Free June 27 PACE Webinar: ‘Using Online Tools to Engage-and be Engaged by-the Public’

How can online tools help you engage citizens in public decision-making
and problem-solving? What are the most common mistakes being made by
public managers and other leaders as they try to work with the public
online? In a given scenario, which tools and tactics seem most
appropriate and effective? Using Online Tools to Engage – and be Engaged by – the Public, a new report from the IBM Center for the Business of Government,
delves into these questions, describes a range of scenarios and
tactics, and gives real-world examples of online engagement. It
highlights over 40 different technologies in use today to support
various kinds of public participation.

Matt Leighninger, who wrote the report, is Executive Director of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium,
an alliance of the major organizations and leading scholars working in
the field of deliberation and public engagement. The DDC represents
more than 50 foundations, nonprofit organizations, and universities,
collaborating to support research activities and advance democratic
practice, in North America and around the world. Over the last
seventeen years, Matt has worked with public engagement efforts in over
100 communities, in 40 states and four Canadian provinces. He is the
author of The Next Form of Democracy: How Expert Rule is Giving Way to
Shared Governance – and Why Politics Will Never Be the Same.

Chris Gates, the Executive Director of PACE-Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement,
will moderate the discussion. PACE is an affinity group of the Council
on Foundations and works as a learning collaborative of foundations
doing work in the field of democratic theory and practice.