Many thanks always to those who contributed to this edition of the eBulletin. Please note: d-d.net has been redesigned, and is still undgoing content updates -- thanks for your patience!

Meanwhile, we are looking to boost our subscriber base to the d-d.net eBulletin. Please forward the eBulletin to colleagues in the field and encourage them to subscribe online at http://deliberative-democracy.net/cgi-local/mojo.cgi?f=list&l=ebulletin.

~editor

1 | New Book Argues for Strengthened Consultation Framework in the US
-- -----------------------
The use of citizen consultation to render government information meaningful is one of the major themes in a new book Peter Shane of Carnegie Mellon University has edited with John Podesta and Richard C. Leone. The volume, A Little Knowledge: Privacy, Security, and Public Information after September 11 is published by the Century Foundation.

In a chapter titled, "Public Information, Technology, and Democratic Empowerment," Professor Shane argues that federal freedom of information law does not yet recognize "the capacity of ICTs to facilitate ongoing systems of communication between citizens and agencies in which citizens are empowered to hold agencies more effectively to account, encouraged to reflect upon and enhance the information available to agencies for their decision making, and generally enabled not only to acquire agency data, but to understand those data in some meaningful context."

The chapter goes on to discuss the need for new institutions to help guide such government-centered consultations in the U.S. and urges the more imaginative use of ICTs to open up both the federal administrative process and Congress.

More information about the book is available at http://www.tcf.org/4L/4LMain.asp?SubjectID=1&TopicID=1&ArticleID=479

2 | New Book: Deliberative Democracy and Opinion Formation
-- -----------------------
Deliberative Democracy and Opinion Formation presents an ambitious and systematic approach to deliberative democracy and provides arguments on how to review the theory of deliberative democracy. According to one expert in the field, "Kasper M. Hansen offers us a rich dialogue between empirical work and political philosophy. This book should be read by all those with an interest in deliberative democracy--in practice as well as in theory" (James S. Fishkin, Stanford University).

For more information and ordering information please visit the website: http://www.universitypress.dk/eng/detail.php?token=262520302098&R=8778389542 &N=nej &N=nej

3 | New Paper: The Irrelevance of Sincerity
-- -----------------------
In a challenge to basic claims of deliberative democrats, University of Michigan doctoral candidate John Kang argues that sincerity is irrelevant to deliberation in the most recent issue of the St Louis Law Journal.

Insincerity, the author argues, "is regarded as a roguish intruder in democratic discourse where people are expected to speak their minds freely yet with a measure of sincere concern for their fellow citizens." Proponents of this belief, "argue that people should frame their justifications in terms of the common good or the public generally, and that such justifications, at least sometimes, should be sincere." Against this claim, John Kang argues that "sincerity is both logically and practically irrelevant in contributing to a meaningful realm of free speech that can help generate diverse options for an audience to consider in its search for provisional political truths."

Download the paper at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=535083

4 | New Kettering Paper: Deliberation in 10 Countries
-- -----------------------
The Kettering Foundation has recently released a report, Creating Citizens Through Public Deliberation: How Civic Organizations in Ten Countries Are Using Deliberative Dialogue to build and Strengthen Democracy, by Scott London. The report--which provides an overview of deliberative activities in Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Caribbean--makes extensive use of interviews to paint a profile of emerging practices and their context in 10 nations.

Download the full report at http://www.kettering.org/Foundation_Publications/ Publication2/CREATING_CITIZENS.pdf

5 | 2004 National Conference on Dialogue and Deliberation (US)
-- --------------------
The 2004 NCDD conference will take place in Denver, Colorado, October 23-25 at Regis University, with a day of post-conference trainings on October 26. The conference will include time for networking, skill-building, hearing from some of the key leaders in the field (among them Jim Fishkin, Glenna Gerard, and Harold Saunders), and engaging in dialogue and deliberation.

The 2004 conference will focus on three broad questions: "How can we have a greater collective impact on the challenging issues of our time?", "How can we develop intelligently and wholeheartedly as a community of practice?", and "What do we need to know and do individually to enhance our capacity to do this work?"

Conference organizers encourage readers to submit proposals for presentations, workshops, and panels by July 30. You can also register for the conference, read about our stellar post-conference trainings, become a Co-Sponsor of the conference, and more, at http://www.thataway.org. You can also contact conference director Sandy Heierbacher at sandy@thataway.org.

