Richard Harwood's blog, Redeeming Hope, shares Rich's thoughts on how to improve public life and politics. Rich Harwood founded the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation to help people imagine and act for the public good. For almost 20 years, he and his colleagues have been evolving both the ideas and the practical approaches for changing the negative conditions in society that too often divide people and keep them from making progress in their neighborhoods, communities, and the nation as a whole. (continue)

AI Annotations is a place to create a conversation - an exchange of ideas and practices - among the co-owners of Appreciative Inquiry Consulting and with others who are on the journey of exploration and collective understanding of Appreciative Inquiry. Loretta Donovan, Roberta Peirick, Loretta Randolph, Tony Silbert and Sandy Wells make up the AI Annotations blog team as of 5/07. (continue)

Brad Rourke writes a regular column on civic issues called Public Comments, a series of monthly essays on civic life, public engagement, civil discourse, ethics, and what those ideas mean in today's world. You can subscribe to Public Comments or view the essays online. The essays also frequently appear in The Christian Science Monitor. Brad Rourke is a writer and consultant who works on civic issues and ethics. He works with public leaders, nonprofit organizations, foundations, and others concerned with civic life and public issues. Email Brad to subscribe. (continue)

Kate Howard's blog about civic engagement and public participation focuses on helping communities develop skills, access knowledge, and collaborate to solve public problems. (continue)

Catch up on the latest in online politics and democracy with the Corante blogging network's Civic Minded group blog. Civic Minded is a guide to the political impact of the Internet, looking at issues ranging from online organizing and campaigning to the big picture of how new technology is changing democratic communities. (continue)

This is the group blog of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium (DDC). A project of AmericaSpeaks, the DDC is a network of practitioners and researchers, representing over 30 organizations and universities, working together to strengthen the field of deliberative democracy. The DDC seeks to support research activities and to advance practice at all levels of government, in North America and around the world. Lars Torres of PeaceTiles, Mike Weiksner of e.thepeople, Joe Goldman of AmericaSpeaks and Peter Levine of CIRCLE are frequent posters. (continue)

American Library Association members Nancy Kranich, Taylor Willingham, and Michele Reid established an ALA Membership Initiative Group for librarians interested in Fostering Civic Engagement. This group, formed in 2004, includes librarians from all types of libraries who are eager to learn about and share their experiences with facilitating deliberative public forums and fostering civic engagement in their communities. (continue)

Peter Levine is Director of CIRCLE, The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (www.civicyouth.org). CIRCLE conducts and funds research on young people's civic education and participation. Levine is also a Research Scholar at the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy in the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy. He is chair of the executive committee of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools and a member of the executive committee of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium. Levine's blog primarily covers topics related to youth civic engagement and deliberative democracy. (continue)

David Burton's blog focuses on the online deliberation of topics relevant to public issue forums in southwest Missouri. (continue)

London-based Involve believes that meeting the greatest challenges of the age will depend on bulding adaptable and flexible institutions while giving more power to ordinary people. Involve focuses on the practicalities of making this happen. They undertake four core activities: Advocacy - making the case for genuine citizen empowerment; New thinking - improving understanding of what works; Better practice - supporting institutions and citizens; Networking - bringing members of the participation and empowerment field together. (continue)