April 26, 2011 What’s “Practical” about IF Discussions—And What’s Not* People unfamiliar with IF sometimes ask if our “conceptual” discussions are at all “practical.” The answer isn’t straightforward. One could say that they’re practical “in the Aristotelian sense” or that...
April 26, 2011 Connecting IF’s Public Discussions with the Larger Democratic Conversation* In my last entry I described citizen discussion reports as a way to connect sanctuary discussion and public discussion. Here I want to suggest several possible ways in which public...
April 26, 2011 IF’s Citizen Discussion Reports* Sanctuary discussions, which I described in my previous post, need not culminate in a written document. But if their results are to be made available for public discussion, they need...
April 26, 2011 Sanctuary Discussion* At the mention of “citizen discussion,” we tend to conjure up images of rapid-fire, heated exchanges between partisans, often in the glare of the media spotlight. Haste, partisan heat, and...
April 7, 2011 A Comparative View of IF’s Approach to Public Discussion* In my last note I described our public discussions in terms of but four key aspects: active facilitators; small groups; interactivity; and exploration and development. Together they paint a very...
April 7, 2011 Key Aspects of IF’s Public Discussions• At least four interactive aspects are critical to useful public discussion of IF’s Citizens Discussion Reports. 1. Facilitation is critical in public discussions of IF Citizens Staff Work Reports. There is nothing...
April 5, 2011 Forward I appreciate the feedback I've gotten on my last note ("On Wisconsin"). To move that discussion forward, let me echo something University of Wisconsin-Madison history professor William Cronon said...
March 14, 2011 On Wisconsin At its best, democracy isn't just "rule by the people" or even "rule of, by, and for the people." It's rule by people who listen to each other. Wisconsin's Republican leadership...
March 10, 2011 A Brief Description of the Interactivity Foundation Discussion Process* As our catalogue of “Perspectives” grows, it’s probably useful to reconsider from time to time some of the basics of the IF process. That’s what I want to do here,...