Andy Dearden and Steve Walker - who organised the workshop that sparked off this blog - are co-editing a special journal issue for publication in November 2004. It will cover "the challenges of designing systems to support democractic participation in civil society.
"Democratic participation is not merely an issue of electronic voting, but also of campaigning, organising and participation in policy formation through a wide variety of groups."
Continue reading "Journal issue on Designing for Civil Society" »
Nancy White couldn't make it to the
Bath Workshop because she was
training in Kazakhstan. She's now sent her inspirational story of how Project Harmony in Armenia is planning a series of online events to connect people in a country with low Internet usage and isolated communities. She reports: "I can’t recall any other project with such ambitions. They plan over 20 online events with concrete outcomes over the next 5 months that touch every “Marz” or region in the country."
Continue reading "Online community building lessons from Armenia" »
Tom Steinberg facilitated the final session at the September 8
workshop. He first of all asked us to respond to the challenge "We'd all be better off if we..." We responded with...
1) ... had somewhere trustworthy go for advice.
2) ... could learn effectively and cheaply from each other.
3) ... shaped, rather than were shaped by, the technology we use.
4) ... had a fund for developing socially focussed, scaleable software projects.
5) ... had an intermediary between the techies and the NGOs
6) ... had designers who served the poor
7) ... had a community of practice
8) ... could encourage campaigners to spend some of their time on advertising the value which is already out there.
Continue reading "Final discussion - where next?" »
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