COMMUNICATIONS mental study system) project in santa Barbara. The project and the reporr addressthe problems of making iniormation about community planning available and undi"rttana"ut. ro the general.public. Lots of-good "making the "iiy a; system) observable" ideas. Community Issue Dialogue Northwest Regional Foundation P.O. Box 5296 Spokane, WAgg}Os NRF has received a large contracr from HUD to investigate, develop and test methJds for effectiu. r"rg-.-sJ.-.irir.n p"rticipation. It calls for the first actual use Jf " u"tioting pro- :.::r 1.,":loT9 Uy E.J. Corwin, and a version "i rii iripn mg and Mapping.Community points of View computer pro_ gram developed by peter and Trudy lohnson_Leni. Participation Systems, Inc. 43 Myrtle Terrace Winchester, MA 01g90 ln 1962 c. Harrison srevens used networking techniques to win an uplgr election as a selectman in g.ar;rd, M"rl".hur.ttr. He has. published many reports and a book ;;i;;;;;;;;i;;f" ment, information.exchange, citizen feedback ryrL_, "rra networkin.g. Tt-,.V have shJet size summaries of ,orn. for_, ot cltlzen rnvolvement and do consulting workshops and carry out citizen participation projects in few york.'- - Journal of Community Communications LGC Engineering 1807 Delaware St. ^ ..Berkeley, CA g4ZOj still jockeying for its rightful place, unsure of what comqunity communications is, but a really i-port"ni"r.", tn. place of community communication t!.nntrogy rrr,i"r, ,n.y define as many-to:T3"f t e.g. computers, vs. tht ene,to_many, e.g. broadcast media). $1O/year. participation. "{"ny citizen leaders realize that all institutional strucrures are, by definition, de-signed to screen out any information they perceive as unwanted or irrelevant so as to bltter concentrate on the purposes fo.r which they were organized-hence, their capacity -for selecting, concealing, distoiting a-nd impounding information and the resulting sh-ortcomingiof ,t,.ii pi"""i"[ and goal setting processes." * MIT Community Dialog project Prof. Thomas B. Sheridan MIT 1-108 Cambridge, MA O2t3g This project srudies the facilitation of group meetings using electronic voting aids and other pto..jur.ri r,.u"iu?,es this technique as a function of the topic, participan,, "nJ--odera- tor of ,1. g9up, Also into cable TV citizen'partlcifation. 43 peg€s' from Prof. sheridan steue Jobnson in the nation or in the world, and then- a way of ailowing alternative methods of participation in the aelisions "uoua these issues, and it will haveto be a process tn"t "it,o*i p."pr. to -- step in exactly to the degree tiat they can or want tol S; But what about in just, say, the next year o, ,o? P; More token programs until people wifl finalllsiop p"r_ ticipating. you'll lg"ti in the.newiprp.r, and see .ir. pJrrluiri.y of going to ten different workshops to involve citizeni in this or that, and give up. Once .u.ryon. burns ou,, *fi., no orr. wants to attend anymore, the bureaucracies get tired of citizen participation, in the present state of the "tt, "arrd t-h.courts say, but.you gor to do it, and then it will ali go t "fto.y ""a things will change. The bottom line, though, eventually, is a complete evolu_ tionary leap in how we govern ourselves. I ,. S; I think you've.rold me before, though, how you don,t see thar there should be some kind of gigantic ceniralized citizen participation process, that the iaiieti., ,r. i*porr*.r.. Feb/Mar t97Z RAIN page 5 This-is part of a Nopember 1976 conaersation steae and Rboda held with Peter and Trudy Johnson_Lenz. ,11f::*"ii1n--and, the New Movements for Citizen participation," Hazel Henderson, in Annars of em"iiii A"ril*iir ' Political and Social Science, March igZ4, pp. 3a-i3. An important rreatmenr of the role of information in citi ,, Pr.W. l"u.:.go! to make a large-scale social commitment for ailowlng' tacrlrtating-and supporting diversity. we still see our_ selves as separatg -and unable io *oik ,og.rh'.r. W. "..,: a. recognize our differences so we can see ihat we,re airr*.* but not separate. Like in biological sysrems which have lots of variety. They can handle a lot of information frowing through ,r,.-. But if yorr have a rigid sysrem, then armost anything will make a big d.ifference. If you have a varied, diverse ,yst.ir, then information coming in will be considere.d and tranat.J ty,;;; part of the system, while other parts, the system as a whore, wilr go on. ln cltlzen
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