tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/civic-engagement-12862/articlesCivic engagement – The Conversation2023-04-04T12:16:34Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1973882023-04-04T12:16:34Z2023-04-04T12:16:34ZFood forests are bringing shade and sustenance to US cities, one parcel of land at a time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518800/original/file-20230331-28-ayzg5m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=6%2C12%2C4019%2C2939&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Uphams Corner Food Forest in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood was built on a vacant lot.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Boston Food Forest Coalition</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than half of all people on Earth live in cities, and that share <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/urbandevelopment/overview">could reach 70% by 2050</a>. But except for public parks, there aren’t many models for nature conservation that focus on caring for nature in urban areas. </p>
<p>One new idea that’s gaining attention is the concept of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/08/its-like-a-place-of-healing-the-growth-of-americas-food-forests">food forests</a> – essentially, edible parks. These projects, often sited on vacant lots, grow <a href="https://www.gardencityharvest.org/the-real-dirt-garden-city-harvest-blog/2020/12/26/what-is-a-food-forest">large and small trees, vines, shrubs and plants</a> that produce fruits, nuts and other edible products. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Atlanta’s Urban Food Forest at Browns Mill is the nation’s largest such project, covering more than 7 acres.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Unlike community gardens or urban farms, food forests are designed to mimic ecosystems found in nature, with many vertical layers. They shade and cool the land, protecting soil from erosion and providing habitat for insects, animals, birds and bees. Many community gardens and urban farms have limited membership, but <a href="https://www.brightvibes.com/atlanta-creates-first-free-food-forest-to-fight-food-insecurity/">most food forests are open to the community</a> from sunup to sundown. </p>
<p>As scholars who focus on <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=SRC3hyMAAAAJ&hl=en">conservation, social justice</a> and <a href="http://otheringandbelonging.org/equity-common-cause-sustainable-food-system-network-cultivating-commitment-racial-justice/">sustainable food systems</a>, we see food forests as an exciting new way to protect nature without displacing people. Food forests don’t just conserve biodiversity – they also promote community well-being and offer deep insights about fostering urban nature in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-irony-of-the-anthropocene-people-dominate-a-planet-beyond-our-control-64948">Anthropocene</a>, as environmentally destructive forms of economic development and consumption alter Earth’s climate and ecosystems. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519106/original/file-20230403-18-ierb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two adults and a young girl plant a tree seedling in an urban park." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519106/original/file-20230403-18-ierb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519106/original/file-20230403-18-ierb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519106/original/file-20230403-18-ierb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519106/original/file-20230403-18-ierb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519106/original/file-20230403-18-ierb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519106/original/file-20230403-18-ierb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519106/original/file-20230403-18-ierb3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Community stewards planting a tree at Boston’s Edgewater Food Forest at River Street, July 2021.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Boston Food Forest Coalition/Hope Kelley</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<h2>Protecting nature without pushing people away</h2>
<p>Many scientists and world leaders agree that to <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-solve-climate-change-and-biodiversity-loss-we-need-a-global-deal-for-nature-115557">slow climate change and reduce losses of wild species</a>, it’s critical to protect a large share of Earth’s lands and waters for nature. Under the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity, 188 nations have <a href="https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/cop15-ends-landmark-biodiversity-agreement">agreed on a target</a> of conserving at least 30% of land and sea areas globally by 2030 – an agenda known popularly as 30x30. </p>
<p>But there’s fierce debate over how to achieve that goal. In many cases, creating protected areas has <a href="https://theconversation.com/american-environmentalisms-racist-roots-have-shaped-global-thinking-about-conservation-143783">displaced Indigenous peoples</a> from their homelands. What’s more, protected areas are disproportionately located in countries with high levels of economic inequality and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2016.08.018">poorly functioning political institutions</a> that don’t effectively protect the rights of poor and marginalized citizens in most cases.</p>
<p>In contrast, food forests promote civic engagement. At <a href="https://beaconfoodforest.org/">Beacon Food Forest</a> in Seattle, volunteers worked with professional landscape architects and organized public meetings to seek community input on the project’s design and development. The city of Atlanta’s Urban Agriculture Team partners with neighborhood residents, volunteers, community groups and nonprofit partners to manage the <a href="https://www.aglanta.org/2021-uffbm-partnership-applications">Urban Food Forest at Browns Mill</a>.</p>
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<h2>Block by block in Boston</h2>
<p>Boston is famous for its <a href="https://www.boston.gov/parks-and-playgrounds">parks and green spaces</a>, including some designed by renowned landscape architect <a href="https://www.olmsted.org/the-olmsted-legacy/frederick-law-olmsted-sr">Frederick Law Olmsted</a>. But it also has a history of systemic racism and segregation that created <a href="https://www.boston.gov/environment-and-energy/heat-resilience-solutions-boston">drastic inequities in access to green spaces</a>.</p>
<p>And those gaps still exist. In 2021, the city reported that communities of color that had been subjected to redlining in the past had <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W7EPNw7hL-Ct7SkKXEaTUjmVJmoZuOe6/view">16% less parkland and 7% less tree cover</a> than the citywide median. These neighborhoods were 3.3 degrees Fahrenheit (1.8 degrees Celsius) hotter during the day and 1.9 F (1 C) hotter at night, making residents more vulnerable to <a href="https://theconversation.com/dangerous-urban-heat-exposure-has-tripled-since-the-1980s-with-the-poor-most-at-risk-169153">urban heat waves</a> that are becoming increasingly common with climate change. </p>
<p>Encouragingly, Boston has been at the forefront of the national expansion of food forests. The unique approach here places ownership of these parcels in a community trust. Neighborhood stewards manage the sites’ routine care and maintenance.</p>
<p>The nonprofit <a href="https://www.bostonfoodforest.org/">Boston Food Forest Coalition</a>, which launched in 2015, is working to develop 30 community-driven food forests by 2030. The <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/viewer?mid=1PDQqrbIDZJ9qyGjYCoU5vYuo5hOhTYQx&ll=42.282422051643174%2C-71.07159202632803&z=12">existing nine projects</a> are helping to conserve over 60,000 square feet (5,600 square meters) of formerly vacant urban land – an area slightly larger than a football field.</p>
<p>Neighborhood volunteers choose what to grow, plan events and share harvested crops with food banks, nonprofit and faith-based meal programs and neighbors. Local collective action is central to repurposing open spaces, including lawns, yards and vacant lots, into food forests that are linked together into a citywide network. The coalition, a community land trust that partners with the city government, holds Boston food forests as permanently protected lands. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518814/original/file-20230331-24-h4s7ff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Aerial view of a city lot planted with fruit trees, vines and raised flower beds." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518814/original/file-20230331-24-h4s7ff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/518814/original/file-20230331-24-h4s7ff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518814/original/file-20230331-24-h4s7ff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518814/original/file-20230331-24-h4s7ff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=776&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518814/original/file-20230331-24-h4s7ff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518814/original/file-20230331-24-h4s7ff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/518814/original/file-20230331-24-h4s7ff.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=976&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Aerial view of the Ellington Community Food Forest in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Boston Food Forest Coalition</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p>Boston’s food forests are small in size: They average 7,000 square feet (650 square meters) of reclaimed land, about <a href="https://www.hoopsaddict.com/how-many-square-feet-is-a-basketball-court/">50% larger than an NBA basketball court</a>. But they produce a wide range of vegetables, fruit and herbs, including Roxbury Russet apples, native blueberries and pawpaws, a nutritious fruit native to North America. The forests also serve as gathering spaces, contribute to rainwater harvesting and help beautify neighborhoods.</p>
<p>The Boston Food Forest Coalition provides technical assistance and fundraising support. It also hires experts for tasks such as soil remediation, removing invasive plants and installing accessible pathways, benches and fences. </p>
<p>Hundreds of volunteers take part in community work days and educational workshops on topics such as <a href="https://www.bostonfoodforest.org/workshops/winter-pruning-bnc-march12">pruning fruit trees in winter</a>. Gardening classes and cultural events connect neighbors across urban divides of class, race, language and culture. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Boston residents explain what the city’s food forests mean to them.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>A growing movement</h2>
<p>According to a crowd-sourced repository, the U.S. has <a href="https://communityfoodforests.com/community-food-forests-map/">more than 85 community food forests</a> in public spaces from the Pacific Northwest to the Deep South. Currently, most of these sites are in larger cities. In a 2021 survey, mayors from 176 small cities (with populations under 25,000) reported that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/uar2.20011">long-term maintenance</a> was the biggest challenge of sustaining food forests in their communities. </p>
<p>From our experience observing Boston’s approach close up, we believe its model of community-driven food forests is promising. The city sold land to the Boston Food Forest Coalition’s community land trust for $100 per parcel in 2015 and also funded initial construction and planting operations. Since then, the city has made food forests an important part of the city’s open spaces program as it continues to sell parcels to the community land trust at the same price. </p>
<p>Smaller cities with much lower tax bases may not be able to make the same sort of investments. But Boston’s community-driven model offers a viable approach for maintaining these projects without burdening city governments. The city has adopted <a href="https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/FINAL_Boston%20Urban%20Agriculture%20Guide_Ground-Level%20Less%20than%20One%20Acre_March%202014_Complete%20Final_tcm3-43849.pdf">innovative zoning and permitting ordinances</a> to support small-scale urban agriculture. </p>
<p>Building a food forest brings together neighbors, neighborhood associations, community-based organizations and city agencies. It represents a grassroots response to the interconnected crises of climate change, environmental degradation and social and racial inequity. We believe food forests show how to build a just and sustainable future, one person, seedling and neighborhood at a time.</p>
<p><em>Orion Kriegman, the founding executive director of the Boston Food Forest Coalition, contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197388/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Karen is Principal of KAS Consulting, which works with health and equity-focused initiatives. She serves on the Steering Committee and as Massachusetts Ambassador for the Food Solutions New England network and on the boards of the Boston Food Forest Coalition, the Sustainable Business Network of Massachusetts, the Northeast Organic Farmers Association: Massachusetts Chapter. Also serves on the Advisory Council of Global Council of Science and the Environment; founding member of Southern New England Farmers of Color Collaborative; committee work with Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education and member of Agriculture, Food & Human Values Society.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Prakash Kashwan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Food forests are urban oases that pack a lot into small spaces, including food production, local cooling and social connections.Karen A. Spiller, Thomas W. Haas Professor in Sustainable Food Systems, University of New HampshirePrakash Kashwan, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, Brandeis UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1879602022-08-23T12:24:55Z2022-08-23T12:24:55ZYoga versus democracy? What survey data says about spiritual Americans’ political behavior<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480136/original/file-20220819-2830-wsaywk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C29%2C3870%2C2563&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">For some, yoga is a spiritual practice that may substitute for religion.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/group-of-people-participate-in-a-yoga-session-taught-by-news-photo/1231905854?adppopup=true">CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the United States gets less religious, is it also getting more selfish? </p>
<p>Historically, religious Americans have been civically engaged. Through <a href="http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/1468-5906.00175">churches and other faith-based organizations</a>, congregants volunteer, engage in local and national civic organizations and pursue political goals. </p>
<p><a href="https://sociologicalscience.com/articles-vol1-24-423/">Today</a> – <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo3683361.html">the rise</a> of a politically potent <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo3683361.html">religious right over the past 50 years</a> notwithstanding – fewer Americans identify with formal religions. Gallup <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx">found</a> that 47% of Americans reported church membership in 2020, down from 70% in the 1990s; <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/2020-census-of-american-religion/">nearly a quarter of Americans have no religious affiliation</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, other kinds of meaningful practice are on the rise, from meditation and yoga to new <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/05/ritual-design-lab-secular-atheist/559535/">secular rituals</a> like <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0242546">Sunday assemblies “without God.”</a> Between 2012 and 2017, the percentage of American adults who meditated rose from 4.1% to 14.2%, according to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/nchs_press_releases/2018/201811_Yoga_Meditation.htm">a 2018 CDC report</a>. The number of those who practiced yoga jumped from 9.5% to 14.3%. Not everyone considers these practices “spiritual,” but many do pursue them as an alternative to religious engagement. </p>
<p><a href="https://sociologicalscience.com/articles-vol1-24-423/">Some critics</a> question whether this new focus on <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2019/jul/08/the-mindfulness-conspiracy-podcast">mindfulness and self-care</a> is <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/beyond-mcmindfulness_b_3519289">making Americans more self-centered</a>. They suggest religiously disengaged Americans are channeling their energies into <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14766086.2018.1438038">themselves and their careers</a> rather than into civic pursuits that may benefit the public.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AEb-z9IAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">sociologists</a> who study <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=I_z924QAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">religion and public life</a>, we wanted to answer that question. We used survey data to compare how these two groups of spiritual and religious Americans vote, volunteer and otherwise get involved in their communities.</p>
<h2>Spiritually selfish or religiously alienated?</h2>
<p>Our research began with the assumption that moving from organized religious practices to spiritual practices could have one of two effects on greater American society. </p>
<p>Spiritual practice could lead people to focus on more selfish or self-interested pursuits, such as their own personal development and career progress, to the detriment of U.S. society and democracy. </p>
<p>This is the argument sociologist <a href="https://ethnicstudies.berkeley.edu/people/carolyn-chen-1/">Carolyn Chen</a> pursues in her book “<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691219080/work-pray-code">Work, Pray, Code</a>,” about how meditators in Silicon Valley are re-imagining Buddhist practices as productivity tools. As one employee described a company mindfulness program, it helped her “self-manage” and “not get triggered.” While these skills made her happier and gave her “the clarity to handle the complex problems of the company,” Chen shows how they also teach employees to put work first, sacrificing other kinds of social connection. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2019/jul/08/the-mindfulness-conspiracy-podcast">Bringing spiritual practice into the office</a> may give workers deeper purpose and meaning, but Chen says it can have some unintended consequences. </p>
<p>When workplaces fulfill workers’ most personal needs – providing not only meals and laundry but also recreational activities, spiritual coaches and mindfulness sessions – skilled workers end up spending most of their time at work. They invest in their company’s social capital rather than building ties with their neighbors, religious congregations and other civic groups. They are less likely to frequent local businesses. </p>
<p>Chen suggests that this disinvestment in community can ultimately lead to cuts in public services and weaken democracy. </p>
<p>Alternatively, our research posited, spiritual practices may serve as a substitute for religion. This explanation may hold especially true among Americans <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912918771526">disaffected by the rightward lurch that now divides many congregations</a>, exacerbating <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/sf/soab134">cultural fissures around race</a>, gender and sexual orientation. </p>
