Amanda Kathryn Roman of the Citizens in Charge Foundation and Joan Blades of MoveOn.org and MomsRising are collaborating to launch a new and exciting project to promote civil conversations: www.LivingRoomConversations.org. It is an open-source project that provides a model for respectful conversations among friends & friends of friends around political issues that are typically polarizing. (continue)

A documentary is available featuring a several-day-long dialogue process held in Nigeria in October 2010. 200 Muslim and Christian youth met in a safe place in Nigeria for several days of face-to-face, in-depth dialogue experiences. The women and men discovered their equal, shared humanity and that "an enemy is one whose story we have not heard." It was part of the 2nd International Conference on Youth and Interfaith Communication in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. (continue)

The following text by Parker J. Palmer is excerpted from the Center for Courage & Renewal website at www.couragerenewal.org. This group communication method invented by the Quakers in the 1660′s protects individual identity and integrity while drawing on the wisdom of other people. People who wish to make significant use of the Clearness Committee process are urged to read Chapter VIII, “Living the Questions,” in Parker J. Palmer’s A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 2009). There you will ... (continue)

USARiseUp.com has launched two online dialogues on race, and you are invited to join the conversation: The National Collegiate Dialogue on Race Relations at www.usariseup.com/category/department/national-collegiate-dialogue Race Relations in Your City at www.usariseup.com/publishers-note/join-town-hall-discussion-about-race-relations-your-city? The website has a monthly online magazine with several departments, covering a variety of topics and interests designed to help us celebrate our commonalities, better understand our differences and create a comfortable space to address those things that divide us. Their writers represent the ethnic groups that make up America; and their visitors ... (continue)

Change is everywhere these days—at times it seems like barely controlled chaos. Yet within this turmoil are the seeds of a higher order. When a new system arises from the ashes of the old, science calls the process “emergence.” By engaging it, you can help yourself and your organization or community to successfully face disruption and emerge stronger than ever.  In the book Engaging Emergence (2010), Peggy Holman offers principles, practices, and real-world stories to help you work with compassion, creativity, and wisdom through the ... (continue)

Possibilities for Transformational Conferences is an 8-page primer on how to plan events for 50 or more people that are interactive, engaging, and generally fabulous. Author Tree Bressen (with Debby Sugarman and Sunrise Facilitation) briefly introduces techniques for making events more participatory and engaging, including Open Space Technology, World Cafe, Appreciative Inquiry, fishbowls, “speed dating,” storytelling, and more. Download at http://treegroup.info/topics/Transformational_Conferences.pdf. About Tree Bressen… From her home in Eugene, Oregon, Tree Bressen consults with a wide variety of organizations on how to have meetings that ... (continue)

This lovely 8-page Field Guide to Convening Dialogue was written by Joanna Ashworth, M.Ed., Ed.D. of Simon Fraser University (2010) with funding from Imagine BC. Download a copy from www.sfu.ca/dialogue. (continue)

Created by NCDD director Sandy Heierbacher in collaboration with Martin Carcasson, Will Friedman and Alison Kadlec (and based on Carcasson's paper Beginning With the End in Mind), the Goals of Dialogue & Deliberation graphic pictured here outlines 3 types of goals for public problem-solving work. In a nutshell, the three tiers of goals are individual and knowledge-based goals, immediate group/community outcomes, and longer-term capacity building and community change. Click on the image to view a larger version of the graphic. (continue)

NCDD's Engagement Streams Framework helps people decide which dialogue and deliberation method(s) are most appropriate for their circumstance. The framework is a series of two charts that categorize the D&D field into four streams based on intention or purpose (Exploration, Conflict Transformation, Decision Making, and Collaborative Action), and show which of the most well-known methods have proven themselves effective in which streams. The second chart goes into more detail about 23 dialogue and deliberation methods, and includes information such as group size, meeting type and how participants are selected. (continue)

“I believe we can change the world if we start talking to one another again.” With this simple declaration, Margaret Wheatley proposes in her 2002 book that people band together with their colleagues and friends to create the solutions for real social change, both locally and globally, that are so badly needed. Such change will not come from governments or corporations, she argues, but from the ageless process of thinking together in conversation. “Turning to One Another” encourages this process. Part I explores the power ... (continue)