The Journal of Public Deliberation (JPD), published by Berkeley Press in California, is a new online resource that aims to provide insights into deliberative democracy from to views, scholarly and practice-based. Each edition of the JPD will deliver timely and informative peer-reviewed content spanning the range of enquiry and practice in the field on a revolving basis. The first edition of the Journal features contributions from a range of scholars and tackles topics from deliberative democracy and party politics in China to regulatory processes in the United States and an essay on future directions of the field. Visit the inaugural edition online and subscribe to receive content alerts at services.bepress.com

Lars Hasselblad Torres
Editor

1 | PARTICIPATING TO CREATE A DIFFERENT WORLD
-- -----------------------
The Participatory Development Forum (PDForum) invites practitioners and researchers to register for its upcoming international conference, "Participating to Create a Different World: Shaping Our Own Future." This year's conference will be held at the University of Ottawa , August 14th 17th, 2005 . The initial conference planning is made possible through the generous support of Human Rights and Participation Division, Policy Branch of the Canadian International Development Agency (CID), and World University Services of Canada.

Keynoted by the Director of the Millennium Development Campaign, Mr Salil Shetty, this year's PDForum conference will feature popular theatre, keynote panels, capacity-building workshops, group discussions and debates. For more information, please visit the PDForum's website at www.pdforum.org

2 | CALL FOR PAPERS: PERVASIVE COMPUTING AND eGOVERNMENT
-- -----------------------
The International Conference on Mobile Government has a late-breaking opportunity for scholars and practitioners working around the intersection of mobile computing and eGovernment to join a panel on titled, "M-Government vs Pervasive Government: the USER EXPERIENCE IN FUTURE scenarios of e-gov." The conference should be an exciting opportunity for econsultation and online deliberation proponents to gain new insights into ways mobile computing can be used to augment the deliberative experience.

Moderated by Dr. Anxo Cereijo Roib s (School of Computing, Mathematical and Information Sciences, University of Brighton), the aim of this special session is, "to give a glance to the future of e-Gov and stimulate discussion around the design of HCI for handhelds and related applications in pervasive-Government scenarios (intersection between e-Gov, m-Gov, iTV-Gov, etc.)."

For more information please visit the ICMG website at www.icmg.mgovernment.org/

3 | MACHINE DREAMS MAKES REALTALK LIVE
-- -----------------------
MassINC and United Leaders, with funding provided in part by the New Community Fund, have joined forces to sponsor a series of town hall forums called "RealTalk: Making Massachusetts Work for You." The initiative aims to bring together young professional and working adults around the State to identify ways to make Massachusetts a great place to live.

The format for the meetings has been designed by Machine Dreams, a US-based firm that integrates real-time wireless polling technology with opportunities for the public to speak out in person. According to one participant, "the wireless devices really did serve the mission. When we are encouraging a new generation of folks in Massachusetts to become civic leaders, it make sense to do instant surveys of their demographic characteristics and their opinions about current and future opportunities for civic engagement."

More information visit the MassINC/RealTalk website at: www.massinc.org.

4 | UK THINK TANK WILL WRITE DIGITAL MANIFESTO FOR BRITAIN
-- -----------------------
The Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) launched an online consultation earlier this month to uncover ideas on the future of digital policy in Britain. Using TypePad's blogging technology, the ippr consultation is intended to draw from experts and public alike, "with a view to collecting policy proposals from those responsible for using digital technology in the political sphere." The consultation seeks comments on three topic "themes,"

This week (April 22), the consultation will address questions like, "Is there any way that online civic networks can be constitutionally recognised or formally channelled into the democratic process?" and "Which agencies are best placed (or should be created) to develop 'wired communities' or develop locally-based e-democracy innovations?"

The best comments will be published in ippr's manifesto, with attribution. To join the consultation, visit ippr's consultation blog at ippr.typepad.com/digitalmanifesto/

5 | SAN FRANCISCO MAYOR SPONSORS CITY-WIDE TOWN HALLS
-- -----------------------
Strengthening his commitment to reconnecting San Franciscans with City Hall, Mayor Newsom convened SF Listens during the month of April. Unlike traditional town halls, SF Listens focused on discussion and deliberation among everyday San Franciscans, utilizing technology to capture and synthesize this information in real time.

Mayor Newsom called SF Listens an innovative way to hear what San Franciscans think City Hall s priorities should be and went on to explain, We need to know if our priorities reflect San Franciscans priorities. SF Listens is a chance for residents to tell me if we re on the right track or not. The Mayor convened SF Listens four times over a four week period, once in each of the city s four quadrants. The meetings were facilitated by AmericaSpeaks, an internationally known non-profit organization whose mission is to engage citizens in the public decisions that impact their lives. SF Listens is made possible through the generous sponsorship and technical support of Hewlett Packard.

6 | EUROPEAN PATH PROJECT WILL EXPLORE SCALE AND REPRESENTATION
-- -----------------------
The organizers of the Particpatory Approaches in Science and Technology (PATH) project have spaces available for an upcoming workshop, to be held in Copenhagen from 1st till 3rd June 2005. Academics, practitioners, policy-makers and stakeholders will form a dynamic group able to exchange knowledge and develop future directions for the involvement of society in the deliberation of science-based policy issues. The workshop will focus on two specific challenges - scale and representation - at a generic level and also in the context of three case study areas, namely biodiversity conservation, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture, and nanotechnology.

