ll be doing is…

  • People Care About What Touches Them

    Yesterday Michael Jackson was buried. I have a terrible confession to make: the hoopla around dead celebrities has always left me cold. Perhaps it is my cranky and contrarian nature, I don’t know. But I find myself muttering inwardly, “What did he ever do, really?” Even the great icons – I’ve always thought that, when…