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)

Peter Nixon's new 2012 book addresses the gap between the quality of dialogues we have and the quality of dialogues we need to solve the problems we face at work, at home and in society. The book "bridges the gap between simply communicating and optimal decision making." (continue)

Tree Bressen, an NCDD Supporting Member and expert in facilitation and consensus, just released a new 2-page handout to assist those involved in the current Occupy movement, which has been using a consensus decision-making process. Tree noted in her email about this extremely timely, useful resource that “a two-page quick handout can’t replace a training, but it can help in the meantime.” You can download the handout at http://treegroup.info/topics/Top-10-Consensus-Mistakes.pdf (I’m also including it below as a valuable archive and resource). (continue)

Deliberative public engagement is a distinctive approach to involving people in decision-making. It is different from other forms of engagement in that it is about giving participants time to consider and discuss an issue in depth before they come to a considered view. The aim of this 18-page background paper (2008) from Involve and the National Consumer Council is to encourage and support deliberative public engagement in public policy. (continue)

Dialogue: A Virtual Workshop is a FREE series of 12 videos that shares the basics of the Public Conversations Project’s approach to dialogue. From understanding the importance of participant preparation to developing the right questions to ask in a dialogue, this series illustrates PCP’s approach—and the principles behind it—via an in-depth resource that combines videos, guides, and interactive links. (continue)

This 2004 table was adapted by NCDD director Sandy Heierbacher from a paper prepared by Shelley Berman, which was based on discussions of the Dialogue Group of the Boston Chapter of Educators for Social Responsibility (ESR), and from the Public Conversations Project’s much-used Distinguishing Debate from Dialogue table. (continue)

This great little list of tips by Laura Chasin, founder of The Public Conversations Project, appeared here on the Christian Science Monitor website around January 14, 2011 in response to the shooting in Tucson, Arizona. This article is part of a series of articles on civility at www.csmonitor.com/Topics/civility. Four ways to kick the polarized partisan habit President Obama, at the Jan. 12 memorial for victims of the mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz, urged the nation to move beyond finger-pointing to healing, constructive conversation. How do ... (continue)

NCDD’s October 2010 Resource Guide on Public Engagement is packed with tools and stories to help you tackle contentious problems in your community. Download the Resource Guide at: www.ncdd.org/files/NCDD2010_Resource_Guide.pdf The Resource Guide showcases the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation’s best collaboratively-created products (like the Core Principles for Public Engagement and the Engagement Streams Framework), as well as recognizing and directing you to a lot of the great work on public engagement that has been done by others in our field. Created for our 2010 ... (continue)

"Song Of A Citizen" is a unique collaboration of thinkers and artists exploring what it really means to be a fully engaged and effective citizen in modern times -- how we-the-people are measuring up -- how we can do better -- and why we must. Song Of A Citizen's debut effort is an innovative series of online "video op-eds," featuring an array of nationally renowned political philosophers and self-governance experts (including NCDD members Martha McCoy, Carolyn Lukensmeyer and Will Friedman) -- presented in a playful and engaging visual style -- each making the case in their own compelling way. View the video op-eds at www.songofacitizen.com. (continue)

Collaboration Soup: A Six-Step Recipe For Co-Creative Meetings and Other Conversations is a little 100-page book packed with goodness. We recommend it for meeting conveners and participants alike. Authors Delia Horwitz and Paula Vigneault are offering a special $10 rate to the NCDD community (about $5 off). Go to www.createspace.com/3411497 to order and use code UHFJPXWJ at checkout. (continue)