This article by NCDD Director Sandy Heierbacher was published in the September 2009 edition of the International Journal of Public Participation (IJP2). You can download the full article here from the IJP2 site. The article outlines NCDD's learnings in two of the five challenges we focused on at the 2008 NCDD conference in Austin: the "Systems Challenge" and the "Framing Challenge." (continue)

Open Government Directions is a blog run by NCDD members AmericaSpeaks and Ascentum for those who care about the Open Government Directive and creating a more participatory and collaborative government. (continue)

The 66-minute Rise and Fall of the Town Hall Meeting video shows the NCSL (National Conference of State Legislatures) 2009 Fall Forum held on Dec. 11, 2009.  The video features three legislators talking about the effective use of town hall meetings and deliberation. One of the legislators featured is NCDD member and Hawaii State Senator Les Ihara. The other speakers included: Representative Sheryl L. Allen (Utah), Representative Ellen Roberts (Colorado), and Katie Ziegler (NCSL). (continue)

The issue guide, “Fulfilling Our e-State Potential: Building Community in a ‘Connected’ Age” on Everyday Democracy’s Issue Guide Exchange, is designed to help citizens deliberate about ways to use e-state technology to help enhance community and civic life. It’s designed to be used during a one-day symposium and includes an exploration of community, scenarios to help explore e-state opportunities and challenges, an exercise to identify e-state values, and opportunities to identify action steps. (continue)

As Einstein famously asserted, today’s toughest issues cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them. Since 1996, NCDD member Miki Kashtan has dedicated her formidable experience, skill, insight and passion into honing and sharing the use of Nonviolent Communication (NVC) as a guiding compass to be able to fully live and look at life through a different lens than the one which created our world as it is. A different thinking, consciousness, paradigm to think about and reflect on […] (continue)