His starting point is moral intuition—the nearly instantaneous perceptions we all have about other people and the things they do. These intuitions feel like self-evident truths, making us righteously certain that those who see things differently are wrong. Haidt shows us how these intuitions differ across cultures, including the cultures of the political left and right. He blends his own research findings with those of anthropologists, historians, and other psychologists to draw a map of the moral domain, and he explains why conservatives can navigate that map more skillfully than can liberals. He then examines the origins of morality, overturning the view that evolution made us fundamentally selfish creatures. But rather than arguing that we are innately altruistic, he makes a more subtle claim—that we are fundamentally groupish. It is our groupishness, he explains, that leads to our greatest joys, our religious divisions, and our political affiliations.

In a stunning final chapter on ideology and civility, Haidt shows what each side is right about, and why we need the insights of liberals, conservatives, and libertarians to flourish as a nation.

Resource Link:  Purchase the book here on Amazon.com or visit Jonathan Haidt’s CivilPolitics.org website

And check out the New York Times book review on The Righteous Mind.

The Wall:

The physical Wall is a series of five interconnected touch-screen displays, which allow students, teachers and citizens to share ideas and solutions to pressing political questions facing the nation. Users post opinions or join existing debates on questions that deal with a range of relevant subjects varying from the environment to foreign policy. The Wall is installed at the University of Florida’s Pugh Hall, home of The Bob Graham Center.

SMS:

The Wall allows users to follow debates via SMS. Debaters are notified via text when another person joins the debate and can continue the discussion by texting back to the Wall. By connecting a population that relies almost exclusively on text to communicate, the wall will provide a social place that appeals to this mode of communication.

The Website: (www.civildebatewall.com)

The website component of the Wall closely mirrors the physical Wall. The website attracts users who are not physically on campus. Providing the same features, the website gathers users from a broader population and allows users to keep track of debates.

Statistics:

The Wall sifts through the key words of postings, tabulating them in dynamic data visualization to show where agreement lies. Collected information will be used by Knight Foundation scholars as well as users to locate common ground on potentially divisive topics.

Resource Link:  www.civildebatewall.com

Here’s what NCDD member Katherine Cramer Walsh (University of Wisconsin-Madison) says about the book:

“This book is a great resource for deliberative democracy practitioners and scholars alike.  It puts in one place seven gems from the literature on deliberative democracy and wraps them in a concise yet thorough genealogy of the concept. This book is not just theory, however. The pieces were carefully chosen to challenge all of us to contemplate the link between talk and action. Presented in this way, the volume provides inspiration and knowledge that will nourish the practice of deliberative democracy in its wide variety of forms.”

Chapters and Authors…

Foreward by David Mathews
Introduction by editors Derek W. M. Barker, Noelle McAfee, and David W. McIvor

PUBLIC REASON AND BEYOND: BROADENING CONCEPTS OF DELIBERATION

Three Models of Democratic Deliberation by Noelle McAfee
Rhetoric and Public Reasoning: An Aristotelian Understanding of Political Deliberation by Bernard Yack
Difference Democracy: The Consciousness-Raising Group Against the Gentlemen’s Club by John S. Dryzek

DELIBERATION IN COMPLEX SYSTEMS: EVERYDAY TALK AND DE-CENTERED DEMOCRACY

Everyday Talk in the Deliberative System by Jane Mansbridge
De-centering Deliberative Democracy by Iris Marion Young

FROM TALK TO ACTION: DEMOCRATIC PRACTICE AND PUBLIC WORK

Sustaining Public Engagement: Embedded Deliberation in Local Communities by Elena Fagotto and Archon Fung
Constructive Politics as Public Work: Organizing the Literature by Harry C. Boyte

Resource Link: http://kettering.org/publications/democratizing-deliberation/

Ordering Info:  Call 1-800-600-4060 to order your copy of the 184-page book, or email your order and mailing address to info@ait.net.  The list price is $15.95, but there is a 20% discount in effect until October.

