May 2009 E-Democracy News – Civic Engagement 101

May 2009 

Volume 1, Issue 5 

Civic Engagement 101: Applying online tools for civic engagement

 

 

 

 

This month, we’re again borrowing some great ideas from another “change agent” working in the field of public engagement. We’ve included some insights posted by Taylor Willingham, who founded Texas Forums, an initiative of the LBJ Library. She also teaches graduate students in library and information sciences, and she recently posted some ideas for online civic engagement collected by her students.

 

She notes in her post that the scenarios were inspired by the E-Democracy.Org webinar Steve Clift hosted earlier this year.

 

The key message from the post is to identify a problem that you need solving and apply an online technology/resource to solve it. Problems included being new to the community and needing advice, concerns over community crime and environmental hazards, and opportunities to discuss and inform one another.

 

The post also points to some great resources on how to use online tools, mainly provided by UK blogger Tim Davies. Be sure not to miss the pieces about hyperlocal blogging or placeblogging and the Social Media game. Read the full post.