This 2011 book, edited by Roger A. Lohmann and Jon Van Til, focuses on how public deliberation and group discussion can strengthen the foundations of civil society, even when the groups engaged in debate share a history of animosity. Scholars have begun to study the dialogue sustaining these conversations, especially its power to unite andRead… Read more »
Incremental upgrades are Apple’s thing…c’mon guys! There are a couple things that Apple does better than anyone else in the commercial market. One thing they do is keep it simple. Some would say they keep it too simple (myself included), but simple + marketing sells, people think they know what they are getting, and thusRead… Read more »
By Alex Moll, Communications Officer, eRulemaking Program Management Office Yesterday, the White House announced the relaunch of Regulations.gov in a post on remaking public participation by Cass Sunstein, the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA): “In response to the President’s direction, Regulations.gov has launched a major redesign, including innovative new searchRead… Read more »
Over the last year, one of the toughest but most rewarding areas of work I’ve been doing is training, mainly with central government communications staff, and often through the Government Communications Network. Our team of Simon Booth-Lucking, Dave Briggs and Giles Field, with occasional invited guests such as Dan Slee or Tim Lloyd, run soup-to-nutsRead… Read more »
Like it or not, government is a big presence in the United States. The considerable number of bureaus, departments, and offices has always made it difficult for citizens to find their way around. And then the Internet arrived. Today, the United States government has just about the largest internet presence on earth. And it’s allRead… Read more »
All organizations have their own unique culture. The culture in great organizations is visible from how positive and engaged employees are between themselves and when interacting with customers. In a previous post I highlighted 7 signs of a dysfunctional organization. Steve Tobak of CBS News.com wrote an article titled 7 Signs of a High-Performance Company,Read… Read more »
“Let’s not reinvent the wheel.” You’ve all heard that one, haven’t you? Here’s my story about how this most unfortunate aphorism impacts public deliberations. Long, long ago, and in what sometimes seems like a galaxy far, far away, but is actually just down the road, two communities shared a border. One was larger and oneRead… Read more »
Have you heard of Brandon McCarthy, Paul Bissonette, Pat McAfee, and Antonio Brown? If you’re like most people, you probably haven’t. We’re not exactly talking about Kobe Bryant or Derek Jeter here. Why would you know anything about a middle of the road starting pitcher, a left-winger with 5 career goals, a punter, and aRead… Read more »
Http://LeonardSipes.Com (Note that I write about the internet and PR experiences of government, associations and nonprofits). Pew states that 65 percent of Americans are involved in social media but what do we mean by “involved?” The research below from Pew suggests that power users constitute about 20%-30% of Facebook users. Only 5 percent of FacebookRead… Read more »
Http://LeonardSipes.Com; a PR and social media site for government, associations and nonprofits. It’s not often the Google Gods come down from on high and tell us what makes a great website; they just keep repeating their mantra that what’s good for search and people is good for Google. Yep, it’s understood that websites and theirRead… Read more »