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Online engagement: strength in numbers

Apr 15, 2005 |

The Canadian Policy Research Network has released a new paper called “Democracy — Updating the Owner’s Manual” by Mary Pat MacKinnon, the Director of CPRN’s Public Involvement Network.

The paper provides a very useful introduction to citizen engagement, informed by CPRN’s own extensive experience in engaging over 2,000 Canadians in public dialogue. Mary Pat suggests […]

Participants – Toolkit Citizen Participation

Apr 15, 2005 |

This site describes itself as: a growing group of civil society (NGO) and local government organisations from all over the world, working together to promote participatory local governance. Our site offers information on tools which promote citizen participation, a...

Blogging for Social Capital

Apr 5, 2005 |

Elizabeth Albrycht’s latest article at Blogging Planet, Collaboration Requires Contribution, provides a nice exploration of how blogging might enhance social capital. Her article includes a number of specific pieces of advice for how companies can use blogs to build community, and draws the connection between active participation in online content creation, and the development of […]

Digital era records management

Apr 5, 2005 |

I recently heard from Sarah Demb, a fellow Canadian now working with the International Records Management Trust in London. The IRMT fills an interesting niche in the governance world:

The Trust was set up in 1989 to help develop new strategies for managing public sector records. Records are so fundamental to democracy that governments and international […]

Pew Internet & American Life Project

Apr 4, 2005 |

Michael Cornfield of the Pew Internet & American Life Project notes an important newconsultation on Internet campaigning:
The Federal Election Commission opens public comment for sixty days on Monday, April 4 regarding its plan to renovate the online space for national politics.

The FEC’s proposals include provisions addressing online advertising and blogging, both major forces in the […]

Italy gets 57 new e-democracy projects

Apr 4, 2005 |

Information Policy reports that the Italian government is boosting its support for e-democracy:

The government will contribute a total of EUR 9.5 million to selected e-democracy initiatives at regional and local levels.

Tag my desktop — please

Apr 1, 2005 |

And the tagging obsession continues. Thanks to Travis Smith for pointing me towards Larry Borsato’s comments on why we don’t tag our desktop. His post is a response to Kevin Briody’s call to tag your desktop. Kevin asks:

Why can’t we tag documents? And file shares? And intranet sites? Then tag communications: emails, Messenger contacts, […]

Tag my desktop — please

Apr 1, 2005 |

And the tagging obsession continues. Thanks to Travis Smith for pointing me towards Larry Borsato's comments on why we don't tag our desktop. His post is a response to Kevin Briody's call to tag your desktop. Kevin asks: Why can’t we tag documents? And file shares?...

The Blog Therapist is in

Apr 1, 2005 |

How can I integrate my new blog with this one? Can I run a WordPress blog on a Drupal site? What should I do when my husband's blog outranks mine on Technorati? These are the dilemmas that require the help of the.... On the strength of his winning answers to these...

Attention, listeners!

Mar 30, 2005 |

The folks over at Technorati have come up with a proposed XML standard, dubbed Attention.xml, aimed at ranking RSS feeds (like those generated by blogs) so that all us poor overwhelmed blog readers can make better, smarter, more efficient choices. Check out what it does with your own list of blog subscritions here.