As always, thanks to everyone who contributed.

The Deliberative Democracy Consortium Steering Committee met in June, and reviewed a slate of proposed activities for the next two years and beyond. Your input is invited: please visit d-d.net on the web to review the proposals or read DDSC Chair Carolyn Lukensmeyer s summary of the meeting on the d-d.net blog.

This edition of the eBulletin also marks a transition to an html version of the newsletter, powered by d-d.net s new free list manager, Mojo Mail, developed by Justin Simoni. This transition, however, will not impact the security of your email privacy: addresses will not be shared with third party organizations.

Also, please send in contributions for the upcoming d-d.net eBulletin. We also welcome think pieces for the Features section of the website. Think pieces should be around 2,000 words and encourage further discussion of theory and practice of deliberative democracy on the d-d.net .

Finally, we d like to welcome the Consortium s first intern, Jaclyn Cole, to our staff. Welcome, Jaclyn!

~editor

1 | WRI Report Urges Governance Reforms to Arrest Decline of the Environment
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A landmark report released by the World Resources Institute on July 10 calls for fundamental changes in how decisions are made concerning the world s natural resources. The report, World Resources 2002-2004: Decisions for the Earth Balance, Voice, and Power, stresses the urgent need for such changes to arrest the accelerating deterioration of the world s environment and to address the crisis of global poverty.

The report calls on governments to include the public in decisions that affect ecosystems, and for integration of environmental impacts into economic decision-making. It also identifies public access to information from governments, business, and non-governmental organizations as a necessary precursor to improved environmental performance. The report argues that greater transparency and accountability can lead to fairer and more effective management of natural resources.

For more information, please visit the World Resources Institutefor more information.

2 | Opportunity for International Student Deliberation
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Approximately 350 American college students will participate in an online deliberation that will explore America s role in the world. Organizers of the dialogue also hope to involve secondary, tertiary or graduate students from around the world. All communications will be in English using an asynchronous discussion format. The basis for the discussion will be the National Issues Forum book, "By the People: Americans' Role in the World," used during the National Issues Convention convened by the Center for Deliberative Polling and MacNeil/Lehrer Productions in January of this year.

Organizers are willing to be as flexible as possible to accommodate the schedules and particular needs of international students. Information about the project is available at Teaching Democracy.org (Click on "Students and the World").

3 | Wilder Foundation Publishes Field Guide to Community Forums
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The Wilder Foundation has recently published the Nonprofit Field Guide,Conducting Community Forums: Engaging Citizens, Mobilizing Communities. This step-by-step guide provides powerful tools for educating the public, building consensus, focusing action, and influencing public policy. The report draws upon the authors experience with more than 70 community forums on a wide variety of topics.

The proven models and best practices provided in this book are intended to help readers: -clarify goals and decide whether a forum is the best way to achieve them
-select the best type of forum to meet your goals
-develop a timeline, create a budget, and recruit sponsors
-engage an audience early
-manage the logistics of event planning and execution

...and more. Sample documents, detailed worksheets, and a comprehensive checklist will lead readers through the process. Forums on a Shoestring sidebars help get results with little time or money. A detailed resource section lists useful books, articles, organizations, and web sites.

Visit the Wilder Foundation for more information.

4 | Call for Participants and Themes
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The Mary Parker Follett Foundation announces its Second International Mary Parker Follett Conversation on Creative Democracy, October 16-19, 2003 at Boise State University, Boise, Idaho. Named after the Progressive Era visionary in the field of democratic thought and practice, this conference will bring together people from all disciplines whose approach to human relations, community building, public affairs and management are based on integrated diversity and continuous creativity among stakeholders. The team-based conversation format will provide an enriching participatory experience that will produce new knowledge, new goals, initiatives and impetus.

For more information and registration, contact Matthew Shapiro.

5 | New Government Consultation Guide from Australia
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The government of Western Australia recently released, Consulting Citizens: Planning for Success, which directs its focus towards those elements of planning that are essential to the creation of effective and meaningful consultations. In particular, it includes material to assist in minimising risk - both project risk and during the consultation process itself. For more information, and to download the free .pdf, visit the Citizens and Civics Unit of the government of Western Australia.

6 | Danish e-Service Nominated for EU Award
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DanmarksDebatten has been nominated for the public e-service eEurope Awards. 357 applicants ran, but only 65 have been invited to participate in the final round. Among these, three winners will be selected in three categories.

As the first major event during the Italian EU Presidency, a high-level conference will be held on 7-8 July in Como, Italy, where the 65 applicants will demonstrate and present their projects/services.

What is DanmarksDebatten? It is a forum for all citizens and public authorities, interest groups and media wishing to discuss and influence the political agenda, at local or national level. DanmarksDebatten is a debate module which the National IT and Telecom Agency makes available to interested public authorities, elected representatives and interest groups free of change, but it is also a na tional debate portal which is in due course to comprise all public sector on-line debates in Denmark.

For more information about the DeBatten system, visit them online
For more information about the e-European Awards, and to view the winners, visit them online

7 | EPA Issues New Public Involvement Guidelines
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EPA Administrator Christie Whitman issued the new Public Involvement Policy on June 6, 2003. The policy gives clear guidance to EPA staff on effective ways to involve the public in all of the agency's programs and activities. The Public Involvement Policy recommends these seven basic steps for effective public involvement: 1) plan and budget; 2) identify whom to involve; 3) consider providing assistance; 4) provide information; 5) conduct involvement; 6) review, use input and provide feedback and 7) evaluate public involvement.

The new Policy recognizes: the public's changing needs, new statutes and regulations; expanded public participation techniques and media (e.g. Internet); the importance of partnerships and technical assistance; and increased state, tribal and local government capacity to carry out programs. EPA also released the "Framework for Implementing EPA's Public Involvement Policy" and EPA's "Response to Public Comments on the Draft 2000 Public Involvement Policy."

The policy, framework and EPA's responses are posted at epa.gov

8 | From the d-d.net Blog: Effects of Deliberation
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Two papers that are directly relevant to deliberative practice were presented at the International Society for Political Psychology's annual conference.

1. Cynthia Farrar, James Fishkin, Donald Green et al. recently conducted a deliberative poll as a controlled experiment. The project took place in New Haven and involved two local issues (the local airport and revenue sharing of local taxes). The participants were randomly split into two groups.

One group deliberated about revenue sharing, the other about the airport, and then they switched topics. Thus, everyone got the experience of deliberating on both important issues. However, participants were surveyed in the middle of the day, so that those who had deliberated on each issue could be compared to the control group that had not.

To read more, click here

9 | From the d-d.net Blog: Deliberative democracy = progressive?
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Joseph Hough, President of the Union Theological Seminary, forwarded me a recent speech by Bill Moyer. In it, Mr. Moyer chronicles over a hundred years of progressive politics.

Clearly, many of his sentiments will echo with the personal political perspectives of members of the consortium. But just as I expressed concerns over possibly charged notions of 'social justice' and 'just redistribution' at our steering committee meeting last week, I worry that Mr. Moyer's may be too partisan for our open tent.

Does anyone else have a viewpoint: Is deliberative democracy necessarily a progressive notion? Or is deliberative democracy a truly neutral frame? (To see some interesting public discussion, see this thread where conservatives raise concerns about democratic renewal and an interesting follow up called "Not a democracy gnome.")

To read more, click here