<p>“They loved to tell me my sexuality doesn’t define me,” one 25-year-old former evangelical, Christian Ethan Stalker, told the <a href="https://religionnews.com/2021/08/06/young-evangelicals-are-leaving-church-resistance-to-lgbtq-equality-is-driving-them-away/">Religion News Service</a> in 2021 in describing his former church. “But they shoved a handful of verses down my throat that completely sexualize me as a gay person and … dismissed who I am as a complex human being. That was a huge problem for me.”</p>
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<span class="caption">An anti-abortion message outside St. Anthony Church, in Brooksville, Fla., in 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/florida-brooksville-st-anthony-church-catholics-vote-pro-news-photo/1280323701?adppopup=true">Jeffrey Greenberg/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Engaged on all fronts</h2>
<p>To answer our research question about spirituality and civic engagement, we used <a href="https://www.thearda.com/Archive/Files/Descriptions/NRSS2019.asp">a nationally representative survey</a> of Americans in 2020. </p>
<p>We examined the political behaviors of people who engaged in activities such as yoga, meditation, making art, walking in nature, praying and attending religious services. The political activities we measured included voting, volunteering, contacting representatives, protesting and donating to political campaigns. </p>
<p>We then compared those behaviors, distinguishing between people who see these activities as spiritual and those who see the same activities as religious. </p>
<p>Our new study, published in the journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00031224221108196">American Sociological Review</a>, finds that spiritual practitioners are just as likely to engage in political activities as the religious. </p>
<p>After we controlled for demographic factors such as age, race and gender, frequent spiritual practitioners were about 30% more likely than nonpractitioners to report doing at least one political activity in the past year. Likewise, devoted religious practitioners were also about 30% more likely to report one of these political behaviors than respondents who do not practice religion. </p>
<p>In other words, we found heightened political engagement among both the religious and spiritual, compared with other people.</p>
<p>Our findings bolster similar conclusions made recently by sociologist <a href="https://briansteensland.com/">Brian Steensland</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12788">his colleagues in another study</a> on spiritual people and civic involvement.</p>
<h2>Uncovering the spiritual as a political force</h2>
<p>The spiritual practitioners we identified seemed particularly likely to be disaffected by the rightward turn in some congregations in recent years. On average, Democrats, women and people who identified as lesbian, gay and bisexual reported more frequent spiritual practices.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480137/original/file-20220819-16-7e7g9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman wearing a headset microphone leads a class of women, all holding their palms in front of their chests. The instructor has her eyes closed." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480137/original/file-20220819-16-7e7g9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/480137/original/file-20220819-16-7e7g9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480137/original/file-20220819-16-7e7g9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480137/original/file-20220819-16-7e7g9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480137/original/file-20220819-16-7e7g9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480137/original/file-20220819-16-7e7g9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/480137/original/file-20220819-16-7e7g9r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A mindfulness-focused weekly dance class at a recreation center in Littleton, Colo., in 2017.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/loelle-poneleit-center-leads-her-students-during-a-nia-news-photo/635565412?adppopup=true">Seth McConnell/The Denver Post via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We suspect these groups are engaging in American politics in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/23254823.2022.2086596">innovative ways</a>, such as through online groups and retreats that <a href="https://www.offthematintotheworld.org/">re-imagine spiritual community and democratic engagement</a>. </p>
<p>Our research recognizes progressive spiritual practitioners as a growing but largely <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/spiritual-but-not-religious-a-rising-misunderstood-voting-bloc/283000/">unrecognized, underestimated and misunderstood political force</a>. </p>
<p>In his influential book “<a href="http://bowlingalone.com/">Bowling Alone</a>,” Harvard political scientist <a href="http://robertdputnam.com/">Robert Putnam</a> suggests American religious disaffiliation is part of a larger trend of overall civic decline. Americans have been disengaging for decades from all kinds of civic groups, from bowling leagues and unions to parent-teacher organizations. </p>
<p>Our study gives good reason to reassess what being an “engaged citizen” means in the 21st century. People may change what they do on a Sunday morning, but checking out of church doesn’t necessarily imply checking out of the political process.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/187960/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Evan Stewart is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at University of Massachusetts Boston and a 2021-2022 Fellow with the Public Religion Research Institute. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jaime Kucinskas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the US gets less religious, some thinkers warn that it may get more selfish as people engage less with their communities. A team of scholars decided to investigate that concern.Evan Stewart, Assistant Professor of Sociology, UMass BostonJaime Kucinskas, Associate Professor of Sociology, Hamilton CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1794792022-04-05T03:17:30Z2022-04-05T03:17:30Z‘Don’t shove us off like we’re rubbish’: what people with intellectual disability told us about their local community<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455684/original/file-20220331-18-t7vi72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C8%2C5894%2C3300&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the federal election approaches, civic engagement is back on people’s minds. But not everyone’s needs are well served in the political sphere – and one of the areas most ripe for improvement is actually at the local government level.</p>
<p>To find out more about their experiences of civic and social participation, we spent 12 months speaking with people intellectual disabilities about how they experience their local communities and the services local government provides.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://socialimpact.uts.edu.au/case-study/my-home-my-community-giving-people-with-an-intellectual-disability-a-voice/">study</a> found there is huge opportunity to incorporate the ideas and opinions of people with intellectual disabilities about their local communities. This would help support greater civic inclusion for all.</p>
<p>Among other things, participants called for for access to better transport options, better maintained public toilets and more pedestrian crossings. </p>
<p>Many told us our focus group was the first time in their lives anyone had asked their opinion about these aspects of their local community.</p>
<h2>What we did</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/node/284291/what-we-do-old/research/my-home-my-community">project team</a> included core members and researchers with intellectual disabilities. We conducted focus groups in six local government areas (a total of 45 people) in a mix of metropolitan and regional areas across New South Wales and Victoria. </p>
<p>To capture the types of improvements to local services and places that people with intellectual disability want to see, we asked participants: what would you change if you were the boss of your local government?</p>
<p>Our findings, published in the journal <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9075">Sustainability</a>, reveal people with intellectual disabilities are more than capable and willing to contribute to shaping local communities for the better – but are rarely asked about their opinions or experiences. </p>
<p>Our research suggests participation could be improved via several key changes.</p>
<p><strong>1. Ensure accessible information and communication</strong></p>
<p>One person with intellectual disability told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>if you want us to participate, we need to know what things are happening and when […] and not just the disability events.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This was a common refrain. Many people with intellectual disability want their local government to provide more accessible information, in a range of formats, about what’s happening in the community and most importantly, how to participate. </p>
<p>One person told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If I was the boss of my council […] I would text people to let them know that they can call council.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>2. Create inclusive employment opportunities</strong></p>
<p>One of the most powerful messages in every focus group we conducted is a call for more employment opportunities. Participants spoke at length about hopes for a job, perhaps even one in local government. One person told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We could work at the front desk and be welcoming.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I wish I could work but there are not many opportunities.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As one participant put it: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>If I was the boss of my local council I would employ people with disability.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455694/original/file-20220331-27-43edd8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man with intellectual disability waters a garden." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455694/original/file-20220331-27-43edd8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455694/original/file-20220331-27-43edd8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455694/original/file-20220331-27-43edd8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455694/original/file-20220331-27-43edd8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455694/original/file-20220331-27-43edd8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455694/original/file-20220331-27-43edd8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455694/original/file-20220331-27-43edd8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Participants spoke at length about hopes for a job, perhaps even one in local government.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong>3, Ensure people feel safe and respected</strong></p>
<p>Unfortunately, we heard many stories of people not feeling safe in their local community. </p>
<p>Participants also told us of many regular exchanges in public where they did not feel welcome or respected. Quotes from the focus groups included: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I wish people were more friendly to people with intellectual disability.</p>
<p>If I was the boss at [my council] I would make sure I listened to people. People don’t listen to me when I have a problem.</p>
<p>Sometimes, when I go to the shops, people just look at me […] I think the council could train people to help people with disability […] and be like ‘OK, are you sure you’re alright with this? We can help you out, if you need more help, just call us back.’ […] Not just shove us off like we are rubbish.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>4. Create well-designed built environments</strong></p>
<p>The design and maintenance of accessible public spaces, parks and recreational areas were a regular topic in our discussions. </p>
<p>Participants talked about how we could be improving the experiences of everyone in the community, telling us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We need more accessible drop-offs right at the library [and pool] […] we have to walk too far and get tired as a group. It caused a problem before because we were always late to the class.</p>
<p>The council should fix our [pedestrian] crossing, they go too fast, someone nearly got hit last week.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455693/original/file-20220331-18-4aov4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman and man with intellectual disability ride bikes along a path." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455693/original/file-20220331-18-4aov4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455693/original/file-20220331-18-4aov4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455693/original/file-20220331-18-4aov4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455693/original/file-20220331-18-4aov4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455693/original/file-20220331-18-4aov4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455693/original/file-20220331-18-4aov4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455693/original/file-20220331-18-4aov4k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The design and maintenance of accessible public spaces, parks and recreational areas were a regular topic in our discussions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How councils can improve</h2>
<p>Local governments and state government departments outline their inclusion plans and outcomes in a <a href="https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/inclusion/advisory-councils/disability/inclusion-plans#:%7E:text=Disability%20Inclusion%20Planning%20is%20about,rights%20of%20people%20with%20disability">Disability Inclusion Action Plan</a>. These plans – based around identified need through local consultations including people with disability, their carers and family – are designed to translate into direct actions by councils to provide more inclusive communities for all. </p>
<p>When we spoke to local government representatives about the findings of our research we found great variation in whether local governments have staff or resources to support inclusion of people with disability. But there is a genuine willingness and desire on their part to do things differently. </p>
<p>Conceptualising what inclusion is, and what it isn’t, is a good start. According to Jack Kelly, a member of our <a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/node/284291/what-we-do-old/research/my-home-my-community">research team</a>, and a person with a disability:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Holding an event once a year for International Day of People with A Disability doesn’t make your council inclusive.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>One way to improve the confidence of local governments to engage more often and regularly with diverse local communities, including people with intellectual disabilities, is to provide some practical guidance on inclusive practice. There are <a href="https://cid.org.au/resource/inclusive-communication-tips/">myriad</a> <a href="https://cid.org.au/inclusion-services/">resources</a> online to <a href="https://media.accessiblecms.com.au/uploads/the-inclusion-library/2021/04/LGNSW-A3_Poster_Practical-Ways-to-Include-PWID.pdf">guide</a> such a process.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455696/original/file-20220401-15-i8cvd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A group of people with intellectual disability participate in an outdoor activity." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455696/original/file-20220401-15-i8cvd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455696/original/file-20220401-15-i8cvd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455696/original/file-20220401-15-i8cvd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455696/original/file-20220401-15-i8cvd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455696/original/file-20220401-15-i8cvd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455696/original/file-20220401-15-i8cvd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455696/original/file-20220401-15-i8cvd5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many people with intellectual disability want their local government to provide more accessible information, in a range of formats, about what’s happening in the community and most importantly, how to participate.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Looking beyond local government, every civic engagement opportunity, including <a href="https://cid.org.au/our-campaigns/peat-island/">urban planning processes</a> and <a href="https://cid.org.au/resource/how-to-vote-in-the-local-government-elections-in-nsw/">voting</a>, is worthy of a review. We must explore ways to make information, communication and processes more inclusive.</p>
<p>Providing information in a range of formats and clearly explaining processes improves opportunities for civic inclusion for everyone, including people with low literacy, culturally and linguistically diverse communities, people with intellectual disabilities and all other communities in between.</p>
<p>But organisations should not rely solely on external resources. </p>
<p>As highlighted by people with intellectual disabilities themselves, inclusive employment represents one of the most important steps forward towards greater social and civic inclusion. </p>
<p>This would not only demonstrate that the contributions of people with disability are valued in their community, but would mean that knowledge and social capital about inclusion can be built from within. </p>
<p>As Justine O'Neill, CEO of Council for Intellectual Disability told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Employing people with intellectual disability in roles that support the purpose of the organisation changes attitudes, builds organisational capacity and confidence to be an inclusive employer and results in better informed work.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179479/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Phillippa Carnemolla received funding to undertake this research project from the National Disability Insurance Scheme Australia (NDIA) as part of their Information Linkages and Capacity Building Grant Program. Phillippa is also a member of the City of Sydney Inclusion (Disability) Advisory Panel and a Director of the Centre for Universal Design Australia. This story is part of The Conversation's Breaking the Cycle series, which is about escaping cycles of disadvantage. It is supported by a philanthropic grant from the Paul Ramsay Foundation.</span></em></p>People with intellectual disability told us they want better transport, employment and better maintained public toilets and pedestrian crossings. But many said their opinions were rarely sought.Phillippa Carnemolla, Associate Professor, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1738022022-02-23T13:36:07Z2022-02-23T13:36:07ZUS counties with more civic engagement tend to have more women on local company boards of directors<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445793/original/file-20220210-18404-1jb33e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=242%2C1085%2C5150%2C3531&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Women still have a long way to go to reach parity in the boardroom.
