NCDD members are encouraged to test out a new feature on the NCDD Community News blog. As part of our continued efforts to make NCDD as self-organized and member-driven as possible, we have created a form on the newly revamped NCDD blog that allows you to submit posts directly to the NCDD blog for review and approval. (continue)

Susanna Haas Lyons started an interesting thread on the NCDD listserv tonight on hashtags for dialogue and deliberation.  Hashtags (or tags) help people find content on particular topics or events on social media sites like Twitter.  We’ve used tags like “ncdd” or “ncddaustin” at our events, so attendees (and non-attendees) can follow each other’s tweets. Susanna observed that it would be great to have a hashtag we could all use, so we can track each other’s contributions and discussions. There’s a new tag called #demopart […] (continue)

I’d like to get your ideas on topics for future NCDD Confabs: conference calls and webinars for NCDD members where we explore key issues in the dialogue & deliberation community and encourage new connections among members. We held several great Confabs last year before we became neck-deep in planning the regional events.  We held a webinar with Beth Offenbacker to talk about an upcoming Public Decisions online conference, a conference call with John Engle to discuss the role our community members could play in disaster […] (continue)

Have you joined NCDD’s LinkedIn group yet?  The group has about 800 members, and it’s a great way to stay updated on what’s happening in the field and connect with new people who work in dialogue and deliberation.  We’ve had some rich discussions there as well, like the one on “Groundrules necessary to make the best of virtual meetings” initiated by Martin Pearson about a month ago. Martin wrote that he was starting to use Skype more for meetings, and asked group members if they […] (continue)

NCDD’s director, Sandy Heierbacher, is in Sydney, Australia taking part in a meeting with other leaders in the deliberative democracy community and is seeking input from all of NCDD on the project proposals being introduced… Hello from Sydney, everyone! Our group of top practitioners, academics and network leaders in deliberative democracy is inviting YOUR input on which of  the proposals that have been emerging here should go forwarded for seed funding. I’d love to see lots of NCDDers voting on these proposals at http://bit.ly/eMz5nC . Don’t wait, […] (continue)

NCDD is a proud sponsor of The Citizens’ Toolbox: What’s In Yours? — a conference aimed at connecting students with those engaged in a broad and varied set of experiments and projects in Dialogue and Deliberation and other tenets of civic and democratic life. Join us March 16-19 at Miami University of Ohio in Oxford, Ohio, as we all ask what’s in our own toolboxes, and open those up for each other to explore and engage. Join us in this opportunity to share and gain […] (continue)

The National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation gained 74 great new members in the last few months: 67 individual members and 7 organizations.  Please welcome the following new members to the network!  If you’d like to connect with any of them, search for them in the NCDD members network to find their contact info and bio. Our newest organizational members: Mediation@MIT (Contact: Ruthy Rosenberg) USARiseUp, Inc. (Contact: Janice Ellis and Christopher Ellis) Democrasoft (Contact: Will Schneider) City of Beaverton Dispute Resolution Center (Contacts: Sandy Riccardi) […] (continue)

Happy 2011, everyone!  I hope this is a productive and prosperous year for all of you. I wanted to point out a couple of things on the NCDD site that I’m excited about, and that have the potential to help us spread the word about the critical work you’re all doing in this field. We have over 2,500 resources listed in the revamped NCDD Resource Center at www.ncdd.org/rc (which uses the new web design and logo we’re switching over to). There, you’ll find more resources […] (continue)

I’m heading down to DC for a small meeting of civic leaders at the Department of Education run by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).  We’ll be helping advice the U.S. Department of Education on how to increase higher education’s leadership in promoting civic learning and democratic engagement.  Very exciting! If this topic interests you, be sure to look over the articles in the recent Journal for Public Deliberation issue on deliberative democracy and higher ed posted at http://services.bepress.com/jpd/vol6/iss1/ — especially Nancy Thomas’ […] (continue)

Have you seen NCDD’s new Resource Guide on Public Engagement?  If you’ve attended our regional events this fall, you have.  Those of you gathering together in Portland this weekend (see you there!) will get a copy. Others can download the doc from www.ncdd.org/rc/item/4471.  We’re planning on raising funds for the next round of printing by charging small amounts ($5 each; $3 each if you want more than 20?) for the printed copies we have leftover from the events.  Everybody seems to want them, which is […] (continue)