Civic tech and dialogue practitioners are taking notice of a new online news service called The Fulcrum, which describes itself as "focused exclusively on efforts to reverse the dysfunctions plaguing…
Adolf GundersenNovember 24, 2019
A new report is proposing the formation of special "information districts" akin to those that already fund a host of public services ranging from libraries to voc-tech education and fire…
Adolf GundersenOctober 3, 2019
A sophisticated new World Bank study by Michael Touchton, Brian Wampler, and Tiago Peixoto has shown that participatory budgeting offers voters and governments a potential win-win by expanding both citizen…
Adolf GundersenSeptember 30, 2019
More in Common, which is described on its website as "a new international initiative, set up in 2017 to build communities and societies that are stronger, more united and more…
Adolf GundersenJuly 30, 2019
Leslie Graves, President and CEO of Ballotpedia--a founding member of EnCiv--devotes her July 2019 letter to the "state of the media". The letter begins by quickly recapping Ballotpedia's history: "When…
Adolf GundersenJuly 29, 2019
The latest newsletter put out by Interactivity Foundation (IF), one of EnCiv's founding members, leads with a detailed update of recent EnCiv activities. Interested readers can find full article here.…
Adolf GundersenJuly 27, 2019
As we've already seen in this series, democracy can be described in poetic, spiritual, or analytical terms. And even if one sticks to the analytical, differing images will emerge as…
Adolf GundersenJune 20, 2019
Interactivity Foundation (IF), founding member of EnCiv and instrumental in EnCiv's two electoral collaborations with Ballotpedia, is undertaking a major website overall. The purpose of the overhaul is to enhance…
Adolf GundersenJune 19, 2019
A new three-minute video called "The Online Speech Wars" explains struggles over the First Amendment in an age of social media, struggles that surfaced as recently as two years ago.…
Adolf GundersenJune 18, 2019
Former Supreme Court Justice Learned Hand (1872-1961) is the most quoted justice in US history. His eloquence continues to inform discussions of everything from taxation to the preconditions of a…
Adolf GundersenJune 13, 2019
Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement, or PACE as it is commonly known, has released a research study on the language used in civic engagement. The study was based on both…
Adolf GundersenJune 13, 2019
Over the past several weeks project, design, and testing work have been keeping us busier--and more energized--than ever at EnCiv. As readers of this blog will already know, EnCiv is…
Adolf GundersenJune 11, 2019
Asking someone who their favorite high school teacher was is a great way to start a conversation. It's personal--but not too personal--because while the response can be far more revealing…
Adolf GundersenJune 6, 2019
Ballotpedia, one of EnCiv's founding members, offers users an enormously useful and increasingly popular set of election resources on its website. Of these resources, my favorite is without a doubt…
Adolf GundersenJune 6, 2019