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/black-chairwoman-concept-vector-illustration-royalty-free-illustration/1299804743">Wanlee Prachyapanaprai/iStock via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>The <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/research-brief-83231">Research Brief</a> is a short take about interesting academic work.</em> </p>
<h2>The big idea</h2>
<p>U.S. counties where people are more likely to vote and engage in professional and social associations tend to have more women on the boards of local corporations, according to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/corg.12418">our new peer-reviewed study</a>. Moreover, we found that women in these communities are more likely to be appointed as chairs of influential board committees.</p>
<p>To reach these conclusions, we studied nearly 3,000 publicly listed U.S. companies, representing more than 90% of stock market equity. For each company, we collected financial data from 2000 to 2018 on company size, growth, risk and performance, as well as details on the composition of their board of directors, such as their size and the percentage of female members. </p>
<p>Our data showed that while the overall share of women on corporate boards is very low, there is considerable variation across the U.S. In 2018, a quarter of companies in our database didn’t have a single female board member, and just under 100 had at least as many women as men on boards.</p>
<p>Prior studies have suggested that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.01.043">regional policies</a> or <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2192918">barriers</a> might explain the differences. We hypothesized that a concept sociologists call “<a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/socialcapital.asp">social capital</a>” might be a factor. Broadly speaking, <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/socialcapital.asp">social capital</a> refers to how people in a society work together to achieve common goals, which in turn <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-53187-2.00010-3">can build trust</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0297.00077">improve local governance</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1596/0-8213-3561-8">address social problems</a> like poverty.</p>
<p>So for each company in our database, we also pinpointed the U.S. county in which it has a headquarters. Then, for each county, we collected data on population growth, percentage of women in the workforce, median household income and age, and religiosity and average level of education of local residents.</p>
<p>To measure social capital, we collected <a href="https://aese.psu.edu/nercrd/community/social-capital-resources">county-level data</a> on voter turnout, U.S. census response rates and a gauge of how many residents are likely members of nonprofit and social organizations such as churches, business associations and even bowling teams. Counties with greater turnout and membership levels got higher social capital scores.</p>
<p>Consistent with our predictions, we found that companies located in counties with more social capital also tended to have more women on corporate boards. Moreover, businesses in counties that scored among the top 20% in terms of social capital were 1.5 times more likely to have at least one woman on their boards than those in the bottom fifth. </p>
<p><iframe id="qv4CV" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/qv4CV/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>We also found that companies in high-capital counties were more likely to put women in charge of key decision-making committees, such as ones that oversee audits, compensation and executive and board nominations.</p>
<p><iframe id="wv695" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/wv695/4/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Female participation in labor markets saw tremendous growth in the 20th century. </p>
<p>In the U.S., for example, the percentage of women in the workforce <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/female-labor-supply#female-participation-in-labor-markets-grew-remarkably-in-the-20th-century">went from 20%</a> at the start of the century to over 60% toward the end. It’s a <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/women-boards?sref=Hjm5biAW">little lower today</a>.</p>
<p>At the same time, women experienced growing representation on corporate boards, from <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/quicktake/women-boards?sref=Hjm5biAW">virtually none</a> in the early 1900s to about 17% in 2018, according to our data. Still, there’s clearly a long way to go to achieve gender parity in corporate boardrooms – a <a href="https://doi-org.proxy.shh.fi/10.1016/bs.hecg.2017.11.007">key pillar of power and influence</a> in America. </p>
<p>While some countries – and U.S. states – have introduced <a href="https://theconversation.com/targets-and-quotas-a-two-pronged-approach-to-increase-board-diversity-12553">gender diversity targets or quotas</a> to increase the share of women on corporate boards, our findings suggest there may be other ways to achieve the same result. That is, policymakers and others keen to put more women in corporate board seats might consider focusing some of their efforts on encouraging more civic participation at the local level. </p>
<h2>What still isn’t known</h2>
<p>Social capital helps explain some of the variation in the share of women who sit on corporate boards, but there’s still much researchers do not know about why one company has more women than another – within a county, for example.</p>
<p>In addition, more research could be done on social capital and how it affects other corporate governance mechanisms, such as CEO compensation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173802/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A study of 3,000 companies found a correlation between local ‘social capital’ – which measures such variables as voter turnout and census response rates – and more women on corporate boards.Siri Terjesen, Associate Dean, Research and External Relations; Executive Director, Madden Center for Value Creation; Phil Smith Professor of Entrepreneurship, Florida Atlantic UniversityHanna Silvola, Associate Professor of Accounting, Hanken School of EconomicsMansoor Afzali, Assistant Professor of Accounting, Hanken School of EconomicsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1720232021-12-20T20:48:41Z2021-12-20T20:48:41ZDon’t care about the Build Back Better Act? Hearing people’s personal stories might change that<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438249/original/file-20211217-15-1fct5iz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C26%2C5982%2C3961&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reporters waiting outside a private meeting between advisers to President Biden and Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema about the Build Back Better Act on Capitol Hill, Sept. 30, 2021.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CongressBudget/8eaf42ddb30d4536807c656f6a36f998/photo?Query=Manchin%20Sinema&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=97&currentItemNo=45">AP Photo/Andrew Harnik</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/19/politics/joe-manchin-build-back-better/index.html">said</a> that he wouldn’t support President Joe Biden’s signature Build Back Better Act, he set off a wave of breaking <a href="https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Alert-White-House-accuses-Sen-Joe-Manchin-of-16713948.php">news alerts</a>. </p>
<p>It was fitting. For months, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/02/politics/joe-manchin-biden-build-back-better/index.html">media coverage</a> has breathlessly focused on the behind-the-scenes wrangling and hour-by-hour negotiations around the legislation. How much has been slashed from the bill today? What does it mean for the future of the Democratic and Republican parties?</p>
<p>The roughly <a href="https://apnews.com/article/climate-immigration-joe-biden-health-lifestyle-bff841da156cb12cd47a564f9e0267eb">US$2 trillion proposal</a> is designed to bolster what is widely seen as a frayed social safety net. But most Americans don’t think it will benefit people like them, a recent <a href="https://maristpoll.marist.edu/polls/npr-marist-national-poll-biden-economic-stimulus-december-2021/">NPR/Marist poll</a> shows. And a quarter of Americans can’t even say whether they like or dislike the legislation.</p>
<p>It’s no wonder the nation is so indifferent about the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2021/12/13/22799436/build-back-better-senate-manchin-parliamentarian">sweeping bill, which would change</a> the country’s tax system, increase social services and ramp up efforts to combat climate change.</p>
<p>Largely omitted from news coverage – and consequently, from the national conversation – are the voices and stories of individuals who would be affected by the legislation. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438535/original/file-20211220-19-18oyus5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, masked, leaving an office in the Senate, surrounded by people." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438535/original/file-20211220-19-18oyus5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438535/original/file-20211220-19-18oyus5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438535/original/file-20211220-19-18oyus5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438535/original/file-20211220-19-18oyus5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438535/original/file-20211220-19-18oyus5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438535/original/file-20211220-19-18oyus5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438535/original/file-20211220-19-18oyus5.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The comings and goings of Senate Democratic holdouts Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, seen here after leaving a meeting with Manchin, have been obsessively covered by the press.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/sen-kyrsten-sinema-leaves-her-office-after-meeting-with-sen-news-photo/1347942834?adppopup=true">Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Focusing outside D.C.</h2>
<p>What if daily media coverage instead featured those voices? What if reporters and talk show hosts ditched the pundits and issue experts and instead explored the problems that led to the proposed policies – through the eyes and voices of those living with those problems? </p>
<p>That means we would hear from parents who need help paying for <a href="https://www.ffyf.org/faq-on-the-child-care-and-preschool-provisions-in-the-build-back-better-act/">child care</a> and elderly people who can’t afford <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/build-back-better-whats-in-it-for-seniors-11637696775">medicines</a> or <a href="https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/potential-costs-and-impact-of-health-provisions-in-the-build-back-better-act/">hearing aids</a>. </p>
<p>We would hear from people who can’t afford <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/build-back-better-increases-health-coverage-and-makes-it-more-affordable">health care</a>, people living in their cars or <a href="https://time.com/6121415/build-back-better-spending-bill-summary/">on the streets</a>, and yes, those who earn more than $400,000 a year. Multimillionaires, billionaires and corporations would pay more under the new tax plan. </p>
<p>What if news stories shined a spotlight on these voices, rather than just throwing in an occasional anecdote? Would people tune in? Would they engage in conversations or take action around the legislation? </p>
<p>Research shows that they likely would. And that would be good for democracy.</p>
<h2>Real stories can spark real engagement</h2>
<p>It’s well documented that <a href="https://methods.sagepub.com/reference/encyclopedia-of-survey-research-methods/n211.xml">horse-race journalism</a> – which treats politics as a sport, focusing on who’s ahead or behind, rather than the substance of issues – is associated with an uninformed electorate and elevates <a href="https://journalistsresource.org/politics-and-government/horse-race-reporting-election/">public cynicism</a> about politics. Such coverage doesn’t help people understand what proposals could mean to them. </p>
<p>Policy overviews filled with large numbers don’t engage people, either. When discussing the Build Back Better Act, proponents understandably focus on the scope of the problem: <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/closing-medicaid-coverage-gap-would-help-diverse-group-and-narrow-racial">2.2 million</a> low-income Americans couldn’t get health insurance subsidies in 2019 but also weren’t eligible for Medicaid. </p>
<p><a href="https://time.com/6121415/build-back-better-spending-bill-summary/">Just 23%</a> of civilian workers can take paid family leave, and <a href="https://time.com/6121415/build-back-better-spending-bill-summary/">more than 800,000 seniors and disabled</a> people seeking home health care are on state Medicaid waiting lists. </p>
<p>But science tells us that discussing large-scale suffering makes people turn away. The phenomenon is called <a href="https://www.arithmeticofcompassion.org/psychic-numbing">psychic numbing</a>. It means the problem is so big that people disengage, because they feel powerless to help. And individuals find it <a href="https://theconversation.com/millions-billions-trillions-how-to-make-sense-of-numbers-in-the-news-86509">hard to understand the scale of large numbers</a>.</p>
<p>The way to combat this? Journalists can tell <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6paG7dwhLHI">stories about real people</a>. Personal stories quickly bring big issues into focus and make them relatable. They make people care. </p>
<p>In 2015, for example, the Syrian refugee crisis had been raging for four years. But it took a picture of 3-year-old <a href="https://time.com/4162306/alan-kurdi-syria-drowned-boy-refugee-crisis/">Alan Kurdi</a>, whose corpse washed up on a Turkish beach after his family fled Syria by boat, to generate international horror. </p>
<p>After the photo of the young Syrian boy went viral, donations to refugee organizations <a href="https://www.kgw.com/article/tech/science/psychic-numbing-why-we-stop-caring/283-35da22bd-0fc3-4880-909b-8b3c4053476a">skyrocketed</a>. The story and photo engaged people who had not yet paid attention to the crisis. </p>
<p>Research backs up the notion that including real people in news stories can spark reader engagement.</p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1077699012439020">A 2012 study</a> compared people’s reactions after they read two versions of a news story detailing how the lack of health care affected one of three groups: immigrants, prisoners or the elderly. </p>
<p>[<em>Understand what’s going on in Washington.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?nl=politics&source=inline-politics-most">Sign up for The Conversation’s Politics Weekly</a>.]</p>
<p>One version presented the issue using quotes from experts. The other version included a story about a specific person’s experiences dealing with that health care issue. </p>
<p>The news pieces that featured people’s stories elicited emotions in readers that the policy pieces did not. That led the participants to be more willing to help the people they read about. </p>
<p>Including real people in news stories doesn’t mean that engaged readers will only feel sympathy for the characters profiled. Engagement could produce support or opposition to proposed policies. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437634/original/file-20211214-17-cl5rdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Joe Biden speaks at a lectern in front of large Building Back Better posters. American flags flank him on the podium." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437634/original/file-20211214-17-cl5rdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437634/original/file-20211214-17-cl5rdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437634/original/file-20211214-17-cl5rdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437634/original/file-20211214-17-cl5rdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437634/original/file-20211214-17-cl5rdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437634/original/file-20211214-17-cl5rdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437634/original/file-20211214-17-cl5rdj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Build Back Better bill has been a top priority of the Biden administration. But most Americans have not closely followed the legislation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/president-joe-biden-speaks-at-the-nj-transit-meadowlands-maintenance-picture-id1236125547?s=2048x2048">Photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Looking beyond the political play-by-play</h2>
<p>The Build Back Better Act – which the U.S. House of Representatives <a href="https://time.com/6121415/build-back-better-spending-bill-summary/">passed</a> in November – comes as civic engagement in the U.S. <a href="https://www.prri.org/research/american-democracy-in-crisis-civic-engagement-young-adult-activism-and-the-2018-midterm-elections/">is low</a>. </p>