Note from NCDD…

Soon after Democratizing Deliberation is officially released, NCDD will be running our first online book club on the book, using the NCDD blog and other communication tools to engage NCDDers in the book’s contents chapter by chapter.  See www.ncdd.org/7863 for the full announcement of the book club and sign up now!

Drawing on the latest debates in social and political theory, Hess and Neisser engage each other with expertise and passion, and disagree right to the end. Yet they also laugh together, learn from each other, and grasp each other’s basic decency. The net effect is a book that’s a good read and a shining counter-example to the angry and polarizing discourse that plays such a prominent role in national politics.

More about Jacob Hess…
After graduating from Brigham Young University as psychology department valedictorian, Jacob Hess was admitted to the doctoral program at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  There, he was invited by the UIUC Program on Inter-group Relations to help develop and co-facilitate a liberal-conservative dialogue course for undergraduates, the first of its kind in the nation.  Jacob also joined Nathan Todd in interview research comparing narratives of liberal and conservative citizens.  After completing his Ph.D. dissertation research on long-term depression treatment outcomes in 2009, Jacob has worked as research director at Utah Youth Village, a non-profit for abused children in the Rocky Mountain region.

More about Phil Neisser…
Phil Neisser teaches political theory at the State University of New York at Potsdam, where he also serves as the Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences. Neisser earned his M.A at Georgetown University and his Ph.D. at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.  He is the author of United We Fall: Ending America’s Love Affair with the Political Center (Praeger, 2008), co-editor of Tales of the State: Narrative in Contemporary U.S. Politics and Public Policy (1997), and the author of essays and book chapters on a variety of subjects.  And in the year 2000 he received a SUNY Potsdam Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Resource Link:  www.political-dialogue.com (purchase the book here on Amazon.com)

This process is one of several initiatives of the new Bell City Council to restore transparent, community-focused government to Bell.

Following a welcome from Mayor Ali Saleh, and short presentations on the purpose of the forum and the overview of the City’s fiscal condition, small groups were asked to consider, “what are the most important and highest priorities for the City to accomplish in the coming year?”

Each small group, in either English or Spanish, identified important issues and ideas and arrived at a consensus on their group’s “top five” budget priorities.

These priorities were reported-out to all the participants and written summaries of these results were prepared and posted in English and Spanish.  All participants were then given five sticker dots with which to identify their top priorities from the full list.

All Bell city council members were present at the three and half hour community forum; their role was solely to listen to the resident deliberations.

The City of Bell City Council met the following Saturday to review the results of the community forum and to set council goals for 2012/2013.  The final goals that the city council adopted reflected a great deal of overlap with the ideas generated and ranked highest by residents.

The Community Forum was led by Ken Hampian and Bill Statler, former city manager and finance director, respectively, of San Luis Obispo.  Arne Croce, the Bell Interim City Manager, as well as other city staff, supported the planning and preparation for the community forum and helped on-site as well.  Volunteers from the Institute for Local Government, Pepperdine University’s  Davenport Institute, the International Hispanic Network and ICMA,  as well as present and retired local officials from the area, assisted as small group facilitators.

The Institute for Local Government also developed the participant evaluation form that was completed by those attending the community forum.  These evaluations were very positive.  For instance:

• Ninety-seven percent of participants either strongly agreed or agreed that facilitators provided a fair, safe and well-managed environment for participants.
• Ninety-four percent either strongly agreed or agreed that the meeting would result in better decisions about the city’s budget and goals.
• One hundred percent strongly agreed or agreed that they would participate again in meetings like the Community Forum if asked.

California Forward produced a short video of the workshop. See http://www.cafwd.org/blog/entry/the-city-of-bell-moves-forward.

The League of California Cities has supported the Institute’s activities in Bell, and the Institute has worked closely with the League’s Regional Grassroots Program to provide training and information for council members.

For information, contact Magdalena Prado, Senior Management Analyst, at mprado@cityofbell.org.

A blurb about this was posted via the Add-A-Resource form by Terry Amsler of the Institute for Local Government (an NCDD organizational member), but we wanted to make sure the longer story was archived in the Resource Center.  See the original post at http://www.ca-ilg.org/post/community-forum-identifies-budget-priorities-city-bell.