For more information, please visit the path website at www.macaulay.ac.uk or e-mail Ulla Spangsberg Ipsen usi@tekno.dk if you would like to attend. Registration for the workshop is free, and coordinators ask you to kindly to inform us about name, address and phone of institution/organisation and whether you need a special diet. Please also let us know if you need help to fund travel and subsistence expenses.

7 | A PRACTICAL WORKSHOP ON eCONSULTATION
-- -----------------------
The Consultation Group at Queen's University, Belfast invites participation in a practical workshop on using e-consultation at Queen's University Armagh Campus, Thursday 28th April. Participants will learn how information and communication technologies can be used in public consultations. You will explore in novative methods of public consultation to provide opportunities for wider or deeper participation.

This workshop will include presentations of the first findings of a cross-border research project on e-consultation in Ireland; 3 hands-on technology workshops covering a range of tools used to support different consultation tasks; and 3 case studies on e-consultation in practice, with speakers from the UK Local E-democracy Project, the Scottish Teledemocracy Centre, Advice NI and (by video conference from Washington D.C.) America Speaks.

For further details and to register visit econsult.mgt.qub.ac.uk or contact Ashish Italiya at a.italiya@qub.ac.uk or (028) 9097 3685

8 | 2nd CONFERENCE ON ONLINE DELIBERATION
-- -----------------------
The Second Conference on Online Deliberation: Design, Research, and Practice / DIAC 2005 (May 20 - 22, 2005) will bring together software developers, social science researchers, and practioners of online deliberation for three days of presentations and workshops on the Stanford University campus in May of 2005. Following up on an earlier conference, "Developing and Using Online Tools for Deliberative Democracy", held at Carnegie Mellon University in June of 2003, the organizers are seeking to stimulate to discussion around the creation of a new society for online deliberation with an international membership, to support cross-disciplinary scholarship, principled design, and informed practice in the use of online environments for group deliberation and democratic participation. This is also the latest in a series of conferences on Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing (DIAC), presented in association with the Public Sphere Project (a CPSR Initiative).

For more information and to register, please visit the www.online-deliberation.net website.

9 | PARTICIPATE IN THE eDEMOCRACY CASE STUDY WIKI
-- -----------------------
Steven Clift, founder of Minnesota eDemocracy and consultant on numerous eDemocracy initiaitives, has been commissioned by the UK Local E-Democracy National Project to lead a global e-democracy best practices case study effort. To this end, Mr Clift has developed an elegant wiki to encourage user-involvement in the identification and profiling of a range of e-democracy experiments.

While his assignment focuses on examples and strategies relevant to UK local e-democracy, Mr Clift believes there is room to share lessons and examples from all levels of governance and community for all corners of the world. Submissions from within the UK will be collected and forwarded appropriately, though the assignment is to scour the world outside the UK. This will complement other parts of the UK project.

To contribute, visit the Best Practices wiki at dowire.org

10 | IAP2 2005: MOTIVATE! PARTICIPATE!
-- -----------------------
The International Association for Public Participation will hold its North American Annual Meeting in Portland, Oregon October 17-19, 2005. This year's conference will highlight several dynamic themes, including: Shaping the Future energizing public participation in community decisions; Calm Through the Storm engaging communities in emergency communications plans and ongoing community solutions; and Diversity and Empowerment reaching out and connecting underrepresented community members. The 2005 meeting will feature a keynote by the author Paul Loeb, whose "Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in a Cynical Time" explores why some people choose to get involved in community issues and how community involvement and citizen activism can give back a sense of connection and purpose.

For more information and to register, visit the IAP2 website at www.iap2.org

11 | TO PSFIELD FOUNDATION CHANGES NAME TO HONOR FOUNDER
-- -----------------------
The board of directors of the Topsfield Foundation, the US charity that sponsors the internationally reknown Study Circles Resource Center, has announced that it will change the name of the foundation to The Paul J. Aicher Foundation to honor its founder and inspiring first leader. Paul Aicher was an entrepreneur and philanthropist who dedicated the years following his retirement to advancing the cause of civic engagement on critical social issues in the United States. Mr Aicher also established the foundation's principal activity, the Study Circles Resource Center.

To view the complete press release visit the SCRC website at www.scrc.org

And finally, on a lighter note...

12 | FAKING A TOWN HALL
-- -----------------------
[From the Center for Media and Democracy] Comedy Central's Samantha Bee interviews Republican media strategist Frank Luntz for advice on how to create her own fake town hall meetings, like the ones that President Bush has been using to promote his Social security privatization scheme. "A real town hall can be very dangerous if it gets out of control," Luntz explains. "A town hall where the speaker cannot command the respect and the control of the audience can look very bad on television. ... To me the most important component of a successful town hall is the visual, is the backdrop."

My favorite piece? "...Just like a rainbow... wedding line." ~ Republican pollster Frank Luntz

View the clip, "Faking a Town Hall" at Comedy Central