<p>Considering the scope and potential impact of this bill, it’s a disservice to the country for news coverage to focus on the play-by-play in Washington, D.C. </p>
<p>If the press eases up on the machinations occurring in the marble halls of Washington, D.C., and instead focuses on real people, the U.S. could perhaps build back something else: civic engagement, a necessary part of our democratic system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/172023/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angela Bradbery does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A quarter of Americans don’t know how they feel about the Build Back Better Act. Focusing on Americans’ individual stories – and not just political theater – could help fuel civic engagement.Angela Bradbery, Frank Karel Endowed Chair in Public Interest Communications, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1693322021-11-04T12:26:27Z2021-11-04T12:26:27ZWhat American schools can learn from other countries about civic disagreement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/429185/original/file-20211028-17-1wkw2bk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C0%2C5587%2C3744&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Learning how to discuss divisive issues and disagree with respect is good for democracy.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/CriticalRaceTheoryTeachers/10b751925f124e948ff076adf7795a7b/photo?Query=critical%20race%20theory&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=31&currentItemNo=15">Mary Altaffer/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Few areas of American life have experienced more conflict of late than public education. The conflict has <a href="https://www.axios.com/school-board-recalls-soar-critical-race-theory-86823daf-a7e1-4a55-965c-32f79b64954f.html">largely revolved</a> around how public schools should deal with the difficult subjects of <a href="https://theconversation.com/critical-race-theory-what-it-is-and-what-it-isnt-162752">race and racism</a>. The situation has become so inflamed that a national school board group asked the federal government to step in and protect school officials and educators from what they said were a <a href="https://nsba.org/-/media/NSBA/File/nsba-letter-to-president-biden-concerning-threats-to-public-schools-and-school-board-members-92921.pdf">growing number of attacks</a> from angry citizens. </p>
<p>As a historian who specializes in <a href="https://education.jhu.edu/directory/ashley-rogers-berner-phd/">education policy</a>, I believe it is worth asking: Is the United States the only place where debates rage about what should and shouldn’t be taught in public schools? </p>
<p>My experience <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=mi_mVqEAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">studying school systems throughout the world</a> tells me that the U.S. can learn a lot from how other countries handle divisive issues. </p>
<p>Put simply, other countries don’t necessarily view studying different ideas as the same as being forced to believe in them. That is to say, they don’t conflate exposure with indoctrination.</p>
<h2>Exposure vs. indoctrination</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.worldcat.org/title/indoctrination-education-and-god-the-struggle-for-the-mind/oclc/836346256&referer=brief_results">Indoctrination happens</a> when one set of claims about the world is presented to the exclusion of others. An example would be presenting the Marxist take on a historical event as if it were the only perspective, without naming it as a Marxist view and providing alternative understandings.</p>
<p>It is easy for Americans to associate indoctrination with <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/G/bo5972812.html">religious fundamentalist schools</a> in the U.S., but indoctrination can also be <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/2673273">secular and tacit</a>. A school that avoids discussing religious beliefs across human history, or engaging with thorny topics of bioethics, for instance, is teaching young people something, too: that such questions are either unimportant or too divisive to discuss. </p>
<p>Exposure, by contrast, happens when students encounter competing ideas about the world and have a chance to discuss them together. Exposure works against indoctrination, by opening up new concepts and experiences for consideration. It also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-008-9063-z">builds students’ civic capacities</a> and their participation in what University of Virginia education professor E.D. Hirsch calls a democratic “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/how-to-educate-a-citizen-e-d-hirsch">speech community</a>” – a community in which a common body of knowledge is widely shared. </p>
<p>Students have to learn to make and respond to reasoned arguments. This ability doesn’t come naturally. Yet the habit of disagreeing with respect <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73963-2">supports participation in democratic life</a> in adulthood – a finding that has <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2020/04/10/in-a-polarized-america-what-can-we-do-about-civil-disagreement/">held steady for 40 years</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People attend a rally in Virginia" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5341%2C3272&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=368&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/426233/original/file-20211013-13-gf2kv5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Parents are divided on how schools should teach about dark themes in U.S. history, including slavery and systemic racism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-talk-before-the-start-of-a-rally-against-critical-news-photo/1233450533">Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How other countries handle divisive issues</h2>
<p>Some high-performing school systems, such as those in the Netherlands, Singapore and Alberta, Canada, promote exposure through mandatory curricular frameworks. They require a content-rich curriculum that all students must learn, regardless of the type of school they attend. This means that they separate the ethos of the schools – which vary considerably – from the curricular framework that all schools must teach. </p>
<p>For instance, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Education-Britain-1750-1914-History-Perspective/dp/0312216246/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=9780312216245&linkCode=qs&qid=1634928441&qsid=141-9636377-1719543&s=books&sr=1-1&sres=0312216246&srpt=ABIS_BOOK">England has funded</a> religious schools since 1834 and secular schools since 1870. But all students in all English schools must learn about diverse religions and philosophies. </p>
<p>To put it bluntly, an English mother might enroll her child in a secular school, but that child still needs to understand the tenets and practices of Islam and Judaism. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/teaching-religion-terence-copley/1130296797">legal requirements</a> for “religious education,” as it is known, have not diminished despite the growing secularism of the English population. Learning what people deeply believe, and why, is seen as fundamental to exercising responsible democratic citizenship. </p>
<p>Most countries in the <a href="https://www.oecd.org/unitedstates/">Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development</a> – an international association that supports economic growth – follow suit and have <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Law-Religious-Freedoms-and-Education-in-Europe/Hunter-Henin/p/book/9781138261389">increased requirements</a> around learning about different religions and philosophies in the past two decades. </p>
<p>Here’s a more pointed example. </p>
<p>The Netherlands’ ministry of education funds 36 different kinds of schools, including creationist schools. Yet students in creationist schools must still <a href="https://research.vu.nl/en/publications/the-origins-of-creationism-in-the-netherlands-the-evolution-debat">demonstrate understanding of evolutionary theory</a> on national exams. They cannot be forced to believe that evolution is true, of course, but they have to master what evolutionary theory posits about the natural world. Other examples abound.</p>
<h2>Limits to exposure</h2>
<p>This widely used approach to curriculum and assessments can <a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/218184376?accountid=11752&forcedol=true&forcedol=true">work well for students’ academic and civic success</a>. But it raises questions: How much exposure? At what age? </p>
<p>While the precise limits of exposure will need to rest on national and local contexts, a few broad principles might help clarify the “what” and the “when.” </p>
<p>First, there should be limits to exposure according to children’s age and developmental concerns. For instance, very young children <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/0305569940200105">may not be emotionally prepared</a> to manage details about the Holocaust or see graphic images of the 14th-century <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/middle-ages/black-death">Black Death</a> that wiped out a third of Europe. </p>
<p>Second, teachers should not entertain debates about what the University of Wisconsin’s Diana Hess calls “<a href="https://kappanonline.org/richardson-using-controversy-as-a-teaching-tool-an-interview-with-diana-hess/">settled issues</a>.” Whether human enslavement and racial discrimination are ever warranted, whether the Holocaust actually occurred, or <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2015/12/16/459673575/politics-in-the-classroom-how-much-is-too-much">whether climate change is happening</a> should not be brought to the classroom table. </p>
<p>Rather, debate should center on why particular events happened or are happening. For example, what factors contributed to Hitler’s rise to power? What, if anything, should governments do to remedy social and economic inequality? What are the economic trade-offs of different policy responses to climate change? </p>
<h2>Learning to disagree</h2>
<p>Beyond these guardrails, school and board policies matter a great deal in setting the expectation that students will encounter ideas with which they and their parents disagree – even profoundly. The <a href="https://go.boarddocs.com/fl/sbmd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=BK6KN84FFC3B">Miami-Dade school board</a> puts it this way: </p>
<p>“Students are encouraged to participate in discussions, speeches, and other expressions in which many points of view, including those that are controversial, are freely explored. A controversial issue is a topic on which opposing points of view have been promulgated by responsible opinion or likely to arouse both support and opposition in the community.”</p>
<p>The Miami-Dade policy goes on to specify that the controversial conversations must serve an instructional purpose, and that teachers may not promote personal views in the classroom. </p>
<p>Another example comes from an independent school in Baltimore, McDonogh School. Its <a href="https://www.mcdonogh.org/about/academicfreedom">Freedom of Expression and Civil Discourse</a> policy acknowledges a clear democratic rationale for viewpoint diversity, even when it leads to discomfort: </p>
<p>“[Preparation for democratic participation] … requires the hard work of analysis, perspective-taking, debate, reflection, and application. Through such methods, we honor the diversity of thought in a pluralist culture as we work towards sound, evidence-based positions and conclusions. Members of our community may find certain ideas that emerge when wrestling with sensitive topics untenable – even offensive – from time to time; in such moments of friction, however, we can help our students learn to resolve conflict, to reason well, and to communicate their own positions.” </p>
<p>Both of these policies ask a lot of teachers, students and parents – patience, among them. But they simultaneously protect teachers’ efforts to teach young people to reasonably disagree. They also signal to parents that their children will be exposed to many opinions – and that that’s a good thing for the next generation. </p>
<p>[<em>Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/weekly-highlights-61?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=weeklybest">Sign up for our weekly newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169332/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ashley Berner is director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy.</span></em></p>The controversy over critical race theory is an opportunity for Americans to examine how other democracies deal with diverse viewpoints in public schools, an education policy expert argues.Ashley Berner, Associate Professor of Education, Johns Hopkins UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1662532021-09-28T11:57:01Z2021-09-28T11:57:01ZSocial media gives support to LGBTQ youth when in-person communities are lacking<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423023/original/file-20210923-21-1fxtf5g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C3000%2C2991&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Social media can provide ways for LGBTQ youth to learn more about, and stay connected to, their identities.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/celebrating-pride-on-social-media-royalty-free-illustration/1250449474">miakievy/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Teens today have <a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-online-communities-pose-risks-for-young-people-but-they-are-also-important-sources-of-support-158276">grown up on the internet</a>, and social media has served as a space where LGBTQ youth in particular can develop their identities.</p>
<p>Scholarship about the online experiences of LGBTQ youth has traditionally focused on <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1007%2Fs40653-017-0175-7">cyberbullying</a>. But understanding both the risks and the benefits of online support is key to helping LGBTQ youth thrive, both on- and offline.</p>
<p>I am a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ZuHbDP0AAAAJ&hl=en">senior research scientist</a> studying the benefits and challenges of <a href="https://www.wcwonline.org/Youth-Media-Wellbeing-Research-Lab/youth-media-wellbeing-research-lab">teen social technology and digital media use</a>. My colleagues, <a href="https://wellesley.academia.edu/RachelHodes">Rachel Hodes</a> and <a href="https://www.wcwonline.org/Research-Associates/amanda-richer">Amanda Richer</a>, and I recently <a href="https://doi.org/10.2196/26207">conducted a study</a> on the social media experiences of LGBTQ youth, and we found that online networks can provide critical resources for them to explore their identities and engage with others in the community.</p>
<h2>Beyond cyberbullying</h2>
<p>The increased risk of cyberbullying that LGBTQ youth face is well-documented. LGBTQ youth are <a href="https://www.glsen.org/news/out-online-experiences-lgbt-youth-internet">almost three times more likely</a> to be <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.chiabu.2014.08.006">harassed online</a> than their straight, cisgender peers. This can result in increased rates of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19361653.2011.649616">depression and feelings of suicide</a>: 56% of sexual minorities experience depression, and 35% experience suicidal thoughts as a direct result of cyberbullying.</p>
<p>However, the digital landscape may be shifting.</p>
<p>Our 2019 survey of 1,033 children ages 10 to 16 found <a href="https://doi.org/10.2196/26207">no difference</a> between the amount of cyberbullying reported by straight versus sexual minority youth residing in a <a href="https://transgenderlawcenter.org/equalitymap">relatively progressive part of the U.S.</a> known for legalizing gay marriage. Some social media platforms like <a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-something-queer-about-tumblr-73520">Tumblr</a> are considered a safer haven for sexual minorities than others, especially during the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-young-lgbtqia-people-used-social-media-to-thrive-during-covid-lockdowns-156130">COVID-19 lockdown</a>. This is despite past <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/twitter-blocked-searches-lgbt-terms-bisexual-and-called-it-error-703550">censorship of LGBTQ content</a> on certain platforms due to biases in the algorithm.</p>
<p>LGBTQ youth tend to have <a href="https://doi.org/10.2196/26207">smaller online social networks</a> than their straight peers. We found that LGBTQ youth were significantly less likely than their straight peers to engage with their online friends. Conversely, LGBTQ youth are more likely to have friends they know only online, and to perceive these online friends as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.08.006">significantly more socially supportive</a> than their in-person friends. </p>