Public dialogue opportunities augment formal, traditional means of engaging citizens by creating venues and resources for face-to-face and on-line deliberation. Our vision is to create a network of engaged communities in New Hampshire that can share their experiences and resources with each other.

We are a civic engagement initiative of the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire.

Resource Link:  www.nhlistens.org

Submitted by Michele Holt-Shannon of The Democracy Imperative (an NCDD organizational member) via the Add-A-Resource form.

Here’s an excerpt, on “clarifying goals” when approaching public engagement:

1. Clarify Your Public Engagement Goals.

Determine the intended goal(s) of your public engagement meetings or other activities. Do you want to inform the public about public safety realignment, its requirements and its impacts, answer questions, and/or ask residents or others to identify values, concerns or recommendations that will help plan or guide the realignment undertaking?

Information sharing should be part of any effort, as should the opportunity for participants to ask questions. However, it can be very helpful to think about the specific areas where public input would be useful and to ask participants for their guiding views or recommendations on these specific points.
Approaches that include deliberation among participants, and more collective input will typically require more time, more meeting preparation, and good facilitation. Don’t set a public engagement activity up for failure by trying to accomplish – or claim – more than available time and the chosen approach will allow.

This article is a service of the Institute for Local Government (ILG), whose mission is to promote good government at the local level with practical, impartial, and easy-to-use resources for California communities. ILG is the nonprofit 501(c)(3) research and education affiliate of the League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties

Resource Link:  www.ca-ilg.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/pe_and_realignment_final_4-24-12.pdf

Submitted for the NCDD Resource Center by Terry Amsler of the Institute for Local Government (an NCDD organizational member) via the Add-A-Resource form at www.ncdd.org/rc/add.

Engagement Commons is a wiki-based, community-built resource. Contribute by adding an app or organization entry, or sharing an engagement-related story.

Engagement Commons is part of the Civic Commons site (civiccommons.org), which we added to the Resource Center here in February 2012.

Resource Link:  www.engagementcommons.org

Submitted by Lauren Dyson of Code for America via the Add-A-Resource form at www.ncdd.org/rc/add.

The booklet, which can be purchased on the Peace Arts website, includes “Six Ingredients of a Good Conversation” which focuses on valuing differences, similarities, speaking from experience, empathy over persuasion and active listening. It can be used with a combination of strangers and friends. The stories we share are always personal with driving topics such as “ a turning point in my life,” “expanding my personal impact”, – perhaps “help I need,” “a hope I am acting on”, always “what I am doing and how it is working out”. This lays the groundwork for creating a social network of support.

Resource Link:  www.redvic.com/secure/peacearts-scripts/peace_manual.html

Submitted by Laurie Marshall of the Peaceful World Foundation via the Add-A-Resource form at www.ncdd.org/rc/add.

The book offers a structured guide for facilitating bereavement support groups, but is intended as more than a simple “how to” book. It will also inspire readers with invigorating practice ideas. This new way of thinking includes the stories and love that remain after death. Here is a model for folding the deceased person’s values, legacies, meanings, and connections into the lives of the living. The book shows how to utilize the metaphorical presence of the deceased, accessed through stories, actions and rituals, to affirm the relationship with the deceased as more than a lost memory to be shelved next to dusty old photo albums.

About the Author:
Dr. Lorraine Hedtke teaches about death, dying and bereavement throughout the world. Her unique ideas and practices are drawn from narrative therapy and represent a departure from the conventional models of grief psychology. Her articles have appeared in numerous professional journals and magazines. With John Winslade, she has co-authored Remembering Lives: Conversations with the Dying and the Bereaved (Baywood, 2004). Her children’s book, My Grandmother is Always with Me (Xlibris 2005), is written with her daughter, Addie. For additional information about her innovative work or to contact her, go to www.rememberingpractices.com.

Resource Link: http://www.taosinstitute.net/bereavement-support-groups

Submitted by Dawn Dole of the Taos Institute (an NCDD organizational member) via the Add-A-Resource form at www.ncdd.org/rc/add.