6 | North American Summit on Citizen Engagement
-- -----------------------
Organizers of the Whistler Forum's North American Summit on Citizen Engagement argue that creative, informed and sustained leadership is vital to advancing meaningful processes for engaging citizens and building trust. The goal of the Forum's first annual Summit is to foster this leadership and to showcase examples and best practices today of the Olympic ideals of democracy and citizenship of 3,000 years ago. The Summit is organized around three tracks:

Building "Trust Equity" in Civic and Corporate Worlds With Steve Rosell and Dan Yankelovich of Viewpoint Research, UBC Professor Ken Carty of the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform, and Economist John Helliwell*.

Implementing Effective and Accessible Tools of Engagement With Carolyn Lukensmeyer President of America Speaks, Dave Biggs of Envision Tools, Pierre-Gerlier Forest of Health Canada, Sandy Heierbacher of the National Council of Dialogue and Deliberation, Shelley Smith of D-Code Toronto, Lenora Angeles of the Participatory Budgeting Project.

Leadership in Funding Best Practices of Public Participation With Terry Amsler* of the Hewlett Foundation, Angus Reid, Angus Reid Consultants and Kristi Wells, Whistler Councilor and others.

For more information and to register, visit http://www.whistlerforum.com/programs/index.cfm?fuseaction=na

7 | Ladd Group Rolls Out New Site, Services
-- -----------------------
The Ladd Group has launched their new website and will be offering Community Rooms to non-profit organizations and schools, community groups, grass roots organizations, reunions and local events. The offeri ng is an affordable and intuitive online platform for participating in meetings, events, and training. Among their services are online platforms to exchange information over a period of time which can be expertly customized to facilitate online meetings and conferences.

For more information, please visit www.communityrooms.com

8 | Barcelona Forum Dialogues to be Webcast
-- -----------------------
Important issues of our time being debated in Barcelona will be broadcast live via the web, the Barcelona Forum US announced in late June. Viewers can access the dialogues at www.barcelona2004us.org. The live webcasts will feature discussions and debates by some of the world's pre-eminent thinkers, experts in their field, and concerned citizens from around the world, the Dialogues seek to address many of the most pressing concerns of our modern society. The idea is to turn words into action! Some of the critical Dialogue topics and conferences include:

* Freedom, Peace and Security
* Globalization-Free Trade or Fair Trade
* The Role of Corporations in the 21st Century
* The Women's World Forum
* The World Urban Forum
For more information on the Barcelona Forum 2004, to participate in online discussions, or view the webcasts, please visit www.barcelona2004us.org or call David Rippe at 513-618-6449.

9 | New Arts and Civic Dialogue Resource
-- -----------------------
The Americans for the Arts Bookstore announces an important new resource that explores the intersection between the arts and civic dialogue. Published by the Americans for the Arts Animating Democracy Initiative, a four-year project sponsored by The Ford Foundation, Animating Democracy: National Exchange on Art & Civic Dialogue Program Binder is a compendium of materials from the National Exchange convening, called "one of the signal arts events of the last decade" by Linda Frye Burnham of Art in the Public Interest.

Sponsored by Americans for the Arts, the 2003 conference in Flint, MI, brought together 250 artists, cultural organizers, community and civic leaders, dialogue practitioners, scholars, and activists. The Exchange offered a lively exploration of the philosophical, practical, and aesthetic aspects of arts and humanities activities that seek to stimulate civic dialogue on important contemporary issues. The binder features session descriptions and notes from seven outstanding sessions, including: The Artist, Institution, Community Triangle; Cultural Perspectives: Honoring Tradition and Working Cross-Culturally; and History as Catalyst for Civic Dialogue. Also included are participant biographies, four essays and case studies about arts-based civic dialogue work, and a substantial set of practical and networking resources.

More information available online at www.AmericansForTheArts.org/bookstore or by calling 800.321.4510 (US only).
10 | Western Australia Citizens and Civics Unit Resources
-- -----------------------
The government of Western Australia continues to present lively and updated materials on its consultation activities via its newly redesigned website at www.citizenscape.wa.gov.au. Be sure to browse the latest "strengthening democracy" strategy paper released in ;late May by the Premier, the Honorable Geoff Gallup at http://www.citizenscape.wa.gov.au/index.cfm?fuseaction=ccu.publications#strategy_049

---------------
END OF TEXT
---------------

To unsubscribe from: Deliberative Democracy Consortium eBulletin, just follow this link:

Many thanks always to those who contributed to this edition of the eBulletin. Please note: d-d.net has been redesigned, and is still undgoing content updates -- thanks for your patience!