<p>The LGBTQ youth we surveyed in our study were more likely to join an online group in order to <a href="https://doi.org/10.2196/26207">reduce social isolation or feelings of loneliness</a>, suggesting that they were able to reach out to and engage with social media networks outside of their in-person peer circles in supportive and fortifying ways.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423024/original/file-20210923-17-8xjgek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Person lying down with rainbow sock-clad legs resting on the back of a sofa." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423024/original/file-20210923-17-8xjgek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423024/original/file-20210923-17-8xjgek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423024/original/file-20210923-17-8xjgek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423024/original/file-20210923-17-8xjgek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423024/original/file-20210923-17-8xjgek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423024/original/file-20210923-17-8xjgek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423024/original/file-20210923-17-8xjgek.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">LGBTQ youth are less likely to be friends with family members online and more likely to join social media sites their parents would disapprove of.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/teenager-lyiing-down-with-her-legs-resting-on-the-royalty-free-image/1324272422">Vladimir Vladimirov/E+ via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite living in an area with higher levels of acceptance toward sexual minorities, our study participants felt a need to keep parts of their identities separate and hidden online. They were less likely than non-LGBTQ kids to be friends with family members online and more likely to join social media sites their parents would disapprove of. And about 39% said they had no one to talk to about their sexual orientation at all.</p>
<h2>Not just surviving, but thriving online</h2>
<p>Despite the risk of online harassment and isolation, social media can give LGBTQ youth space to explore their sexual identities and promote <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.07.051">mental well-being</a>.</p>
<p>In 2007, Australian researchers conducted one of the earliest studies on how <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1363460707072956">internet communities serve as safe spaces for LGBTQ youth</a> who face hostile environments at home. Their surveys of 958 youth ages 14 to 21 found that the anonymity and lack of geographic boundaries in digital spaces provide an ideal practice ground for coming out, engaging with a communal gay culture, experimenting with nonheterosexual intimacy and socializing with other LGBTQ youth.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423031/original/file-20210923-23-ggu04o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustration phone with rainbow heart on the screen, surrounded by positive reaction symbols." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423031/original/file-20210923-23-ggu04o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/423031/original/file-20210923-23-ggu04o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=814&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423031/original/file-20210923-23-ggu04o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=814&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423031/original/file-20210923-23-ggu04o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=814&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423031/original/file-20210923-23-ggu04o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1023&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423031/original/file-20210923-23-ggu04o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1023&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/423031/original/file-20210923-23-ggu04o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1023&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some LGBTQ youth use social media to engage with and support social causes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/illustration/diversity-on-social-media-royalty-free-illustration/1325416830">gobyg/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The internet also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1363460707072956">provides critical resources</a> about LGBTQ topics. LGBTQ youth may <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.06.009">use online resources</a> to educate themselves about sexual orientation and gender identity terminology, learn about gender transition and find LGBTQ spaces in their local community. The internet can also be a useful tool to identify LGBTQ-friendly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69638-6_4">physicians, therapists and other care providers</a>.</p>
<p>Finally, online platforms can serve as springboards for LGBTQ activism. A <a href="https://www.glsen.org/news/out-online-experiences-lgbt-youth-internet">2013 report by the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network</a> surveying 1,960 LGBTQ youth ages 13 to 18 found that 77% had taken part in an online community supporting a social cause. While 68% of LGBTQ youth also volunteered in-person, 22% said they only felt comfortable getting involved online or via text. This signals that online spaces may be critical resources to foster civic engagement.</p>
<p>While social media is not without its dangers, it can often serve as a tool for LGBTQ youth to build stronger connections to both their local and virtual communities, and communicate about social issues important to them. </p>
<p>[<em>Insight, in your inbox each day.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=insight">You can get it with The Conversation’s email newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/166253/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linda Charmaraman receives funding from the National Institutes of Health.</span></em></p>While online communities may not fully address the isolation LGBTQ youth face in-person, they can serve as an important source of social support and a springboard for civic engagement.Linda Charmaraman, Director of Youth, Media & Wellbeing Research Lab, Wellesley CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1303812020-05-27T17:07:17Z2020-05-27T17:07:17ZBusinesses can build trust with consumers by unlocking data about their practices<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/333773/original/file-20200509-49584-1rzjm5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C11%2C7666%2C4292&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Data transparency on the part of businesses can help inform consumer choices and provide a level of accountability.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recent public demonstrations against climate change, human rights violations and industry practices that harm the environment reveal a growing public desire to participate in discussions about sustainability, safety and citizen’s rights.</p>
<p>The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted industry practices — both good and bad — and offered consumers with new perspectives on priorities and how they choose to move forward. </p>
<p>That transition to a greater global awareness and sustainability should be informed by data that will give citizens the power to make decisions that are aligned with their values. Artificial intelligence technologies open the door to digest, decipher patterns and feed back data to consumers so they can make decisions that are more in line with their values.</p>
<p>A white paper from the <a href="https://www.gpplatform.ch/sites/default/files/WPS%2020%20-%20New%20Technologies%20-%20Puig%20Larrauri%20-%20Davies%20-%20Ledesma%20-%20Welch_1.pdf">Geneva Peace Building Platform</a> highlights how the rapid expansion of information, communication and networking technologies is changing the dialogue and allowing citizens to make more values-based choices. The movement toward <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/07/20/what-does-it-mean-to-make-values-based-decisions-12-entrepreneurs-weigh-in/#1e590489283f">values-based decision-making</a> is about giving more than lip service to your values — it means using personal values as a moral and ethical compass to make decisions that are better aligned with what we believe in, what we want to support. </p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Mary Gentile explains how giving voice to values can guide leadership decisions.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Building and growing trust</h2>
<p>As a result, we can expect that all organizations, whether for-profit or non-profit, will need to pay more attention in their strategic planning and day-to-day decision-making to build trust and demonstrate some level of transparency and commitment to meeting sustainability goals. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/09/5-ways-traceability-technology-can-lead-to-a-safer-more-sustainable-world/">Traceability technologies</a> have made the news during the pandemic because governments have wanted to track people infected with COVID-19 to limit the spread of the disease.</p>
<p>In an increasingly integrated world where products are sourced globally, these types of technologies will play an increasing role in values-based decision-making. They can accurately identify where products come from, provide data on the level of corporate social responsibility of the organizations involved in production and pass the information along to the consumer on apps and devices. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/what-is-value-based-management">Values-based decision making</a> will hopefully lead more organizations away from a focus purely on margins and investments. Commitment to values has already been demonstrated to yield significantly better <a href="https://www.moralmarkets.org/book/firms-of-endearment/">financial results</a> and so there is an economic argument for being good.</p>
<p>When consumers demand a fuller picture of the products and services they are buying, organizations will need to increase their focus on what they are measuring, and how they better inform customers of their efforts. Transparency and values-based practices must then become key issues for organizations. </p>
<p>There are already ways to report on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other good business practices. For example, the Global Reporting Initiative’s <a href="https://www.globalreporting.org/resourcelibrary/GRI_UNGC_Reporting-on-SDGs_Practical_Guide.pdf">Global Reporting Standards</a> provides a practical guide for businesses. The UN has developed online widgets that companies can install on their websites to report on <a href="https://www.b1g1.com/businessforgood/sustainable-development-goals/">how they contribute to the SDGs</a>. </p>
<h2>Providing accountability</h2>
<p>Data can tell us whether a company treats stakeholders fairly, if it pays its taxes, if it uses dangerous materials and how organic its products really are. This information is being made available through new <a href="https://www.euronews.com/living/2019/06/28/top-5-apps-to-ease-you-into-a-sustainable-lifestyle-and-change-the-way-you-shop">mobile apps that allow us to shop according to our values</a>. </p>
<p>But we also need more aggregated data so that we can make decisions based on industry-level practices. Documentaries on Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and other film distributors are helping to educate us on some industry practices, but we need more.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_ot6W_7hvrM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for the Netflix documentary ‘Rotten,’ which takes a behind-the-scenes look at food industry practices.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Shared consumer ratings on products and services help to a degree, but they usually relate to service standards. The complexity of global issues, initiatives, practices and information sources need to be fed back so that consumers can be better informed and allowed to <a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/giving_voice_to_values">give voice to values</a>.</p>
<p>Finding reliable data and avoiding fake news can be daunting. Reports on industry ethics are widely adopted by professional associations, but these do not translate into a holistic system of trust, openness and sustainable practices that would allow consumers to easily make informed decisions. </p>
<p>It is clear that practices such as those reported by researchers and news reporters worldwide and on YouTube by informed citizens need to be better shared with consumers.</p>
<p>We need to turn the table around on data to include discussions of not only the ownership and protection of personal data, but also on the rights of consumers to access more extensive and digestible data sources to make values-based decisions. This is an important element in our individual and collective efforts to make a difference on <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-crisis-we-are-not-individuals-fighting-a-faceless-system-we-are-the-system-that-needs-to-change-129513">the climate crisis</a>, take actions to protect ourselves and make our personal mark on other important societal challenges.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/130381/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sylvie Albert does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Collecting, analyzing, aggregating and communicating data collected from businesses and industries can help consumers make purchasing decisions that align with their values.Sylvie Albert, Professor, Faculty of Business & Economics, University of WinnipegLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1352802020-04-15T12:13:24Z2020-04-15T12:13:24ZHow to reach young voters when they’re stuck at home<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/326993/original/file-20200409-72664-iwoqu4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3997&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Young Minnesota voters cast their ballots on March 3, before the coronavirus outbreak really set in for the U.S.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/young-somalia-americans-cast-their-ballot-during-the-news-photo/1204948098">Kerem Yucel/AFP via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Colleges across the U.S. have sent students home. High schools – and their elementary and middle-school counterparts – have moved operations online. </p>
<p>As scholars of <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=catzoVsAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao">young people’s political involvement</a> and activity, we find that this presents a new set of challenges not only for campaigns, but also for democracy.</p>
<p>This election season will be unlike any other. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/article/2020-campaign-primary-calendar-coronavirus.html">More than a dozen states postponed</a> their Democratic Party primaries. <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/coronavirus-starts-to-scramble-presidential-campaign-2020-03-11">Campaigns canceled all in-person events</a>. </p>
<p>Young voters are important to the continuity of democratic society in the U.S., because voting is a habit: <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/becoming-a-habitual-voter-inertia-resources-and-growth-in-young-adulthood/9EA1F561496D714346491B25B0D52239">Starting early leads to continued voting</a>.</p>
<p>By our analysis, more than 15 million youth are newly eligible to vote in their first presidential election in November – and these first-time voters make up almost one-third of all 18- to 29-year-olds eligible to vote in the fall. They’re not in campaigns’ databases either, especially if they are not yet registered to vote, so the political machines’ get-out-the-vote systems won’t reach them.</p>
<p>At the <a href="http://circle.tufts.edu/">Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement</a>, part of Tufts University’s <a href="https://tischcollege.tufts.edu/">Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life</a>, we’ve spent nearly two decades researching how best to grow, inform and mobilize young potential voters. Our findings reveal several key actions that parties, campaigns, advocacy organizations, educators and journalists can take to help ensure that all young people are prepared and motivated to vote in the 2020 election and beyond:</p>
<h2>1. Look beyond the college campus</h2>
<p>Universities are valuable sites for voter education and engagement, but campaigns’ and other political organizations’ usual focus on campus-based voter outreach has historically left out most young people. At any given time, <a href="https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2017/demo/school-enrollment/2017-cps.html">45% – less than half</a> – of youth ages 18 to 22 are enrolled in college.</p>
