This important report outlines the Hansard Society's independent investigation into the use of online technologies to promote dialogue between central government in the U.K. and the public. Digital Dialogues presents overviews, data and guidance built around case studies. It has been written principally for government but it is also worthwhile reading for academics, journalists, practitioners and, of course, citizens. This is the interim report from the Digital Dialogues initiative. In March 2007 we will begin our end of initiative report and will make our recommendations the following May. (continue)

Debatepedia is the new free wiki encyclopedia of arguments and debates. As a "wiki," it enables anyone to easily present and organize the unique arguments made by third-party sources (ie. by scholars, experts, leaders,...) on both sides of a debate. By providing an innovative "logic tree" debate methodology, it enables you to organize debates in the most understandable way. Debatepedia is quickly becoming an indispensable resource for uncovering all the unique arguments in important public debates and for developing a complete and rational position. (continue)

Simply put, a Local Issues Forum is an online public commons (or town hall meeting), where any citizen, journalist, or elected official can post an idea, ask a question, make a public announcement, connect with one another, monitor public opinion, and ask for public input, and where journalists can look for story ideas or identify sources for articles. Created by e-democracy.org, Local Issues Forums utilize listserv technology. The goal of a Local Issues Forum is to give everyone a greater voice in local decisions and encourage more citizen participation in local public policy making. It also provides a forum for decision-makers to receive immediate feedback from the community on issues that must be decided or voted on. (continue)

NTEN is the membership organization of nonprofit professionals who put technology to use for their causes. We enable our members to do their jobs better and help their organizations strategically use technology so that they, in turn, make the world a better, just, and equitable place. (continue)

Beth Offenbacker's blog highlights the use of technology for public participation/public involvement and decisionmaking purposes. Learn about existing tools, reports, emerging trends and a range of other resources on this subject. (continue)

Limehouse Software provides web-based publishing and citizen participation solutions to hundreds of organizations worldwide. We create products that are simple to use, and proven to save you time and money. Limehouse allows you to automate the production of complex reports, plans and documents. With a touch of a button you can publish to PDF, Web or CD-ROM format, and instantly run online consultation, questionnaires and public forums. Our cost-effective solutions will help you to work smarter, not harder, to meet your publishing and citizen participation requirements. (continue)

Comment Connection is a subscription service customized for public participation professionals and the challenges they face in collecting, analyzing and reporting public comment. Comments can be tracked from multiple projects and multiple project phases. (continue)

In this great list of pointers for hosts of online conversations, Rheingold outlines what an online host hopes to achieve; characteristics of good online discussions and duties/behavior of a good host. (continue)

Utilizing new web-based videoconferencing technology, small groups of university students from the US and predominantly Muslim Countries in the Middle East meet weekly on-line with the help of skilled facilitators. Together they engage in intensive dialogue about the relationship between the U.S. and the Arab and Muslim World, with a particular emphasis on the role of the media in shaping perceptions of the "other." (continue)

CivicEvolution is a new technology that helps people develop proposals collaboratively. You can propose an idea and lead a team to develop the idea into a full proposal. Or, you can join a team to help develop a proposal suggested by someone else. The estimated time to complete a proposal in this deliberative, asynchronous environment is three weeks. The proposals that are developed have six sections: an idea, goals, action plan, impacts, first steps, and key research. Proposals are developed as people submit and rate key points for each section of the proposal in order. The key points from the previous section provide the foundation for the next section. (continue)