Meanwhile, we are looking to boost our subscriber base to the d-d.net eBulletin. Please forward the eBulletin to colleagues in the field and encourage them to subscribe online at http://deliberative-democracy.net/cgi-local/mojo.cgi?f=list&l=ebulletin.

~editor

1 | New Book Argues for Strengthened Consultation Framework in the US
-- -----------------------
The use of citizen consultation to render government information meaningful is one of the major themes in a new book Peter Shane of Carnegie Mellon University has edited with John Podesta and Richard C. Leone. The volume, A Little Knowledge: Privacy, Security, and Public Information after September 11 is published by the Century Foundation.

In a chapter titled, "Public Information, Technology, and Democratic Empowerment," Professor Shane argues that federal freedom of information law does not yet recognize "the capacity of ICTs to facilitate ongoing systems of communication between citizens and agencies in which citizens are empowered to hold agencies more effectively to account, encouraged to reflect upon and enhance the information available to agencies for their decision making, and generally enabled not only to acquire agency data, but to understand those data in some meaningful context."

The chapter goes on to discuss the need for new institutions to help guide such government-centered consultations in the U.S. and urges the more imaginative use of ICTs to open up both the federal administrative process and Congress.

More information about the book is available at http://www.tcf.org/4L/4LMain.asp?SubjectID=1&TopicID=1&ArticleID=479

2 | New Book: Deliberative Democracy and Opinion Formation
-- -----------------------
Deliberative Democracy and Opinion Formation presents an ambitious and systematic approach to deliberative democracy and provides arguments on how to review the theory of deliberative democracy. According to one expert in the field, "Kasper M. Hansen offers us a rich dialogue between empirical work and political philosophy. This book should be read by all those with an interest in deliberative democracy--in practice as well as in theory" (James S. Fishkin, Stanford University).

For more information and ordering information please visit the website: http://www.universitypress.dk/eng/detail.php?token=262520302098&R=8778389542 &N=nej &N=nej

3 | New Paper: The Irrelevance of Sincerity
-- -----------------------
In a challenge to basic claims of deliberative democrats, University of Michigan doctoral candidate John Kang argues that sincerity is irrelevant to deliberation in the most recent issue of the St Louis Law Journal.

Insincerity, the author argues, "is regarded as a roguish intruder in democratic discourse where people are expected to speak their minds freely yet with a measure of sincere concern for their fellow citizens." Proponents of this belief, "argue that people should frame their justifications in terms of the common good or the public generally, and that such justifications, at least sometimes, should be sincere." Against this claim, John Kang argues that "sincerity is both logically and practically irrelevant in contributing to a meaningful realm of free speech that can help generate diverse options for an audience to consider in its search for provisional political truths."

Download the paper at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=535083

4 | New Kettering Paper: Deliberation in 10 Countries
-- -----------------------
The Kettering Foundation has recently released a report, Creating Citizens Through Public Deliberation: How Civic Organizations in Ten Countries Are Using Deliberative Dialogue to build and Strengthen Democracy, by Scott London. The report--which provides an overview of deliberative activities in Latin America, Africa, Eastern Europe, and the Caribbean--makes extensive use of interviews to paint a profile of emerging practices and their context in 10 nations.

Download the full report at http://www.kettering.org/Foundation_Publications/ Publication2/CREATING_CITIZENS.pdf

5 | 2004 National Conference on Dialogue and Deliberation (US)
-- --------------------
The 2004 NCDD conference will take place in Denver, Colorado, October 23-25 at Regis University, with a day of post-conference trainings on October 26. The conference will include time for networking, skill-building, hearing from some of the key leaders in the field (among them Jim Fishkin, Glenna Gerard, and Harold Saunders), and engaging in dialogue and deliberation.

The 2004 conference will focus on three broad questions: "How can we have a greater collective impact on the challenging issues of our time?", "How can we develop intelligently and wholeheartedly as a community of practice?", and "What do we need to know and do individually to enhance our capacity to do this work?"

Conference organizers encourage readers to submit proposals for presentations, workshops, and panels by July 30. You can also register for the conference, read about our stellar post-conference trainings, become a Co-Sponsor of the conference, and more, at http://www.thataway.org. You can also contact conference director Sandy Heierbacher at sandy@thataway.org.