<p>With so many students away from their college campuses now, campaigns and organizers will have to diversify their strategies to reach more young people, in or out of the virtual classroom. In the long run, that shift to be <a href="https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/political-outreach-youth-was-effective-2018-midterms">more inclusive of noncollege youth</a> may strengthen democracy as a whole.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327000/original/file-20200409-72664-1r6tkrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327000/original/file-20200409-72664-1r6tkrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327000/original/file-20200409-72664-1r6tkrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327000/original/file-20200409-72664-1r6tkrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327000/original/file-20200409-72664-1r6tkrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327000/original/file-20200409-72664-1r6tkrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327000/original/file-20200409-72664-1r6tkrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327000/original/file-20200409-72664-1r6tkrz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A high school student learns at home during the coronavirus pandemic, which has closed schools across the country.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Virus-Outbreak-Illinois/55a94206fb914033bf26811767268db0/121/0">AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Discuss elections and voting in at-home learning</h2>
<p>Public schools have a responsibility to prepare their students to participate in democracy. In more than two dozen states, <a href="https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/state-statutes-support-growing-voters">policies or statutes explicitly mandate or recommend</a> that schools facilitate voter registration for their students. That responsibility does not end because students are not physically in school. Millions of high schoolers are now participating in online or at-home learning, which could include content about elections and voting.</p>
<p>Many high school seniors are already old enough to vote – or will be by November. <a href="https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/preregistration-for-young-voters.aspx">More than 20 states</a> allow people to register to vote before their 18th birthdays, if they will be 18 on or before Election Day. Our research on “<a href="https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/growing-voters-engaging-youth-they-reach-voting-age-strengthen-democracy">growing voters</a>” offers ideas for election administrators and nonpartisan community groups to reach diverse groups of young people through high schools, even if students aren’t in classrooms.</p>
<h2>3. Focus on online voter registration</h2>
<p>Registering to vote sooner rather than later is important. It makes voters visible to campaigns that rely on lists of registered voters for outreach. Research shows that contact by a political campaign or group supporting a candidate <a href="http://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/political-outreach-youth-was-effective-2018-midterms">is linked to a higher likelihood to vote</a>.</p>
<p>Online voter registration is <a href="http://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/facilitative-election-laws">a good way to support an increase in voter participation</a> because it can make it easier for young people and other new voters to register. It’s even more vital now that so much must be done remotely.</p>
<p>Currently <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Online_voter_registration">38 states and Washington, D.C.</a>, have online registration, but its availability alone isn’t enough. That’s especially true for young people from low-income backgrounds and marginalized communities. In one CIRCLE study of low-income youth, <a href="http://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/engaging-broader-youth-electorate-10-recommendations-increasing-voter-engagement">we found that only 17% of young people across several states</a> with online registration successfully used it. Many respondents shared that they ran into problems trying to do so or were unaware it was an option. </p>
<p>Local voter-registration groups, as well as state and local election administrators, can invest in widely promoting online voter registration and develop strategies to help young people with the process.</p>
<h2>4. Remember there are many ways to reach youth</h2>
<p>Our polling from the 2018 midterms <a href="https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/youth-engagement-2018-election">highlighted how youth learned about the election</a>: Many did so on social media but also from friends, family and classmates. </p>
<p>As young people interact less in person in the coming weeks and months, campaigns and organizations will need to invest in strategies that take into account who young people are already talking to online – especially those who can serve as trusted sources of information.</p>
<h2>5. Emphasize deeper, sustained digital contact</h2>
<p>Public health recommendations to engage in social distancing and avoid in-person contact will make <a href="https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/so-much-slacktivism-youth-translate-online-engagement-offline-political-action">digital organizing and outreach</a> an even more critical part of the 2020 election cycle. </p>
<p>But the goal should be to make digital contact feel more like personal contact. One-off text messages and social media campaigns can be important, but it’s much more effective to engage youth by building relationships, listening to their priorities, sustaining contact over time and creating opportunities for them to use their skills. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327004/original/file-20200409-17471-1nvwrwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327004/original/file-20200409-17471-1nvwrwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327004/original/file-20200409-17471-1nvwrwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327004/original/file-20200409-17471-1nvwrwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327004/original/file-20200409-17471-1nvwrwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327004/original/file-20200409-17471-1nvwrwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327004/original/file-20200409-17471-1nvwrwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327004/original/file-20200409-17471-1nvwrwk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teenage environmental activist Xiuhtezcatl Martinez speaks at a political rally in California in February 2020.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/environmental-activist-and-hip-hop-artist-xiuhtezcatl-news-photo/1200231879">Ronen Tivony/Echoes Wire/Barcroft Media via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>6. Support young leaders</h2>
<p>Building new connections with young potential voters is always difficult; restrictions on events and in-person canvassing will make it even harder. But youth leaders and organizers, many of whom <a href="https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/gun-violence-prevention-movement-fueled-youth-engagement-2018-election">have spent recent years growing movements related to issues like gun violence</a> and climate change, may already have the experience, skills, networks and trust to effectively approach youth in their communities. Those leaders may be interested in joining electoral outreach efforts.</p>
<h2>7. Strengthen media connections</h2>
<p>During both public health emergencies and election seasons, the media plays a critical role in keeping people informed. Many young people may now <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2020-03-25/tv-news-audiences-are-surging-thanks-to-coronavirus-pandemic">rely even more on their local media or news broadcast for information</a>. This presents <a href="http://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/impact-local-news-youth-political-engagement">an opportunity for media organizations</a> to think of youth as a critical audience. They could build trust by partnering with young people in order to include their voices through collaborative digital storytelling, projects that share the information a diversity of youth need to participate, or highlighting what diverse youth are already doing to boost engagement. Accurate and actionable election information is especially critical for people new to the voting process.</p>
<h2>8. Pay attention to the issues</h2>
<p>Young people <a href="https://circle.tufts.edu/latest-research/texans-under-age-40-concerned-about-health-care-believe-effecting-change">care deeply about issues</a> like health care, education, employment, economic justice and racial justice. They are motivated to participate in elections when they see candidates and movements addressing what matters to them and to their communities. Some may be experiencing firsthand, for the first time, how policy decisions play out in ways that drastically shape their lives and the lives of their loved ones. </p>
<p>The coronavirus outbreak and the resulting socioeconomic effects <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/04/coronavirus-exposing-our-racial-divides/609526/">directly connect to many longstanding political issues</a> that matter to youth. For example, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/03/27/young-workers-likely-to-be-hard-hit-as-covid-19-strikes-a-blow-to-restaurants-and-other-service-sector-jobs/">young people are at higher risk of reduced employment</a> during the pandemic. This presents an opportunity to underscore the importance of youth engagement in the democratic process as a way for them to explicitly influence crucial issues.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135280/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abby Kiesa is the Director of Impact at CIRCLE, a national research center on youth civic education and engagement at Tufts University's Tisch College of Civic Life. Abby has worked on research projects funded by private foundations including: the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, Youth Engagement Fund, the Democracy Fund, the Spencer Foundation, CloseUp Foundation, Bonner Foundation, Ford Foundation, Corporation for National and Community Service, The Pew Charitable Trusts, S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and the Omidyar Network. She is affiliated with Rock the Vote's Democracy Class (Advisory Council), DoSomething.org (Civic Engagement Advisory Board), Generation Citizen/Vote16USA (Advisory Board). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg is the Director of CIRCLE. CIRCLE receives funding from private foundations such as the Ford Foundation, Democracy Fund, MacArthur Foundation, McCormick Foundation, and the Youth Engagement Fund to conduct nonpartisan research about youth and Civic Education and Engagement. CIRCLE also receives indirect funding from the National Endowment for Humanities and the Hewlett Foundation through its nonpartisan partner organizations that receive funding directly from these entities.She is affiliated with the Democracy Works and Generation Citizen as a director of national boards and serve as advisory member for the American Bard Association Standing Commission on Public Education, Project
Citizen Z at Education Week, and Project on Information Literacy. She does not receive compensation from these roles. </span></em></p>Young voters are important to the continuity of democracy because voting at a young age leads to continued voting throughout life. This year more than most, they’ll have a hard time getting started.Abby Kiesa, Director of Impact at CIRCLE, Tufts UniversityKei Kawashima-Ginsberg, Director, Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement in the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, Tufts UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1324672020-03-24T12:16:47Z2020-03-24T12:16:47ZShould Congress demand America’s youth give a year of service to their country?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320574/original/file-20200315-50556-lrm5x1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C53%2C3540%2C2698&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Teenage recruits at the experimental Universal Military Training camp at Fort Knox in 1947</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/teenage-recruits-at-the-universal-military-training-news-photo/3166014?adppopup=true">Keystone Features/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>What does it mean to serve the United States, and who should be required to do so?</p>
<p>On March 25, 2020, after three years of investigation, the <a href="https://inspire2serve.gov">National Commission for Military, National, and Public Service</a> <strong>is expected to</strong> make its final recommendations on the issue to Congress. Members of the nonpartisan commission hope that their work will <a href="https://inspire2serve.gov/content/what-we-do">ignite “a national conversation,</a>” and it comes at a time when an unprecedented public health crisis is making <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-reminds-americans-that-pursuit-of-happiness-is-tied-to-the-collective-good-133599">Americans think about the public good </a> in ways they haven’t for decades.</p>
<p>The question of service gained renewed relevance in late 2015 after then-Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced that all military jobs – including combat specialties – would be <a href="https://www.sss.gov/Registration/Women-And-Draft">open to women</a>, essentially negating the Supreme Court’s 1981 <a href="https://www.oyez.org/cases/1980/80-251">rationale</a> for excluding women from the draft. </p>
<p>After Carter made his announcement, <a href="https://inspire2serve.gov/_api/files/166">Congress authorized the creation</a> of the commission in order to <a href="https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R44577.pdf">fully explore</a> options, including requiring women to register with the Selective Service, the agency responsible for a draft should Congress authorize one, or axing the draft altogether. </p>
<h2>‘A greater ethos’</h2>
<p>In early 2019, <a href="https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/02/26/no-women-dont-have-sign-draft-yet-heres-whats-next.html">a federal judge in Texas ruled</a> that requiring only men to register with Selective Service discriminated against men’s constitutionally guaranteed right to <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5747780-190224-SELECTIVE-SERVICE-DECISION-Full.html">equal protection</a>. <a href="http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/clerk/calendar/2003/32.tul.htm">Hearings on the appeal</a> began in the Fifth Circuit Court in March. Meanwhile, a bipartisan bill to eliminate Selective Service entirely <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/5492">awaits action</a> in the House, although it is unlikely Congress will make any moves before it receives the commission’s report.</p>
<p>Within the current political context, it makes sense for Congress to revisit long-held assumptions about who should serve. </p>
<p>But the commission has also been charged with <a href="https://inspire2serve.gov/content/what-we-do">“foster[ing] a greater ethos”</a> of national and public service, including the possibility of requiring “<a href="https://inspire2serve.gov/FINAL%20Executive%20Summary.pdf">all Americans to serve</a> in some capacity.”</p>
<p>But how did we get from proposals for compulsory registration to those for universal civilian service? As <a href="https://history.iastate.edu/directory/amy-rutenberg/">a scholar of the draft</a>, I argue that the answer rests in the many meanings Americans have attached to military service. </p>
<p>Until the Cold War, the United States traditionally kept its military small during peace time and used conscription to rapidly expand its forces during wartime. To keep men and their families from protesting compulsory military service, public and private sources – <a href="https://www.history.com/news/spanish-american-war-yellow-journalism-hearst-pulitzer">newspapers</a>, <a href="https://time.com/3983826/vintage-wwii-ads/">advertisements</a>, <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/posters-sold-world-war-i-american-public-180952179/">government-sponsored posters</a> and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041841/">movies</a> – fostered an ideal of masculine citizenship that emphasized loyalty, duty, responsibility and protection. </p>
<p>Military service provided national defense, but it also claimed to make the ideal of “America” possible. Activists and policymakers started to look for ways to harness this relationship. </p>
<h2>Training civilians</h2>
<p>In the years just before the U.S. entered World War I, a few <a href="https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/illinois-in-wwi/934-illinois-in-wwi-article-2.html">influential men</a> began pushing the idea of universal military training. They argued that military training would strengthen America’s readiness for war and strengthen its male population. Training programs could offer health care, lessons in hygiene, literacy training and job skills. It would also provide a common socializing experience to all American men, including the large number who had immigrated to the U.S. in the previous decades. Former Assistant Secretary of War Henry Breckenridge, for example, insisted in 1916 that universal training would help “<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1916/05/19/archives/sees-end-of-hyphen-in-universal-drill-henry-p-breckinridge-stirs.html">yank the hyphen out of America.” </a> </p>