6 | North American Summit on Citizen Engagement
-- -----------------------
Organizers of the Whistler Forum's North American Summit on Citizen Engagement argue that creative, informed and sustained leadership is vital to advancing meaningful processes for engaging citizens and building trust. The goal of the Forum's first annual Summit is to foster this leadership and to showcase examples and best practices today of the Olympic ideals of democracy and citizenship of 3,000 years ago. The Summit is organized around three tracks:

Building "Trust Equity" in Civic and Corporate Worlds With Steve Rosell and Dan Yankelovich of Viewpoint Research, UBC Professor Ken Carty of the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform, and Economist John Helliwell*.

Implementing Effective and Accessible Tools of Engagement With Carolyn Lukensmeyer President of America Speaks, Dave Biggs of Envision Tools, Pierre-Gerlier Forest of Health Canada, Sandy Heierbacher of the National Council of Dialogue and Deliberation, Shelley Smith of D-Code Toronto, Lenora Angeles of the Participatory Budgeting Project.

Leadership in Funding Best Practices of Public Participation With Terry Amsler* of the Hewlett Foundation, Angus Reid, Angus Reid Consultants and Kristi Wells, Whistler Councilor and others.

For more information and to register, visit http://www.whistlerforum.com/programs/index.cfm?fuseaction=na

7 | Ladd Group Rolls Out New Site, Services
-- -----------------------
The Ladd Group has launched their new website and will be offering Community Rooms to non-profit organizations and schools, community groups, grass roots organizations, reunions and local events. The offeri ng is an affordable and intuitive online platform for participating in meetings, events, and training. Among their services are online platforms to exchange information over a period of time which can be expertly customized to facilitate online meetings and conferences.

For more information, please visit www.communityrooms.com

8 | Barcelona Forum Dialogues to be Webcast
-- -----------------------
Important issues of our time being debated in Barcelona will be broadcast live via the web, the Barcelona Forum US announced in late June. Viewers can access the dialogues at www.barcelona2004us.org. The live webcasts will feature discussions and debates by some of the world's pre-eminent thinkers, experts in their field, and concerned citizens from around the world, the Dialogues seek to address many of the most pressing concerns of our modern society. The idea is to turn words into action! Some of the critical Dialogue topics and conferences include:

* Freedom, Peace and Security
* Globalization-Free Trade or Fair Trade
* The Role of Corporations in the 21st Century
* The Women's World Forum
* The World Urban Forum
For more information on the Barcelona Forum 2004, to participate in online discussions, or view the webcasts, please visit www.barcelona2004us.org or call David Rippe at 513-618-6449.

9 | New Arts and Civic Dialogue Resource
-- -----------------------
The Americans for the Arts Bookstore announces an important new resource that explores the intersection between the arts and civic dialogue. Published by the Americans for the Arts Animating Democracy Initiative, a four-year project sponsored by The Ford Foundation, Animating Democracy: National Exchange on Art & Civic Dialogue Program Binder is a compendium of materials from the National Exchange convening, called "one of the signal arts events of the last decade" by Linda Frye Burnham of Art in the Public Interest.

Sponsored by Americans for the Arts, the 2003 conference in Flint, MI, brought together 250 artists, cultural organizers, community and civic leaders, dialogue practitioners, scholars, and activists. The Exchange offered a lively exploration of the philosophical, practical, and aesthetic aspects of arts and humanities activities that seek to stimulate civic dialogue on important contemporary issues. The binder features session descriptions and notes from seven outstanding sessions, including: The Artist, Institution, Community Triangle; Cultural Perspectives: Honoring Tradition and Working Cross-Culturally; and History as Catalyst for Civic Dialogue. Also included are participant biographies, four essays and case studies about arts-based civic dialogue work, and a substantial set of practical and networking resources.

More information available online at www.AmericansForTheArts.org/bookstore or by calling 800.321.4510 (US only).
10 | Western Australia Citizens and Civics Unit Resources
-- -----------------------
The government of Western Australia continues to present lively and updated materials on its consultation activities via its newly redesigned website at www.citizenscape.wa.gov.au. Be sure to browse the latest "strengthening democracy" strategy paper released in ;late May by the Premier, the Honorable Geoff Gallup at http://www.citizenscape.wa.gov.au/index.cfm?fuseaction=ccu.publications#strategy_049