<p>Universal military training did not gain enough support to pass in the years after World War I, but it remained a potent enough idea that its proponents brought it back during World War II. With the backing of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower, as well as a number of high-ranking military officers, civilian officials, and a range of civic organizations, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Every-Citizen-Soldier-Williams-Ford-University-ebook/dp/B00MU9RM0A/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=William+Taylor+every+citizen+a+soldier&qid=1583263120&sr=8-1">proposals</a> for such training began to appear in Congress and in the press. </p>
<p>Details varied, but the plans all involved some sort of required military training for all able-bodied men. And even though military training would take place at military installations under military leadership, the men themselves wouldn’t technically be in the military. They would stay civilians.</p>
<p>Its backers <a href="https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/gi-roundtable-series/pamphlets/em-21-shall-we-have-universal-military-training-(1944-censored)/arguments-for-universal-military-training">cited</a> the training’s importance as a socializing agent. They hoped that <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rough-Draft-Military-Vietnam-Era-Resistance/dp/1501739581/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=rutenberg&qid=1583264189&sr=8-3">“all [trainees would] live and work together in [a] great democratic fraternity … bunking in the same barracks, eating the same food, wearing the same distinctive uniform, and sharing the same worthwhile experiences.”</a> Men could take skills and a new sense of patriotism and civic engagement back to their home communities after training.</p>
<p>To prove these benefits, the Army set up an experimental training unit at Fort Knox, Kentucky. It enrolled 664 trainees in early 1947. Publicity materials now housed at the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/research/holocaust/finding-aid/military/rg-319.html">National Archives and Records Administration</a> portray Fort Knox like a summer camp, complete with swimming pool, hobby shop, music room, sports center, radio station and theater. There was even a soda fountain – since, according to one pamphlet, “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rough-Draft-Military-Vietnam-Era-Resistance/dp/1501739581/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=rutenberg&qid=1583264189&sr=8-3">the average 18-year-old prefers a soda”</a> to a beer. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320575/original/file-20200315-50543-1p5nd7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/320575/original/file-20200315-50543-1p5nd7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320575/original/file-20200315-50543-1p5nd7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320575/original/file-20200315-50543-1p5nd7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320575/original/file-20200315-50543-1p5nd7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320575/original/file-20200315-50543-1p5nd7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/320575/original/file-20200315-50543-1p5nd7v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=966&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Looking sharp! Recruits at universal military training unit at Fort Knox.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/teenage-recruit-at-the-universal-military-training-news-photo/3166070?adppopup=true">Keystone Features/Stringer</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More importantly, trainees received classes in morality, ethics and democratic citizenship. They created their own justice system, separate from the Army’s usual chain of command, for minor infractions. They produced their own newspaper. Officials wanted to use the military environment to develop responsible civilian citizenship and they sold universal military training to the public in this way.</p>
<p>Universal military training enjoyed considerable public support, but it never passed through Congress.</p>
<p>Its opponents <a href="https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/gi-roundtable-series/pamphlets/em-21-shall-we-have-universal-military-training-(1944-censored)/arguments-against-universal-military-training">feared</a> militarization and claimed that military regimentation would undermine American individualism.</p>
<p>The so-called universal training also broke apart on the rocky shoals of race. In 1947, the Army was racially <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Let-Us-Fight-Free-Men/dp/0812245970/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=christine+knauer&qid=1583266019&sr=8-3">segregated</a>. The experimental unit at Fort Knox, touted by the Army as a perfect representation of American manhood, excluded black trainees. Civil rights activists argued that no segregated program could ever be universal, and segregationists refused to approve any integrated plan.</p>
<p>But Americans continued to debate the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Military-Service-American-Democracy-Afghanistan/dp/0700623205/ref=pd_sbs_14_t_0/139-7625755-6209665?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=0700623205&pd_rd_r=7e826adb-9efc-4806-b976-b8ce2d023399&pd_rd_w=6cZAG&pd_rd_wg=gnu0K&pf_rd_p=5cfcfe89-300f-47d2-b1ad-a4e27203a02a&pf_rd_r=B8GX4TB1JV900AVYQ63J&psc=1&refRID=B8GX4TB1JV900AVYQ63J">meaning of service</a>, including what, if any, role the military should play. </p>
<p>The idea of universal national service emerged as an alternative to universal military training during the Vietnam War. Supporters believed that requiring a year of public service could offer the same benefits promised by military training without the dangers of militarization or unnecessary war.</p>
<h2>A year of service?</h2>
<p>Congress has weighed the option of universal national service repeatedly over the decades, but especially when fears about national weakness have reached a crescendo. </p>
<p>It emerged during the Vietnam War as antidote to what many perceived was an unfair draft. </p>
<p>It was part of discussions about how to win the Cold War in the <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=eVFLAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA2-PA153&lpg=RA2-PA153&dq=universal+national+service+1978&source=bl&ots=KqMKy8ZQf6&sig=ACfU3U1BfLLLYHUVBdDWbYWUjE0Vrqw2-A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj3xO6BmfznAhWvHzQIHc9jBRcQ6AEwEHoECAsQAQ#v=onepage&q=universal%20national%20service%201978&f=false">late 1970s</a> and how best to <a href="https://www.congress.gov/search?q=%7B%22source%22:%22legislation%22,%22search%22:%22%22universal%20national%20service%20act%22%22%7D&searchResultViewType=expanded&KWICView=false">defeat domestic and foreign terrorism in the wake</a> of the 9/11 attacks. Most recently, Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg <a href="https://www.vox.com/2019/7/3/20680963/pete-buttigieg-expand-national-service">included</a> national service as part of his platform.</p>
<p>It remains to be seen how the spread of the novel coronavirus will impact <a href="https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/flattening-the-coronavirus-curve-is-not-enough/">calls</a> for national service and conscription.</p>
<p>Today, fewer than 1% of the American population serves in the military, which means that comparatively few Americans can or will reap the civic benefits military service is believed to confer. As today’s strategic and tactical planning relies more heavily on specialists trained in cutting-edge technology than overwhelming numbers of infantrymen, universal military service is no longer seen as a viable option. </p>
<p>But the <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/National-Service_TEXT-3.pdf">ideological connection</a> between service and a strong nation remains – which is why the National Commission for Military, National, and Public Service has been considering how to make a year of service “<a href="https://inspire2serve.gov/FINAL%20Executive%20Summary.pdf">a norm for every American,”</a> at the same time as it weighs the future of military Selective Service. </p>
<p>[<em>You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=youresmart">You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter</a>.]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/132467/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Amy Rutenberg does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A commission looking at the future of service is set to makesits recommendations. It is hoping to make a year of service ‘a norm’ for all Americans. What does it mean to serve?Amy Rutenberg, Assistant Professor of History, Iowa State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1331772020-03-12T14:06:49Z2020-03-12T14:06:49ZThere’s hope, if we wake up to today’s evolutionary potential<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319547/original/file-20200310-61060-cgz5mj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Everyone needs to be fired up with a rage aligned with the feminine principle of care rather than the masculine principle of control.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">GettyImages</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The world is in the grip of two massive opposing forces. While many different forces will shape our future, these two in particular loom large. One is the overwhelming and relentless shift towards the sustainable world envisaged by the <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300">Sustainable Development Goals</a>. In particular, the goal to eradicate poverty without blowing the fuses of the planet. </p>
<p>The other is the force that thrives on inequality, boasts about toxic masculinity, mocks democratic freedoms, and champions big and shiny mega-projects. It rejects the significance of climate change and imminent threats to life.</p>
<p>Our futures depend on how this titanic battle plays itself out. Remarkably, though, what will make all the difference in our hyper-connected world are the choices that individuals and communities make now. </p>
<p>Marked by the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the UN in 2015 and the <a href="https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement/what-is-the-paris-agreement">Paris Agreement</a> on the Climate in the same year, the shift towards sustainability brings together a range of disparate but energetic forces. These include the <a href="https://theconversation.com/school-climate-strikes-what-next-for-the-latest-generation-of-activists-111594">youth protest against climate</a> extinction and the scientific consensus about the global threats to life as we know it. </p>
<p>It also brings together the movement against the rising tide of gender-based violence and the increasingly strident rejection of a world so unequal that 1% of the world’s population can amass more wealth than the poorest <a href="https://www.albawaba.com/business/report-world%E2%80%99s-richest-1-percent-more-6.9-billion-people">6.9 billion</a> put together. </p>
<p>The shift towards sustainability gains expression in images of mass protests, massive UN summits, solemn scientific panels and the faces of the new child heroes from all continents. The force that thrives on inequality and rejects the significance of climate change is expressed in the noxious images of arrogant male leaders like Donald Trump (US), Jair Bolsonaro (President of Brazil), Rodrigo Duerte (President of Philippines), Boris Johnson (PM of UK), Recep Tayyip Erdogan (President of Turkey), Viktor Orban (PM of Hungary) and Jacob Zuma (former President of South Africa). </p>
<p>I discuss these opposing forces in my book, <a href="https://www.loot.co.za/product/mark-swilling-the-age-of-sustainability/stlp-6276-g590">Age of Sustainability: Just Transitions in a Complex World</a>. And how they are unfolding at a global level. </p>
<p>I offer a theory of change that goes beyond relying on the belief that at some point there will be a rupture resulting in the seizure of state power by a revolutionary elite that ushers in a new society. Nor do I accept the musings of the doom and gloom brigade who assume that a cataclysmic environmental collapse is pretty much inevitable.</p>
<p>Instead I argue that everyone needs to be fired up with a sense of deep rage: but a rage aligned with the feminine principle of care rather than the masculine principle of control. In my view this is what’s needed to animate the struggle against the forces bent on subverting the transition to a more sustainable world. </p>
<h2>The global commons as a force for good</h2>
<p>The Brazilian Harvard-based social theorist <a href="https://bigthink.com/u/roberto-unger">Roberto Unger</a> writes about what he calls “structure fetishism” – an obsession with the power of social structures. I argue that this fetishism tends to block us off from the significance of the immense transformative, creative and effervescent impulses that bubble up from below. These impulses arise as people and communities respond to the crisis by figuring out solutions for themselves. </p>
<p>This is what radical incrementalism is all about. Radical incrementalism isn’t about reforms that greenwash the status quo. Nor is it about waiting for the revolution. It’s about exploiting the evolutionary potential of the present. </p>
<p>But this doesn’t obliterate a role for the state. Indeed, I devote a whole chapter to rethinking the developmental state in light of the need to connect a commitment to development – to eradicate poverty and reduce inequalities – with a commitment to a just transition to a more sustainable world. </p>
<p>A just transition means fundamental changes in the way economies are structured and governed – an outcome that conventional economists cannot conceive. </p>
<p>To understand radical incrementalism as a force for global change, we must pay much closer attention to the rise of the commons that’s been made possible by new information and communication technologies. The commons is the increasingly significant peer-to-peer exchange economy. It’s sometimes referred to the as the ‘platform economy’. The for-profit extractive versions of this mode of ‘platform capitalsim’ include the likes of Uber, AirBnB and Facebook.</p>
<p>But there are examples of non-profit collaborative peer-to-peer systems. These include Mozilla Firefox (free online web browser), Wikipedia (free online encyclopia), Linux (an open source operating system) and Apache Servers (free open source webserver software), </p>
<p>The <a href="https://commonstransition.org/peer-to-peer-a-commons-manifesto/">global commons movement</a> celebrates the extraordinary human potential that information and communication technologies could unleash if peer-to-peer platform cooperation became more all-pervasive. The primary threat to this is the corporate-led enclosure movement of the information commons. Tech giants like Google, Facebook and a vast array of others mine and extract big data flows in ways that subvert the creative spirit of open source collaboration. </p>
<p>Peer-to-peer cooperation – often just known as “wiki systems” – depend on voluntary workers. They collectively build a knowledge commons that becomes an open source resource that everyone can access to build their own for-gain enterprises. </p>
<p>The expanding commons is not an alternative to the market and state. Rather it’s a new mode of peer-to-peer production that will require a regulatory environment to flourish, and market dynamics to spread.</p>
<h2>Rediscovering what it means to be human</h2>
<p>Change in our complex world will require that we recognise the end of the classic conception of what it means to be human. Represented most clearly by da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man, this classic conception portrayed the white, perfectly proportioned male who is alone, disconnected from people (especially those with darker skins) and nature as the ideal way to be human. All else was ‘othered’. </p>
<p>Feminism challenged the othering of women, post-colonial studies the othering that racism aimed to justify, and political ecology the othering of nature. </p>
<p>What we have now is the relational self. Or what sub-Saharan African writers refer to this as <a href="https://philpapers.org/rec/MURAEA-4">Ukama</a> – the relatedness to all people, all things (animate and inanimate) and the ancestors. The Ukamian relational self is the appropriate way of being human in the sustainability age.</p>
<p>The chapters in the book explore this relational way of being across many different contexts with special reference to what sustainability means in the global South. </p>
<p>But what about the counter force? </p>
<p>I explore the rise of extractive authoritarianism around the world, and the way toxic masculinity is being harnessed as a powerful narrative to simulate certainty in a world conditioned to fear uncertainty. </p>
<p><a href="https://sastatecapture.org.za/">State capture</a> in South Africa is used as a case study. Bringing together for the first time the burgeoning literature on toxic masculinity and the political economy literature on state capture, I argue that what emerged during the years under former President Jacob Zuma is best described as “electro-masculinity”. By this I mean a deadly cocktail of climate denialism, the celebration of big and shiny mega-projects, systemic looting and a toxic masculinity. </p>
<p>To activate wave upon wave of radical incrementalist transformative action, it will be necessary to wake people from their slumber and provoke the numbed into awareness. Science on its own cannot do this. Rage helps. Nor will doom and gloom do the trick – that just leads to paralysis.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133177/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>He has received funding from the National Research Foundation, Open Society Foundation and the International Resource Panel. </span></em></p>How two massive opposing forces - the shift towards a sustainable world and the force that thrives on inequality - are unfolding at a global level.Mark Swilling, Distinguished Professor of Sustainable Development, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1271782019-11-16T17:18:16Z2019-11-16T17:18:16ZGilets jaunes: one year on, how the ‘yellow vest’ movement has changed French citizens’ lives<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/302030/original/file-20191116-66917-1k0pgjq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C136%2C1500%2C985&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The 'yellow vests' vote at an assembly in Saint Nazaire, April 2019.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elise Lobbedez</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Often perceived as disorganised, scattered and even violent, France’s “gilets jaunes” movement has taken many by surprise with its staying power. A year into the movement, which began on November 17, 2018, many activists are still regularly meeting, organising and protesting, despite the challenges they’ve faced over the past 12 months. In fact, for many French citizens, the yellow vest has become a symbol of civic engagement.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you don’t visit the roundabouts, if you don’t go to the protests, if you don’t meet people, you don’t know shit, and you think that the gilets jaunes are over, that they have no demands, that they’ve lost their purpose. But we are still demonstrating. Our demands haven’t changed. (Stéphanie)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While fewer people attend yellow-vest demonstrations these days, the movement is still going strong. In my ethnographic study of the movement in the Lyon area, I was able to observe that commitment to the movement often goes beyond protesting, occupying roundabouts and breaching toll-road gates. In fact, participants often report that they haven’t had time for anything else this year.</p>
<p>Over time, the rallies have settled into a <a href="https://theconversation.com/le-rond-point-fabrique-quotidienne-de-solidarites-122808">certain routine</a>, described by one gilet jaune, Margot, as an “activist’s regimen” in our interview this summer.</p>
<p>Participating in operations, handing out flyers, helping the homeless – these are the activities that make up the daily routine of “yellow activism”. During a meeting at the beginning of the school year, Etienne talked about how the days of action on Saturdays eventually became less intense:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I want us to go back to a 9am to 9pm routine. A 12-hour day, right? We need to show we’re still here.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300977/original/file-20191110-194641-1ox37zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300977/original/file-20191110-194641-1ox37zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300977/original/file-20191110-194641-1ox37zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300977/original/file-20191110-194641-1ox37zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=418&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300977/original/file-20191110-194641-1ox37zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300977/original/file-20191110-194641-1ox37zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300977/original/file-20191110-194641-1ox37zv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A flyer for one of the ‘citizens’ dialogues’ organised by the Lyon yellow vests between January and June. The goal of these debates is to think openly and collectively about their demands. Dialogues were organised on specific topics, such as the environment, the economy, taxes, social justice, democracy and civic life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">E. Lobbedez</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Apart from operations on the ground, the daily lives of yellow vests are organised around discussions and experiments in direct democracy, with weekly meetings, conferences and debates. Between tips on what to read, discovery of the world of activism, and tutorials into banner making, many emphasise that they have never learned as much as they have since they joined the movement.</p>
<h2>A year of struggle</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>Some people are against wearing the yellow vest now … I’m not saying they’re wrong. Because, in the end, we’ve been stigmatised too much… (Julien)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>During this year of struggle, wearing the yellow vest has not always been easy. The drop in participation sometimes impaired cohesion and led to internal tensions. Several arguments have plagued assemblies, particularly over the way forward. Should protesters ask for a permit to demonstrate? Would teaming up with other movements help boost actions? What would that entail in practice?</p>
<p>With <a href="https://theconversation.com/gilets-jaunes-et-journalistes-aux-sources-du-rejet-107901">media coverage</a> from many outlets emphasising protester violence, the yellow vest has taken on another kind of symbolism for people outside of the movement, sometimes hindering its efforts.</p>
<p>In some cases, it even constitutes a deterrent to inter-movement collaboration, as was the case during some <a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2019/09/22/a-paris-une-marche-pour-le-climat-dans-la-confusion_6012584_3244.html">climate marches</a>, in particular in early January. Some yellow-vest protesters felt unwelcome, and had the impression that they were simply there to boost numbers rather than out of any solidarity with their demands.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300979/original/file-20191110-194641-1lxbhb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300979/original/file-20191110-194641-1lxbhb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300979/original/file-20191110-194641-1lxbhb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300979/original/file-20191110-194641-1lxbhb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=383&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300979/original/file-20191110-194641-1lxbhb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300979/original/file-20191110-194641-1lxbhb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300979/original/file-20191110-194641-1lxbhb7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A placard from a protest in May, emphasising the movement’s desire for inclusivity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">E. Lobbedez</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Symbolically, many feel stigmatised and must navigate the prejudices of their relatives, and onlookers. Within the collective, the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14742837.2018.1561260">culture of sacrifice</a> encourages participants to go all in for the cause, sometimes setting targets that are difficult to attain, at the expense of their health, family life, friendships, and work. Exhaustion due to overinvestment is common, and it is not unusual for some to take a step back, at least for a while.</p>
<h2>Life through a yellow lens</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>When I see some outrageous news, I have no choice but to send it on, to share it. I’m a yellow vest because I’m outraged. (Thierry)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But distancing oneself from the movement does not mean giving up. The political practices developed through this year of activism remain infused in their daily lives, even for those who have packed away their yellow vest.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300974/original/file-20191110-194650-v4f4dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300974/original/file-20191110-194650-v4f4dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300974/original/file-20191110-194650-v4f4dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300974/original/file-20191110-194650-v4f4dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300974/original/file-20191110-194650-v4f4dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300974/original/file-20191110-194650-v4f4dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300974/original/file-20191110-194650-v4f4dc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Placards for a protest in February.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">E. Lobbedez</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The vest is, above all, a state of mind. Very often, seemingly commonplace daily activities take a political turn: for Anaïs, it’s going to the market rather than the supermarket; for Michel, it’s creating a parents’ network to help with babysitting; for Frédéric, it’s giving up buying things on Amazon.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300980/original/file-20191110-194646-cirllg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300980/original/file-20191110-194646-cirllg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300980/original/file-20191110-194646-cirllg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300980/original/file-20191110-194646-cirllg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300980/original/file-20191110-194646-cirllg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300980/original/file-20191110-194646-cirllg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300980/original/file-20191110-194646-cirllg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The customised yellow vest, the collective symbol with a personal touch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">E. Lobbedez</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When it comes to the media, everyone pricks up their ears at the mention of strikes and controversial news stories, as they try to get their news from alternative outlets. Francine, for example, has distanced herself from the movement but stays actively informed via independent news sites. She told me about the new platforms she discovered via the yellow-vest movement: “I listened to all the content on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/thinkerview/about">ThinkerView</a> … It fosters the exchange of ideas and opens your mind.”</p>
<p>For her, it’s not just about keeping up to date, but familiarising herself with other points of view, which she believes is essential in her day-to-day encounters and interactions.</p>
<h2>The vest: a sign of change</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>I will never stop being an activist now. It might take different forms … Through politics, maybe, or local organisations. But now hooked. After a year like that, trying to change things, you can’t go back to just mindlessly listening to the news on [main French channel] TF1, thinking, ‘Time will tell’. (Florence)</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Many in the movement feel the yellow wave has changed their <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-societes-contemporaines-2011-4-page-5.htm">lives</a>. Some, like <a href="https://www.lexpress.fr/actualite/societe/le-gilet-jaune-maxime-nicolle-va-rejoindre-le-qg-la-web-tele-d-aude-lancelin_2096551.html">Maxime Nicolle</a>, decided to seeking another job, more in line with their values. Marie, who worked in the business tourism market, quit her job to look for work that better fits her ideals. </p>
<p>For Florence, the movement was a wake-up call. Her growing involvement led her to decide to leave her partner. She is still very active in the movement but is now wondering what her engagement will be like in the future. Life without some form of activism has become inconceivable for her. She is not alone: some “yellow vests” have decided to run for office within a party or on a citizen’s ticket.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300981/original/file-20191110-194641-1paomlz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/300981/original/file-20191110-194641-1paomlz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300981/original/file-20191110-194641-1paomlz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300981/original/file-20191110-194641-1paomlz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300981/original/file-20191110-194641-1paomlz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300981/original/file-20191110-194641-1paomlz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/300981/original/file-20191110-194641-1paomlz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A yellow vest in the train driver’s compartment of one of the railway workers who was being interviewed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">E. Lobbedez</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Of course, these changes in lives and habits are personal and cannot describe the entire movement, especially given its multifaceted nature. However, they are a testament to the effect the yellow vest movement has on many individuals.</p>
<p>While it is difficult to foresee the movement’s future, it is clear that the yellow vest has changed lives and will continue to impact the future militancy of many of its participants. It will always be there, ready to be resurrected when the time comes.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Elise Lobbedez’s doctoral thesis is supervised by Professor David Courpasson.</em></p>
<p><em>Translated from the French by Alice Heathwood for <a href="http://www.fastforword.fr/en/">Fast ForWord</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127178/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elise Lobbedez ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Including direct accounts from ‘yellow vests’ members in the Lyon area, a look back at what has changed in the daily lives of people in the movement.Elise Lobbedez, PhD student au centre de recherche OCE, EM Lyon Business SchoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1128012019-03-14T10:37:46Z2019-03-14T10:37:46ZHow the Syrian uprising began and why it matters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263396/original/file-20190312-86717-12uhd5r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Syrian anti-government protesters march as part of an uprising against the country's authoritarian regime, in Banias, Syria, April 17, 2011. The Arabic banner at center reads: 'All of us would die for our country.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Mideast-Syria/bd4da1f8afe44ee39f7d0402f58d1de5/25/0">AP/Anonymous</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Amid headlines about the Islamic State group and photographs of rubble, it can be easy to forget that the Syrian war began as a nonviolent uprising. </p>
<p>March 15, the <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2011-04-23/syria-how-it-all-began">uprising’s eighth anniversary</a>, serves as a reminder that any enduring end to the Syrian conflict must address the grievances and aspirations that propelled its beginning. Violent repression cannot create a stable solution, no less a just one.</p>
<p>I’m a <a href="https://www.polisci.northwestern.edu/people/core-faculty/wendy-pearlman.html">scholar of Middle East politics</a>. Since 2012 I have interviewed hundreds of displaced Syrians across the Middle East and Europe. Those interviews are collected in my book, “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062654441/we-crossed-a-bridge-and-it-trembled/">We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria</a>.”</p>
<p>Their stories describe suffocating fear and silence under the authoritarian regime that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/mar/14/dictator-son-assad-grip-power">Hafez al-Assad</a> established in 1970 and his <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/11/world/syrians-vote-to-confirm-assad-s-son-as-president.html">son Bashar inherited</a>. </p>
<p>They also describe how people risked their lives and worked together to fight their oppression.</p>
<h2>Adapting and submitting</h2>
<p>Before the civil war, a <a href="https://read.dukeupress.edu/mediterranean-quarterly/article-abstract/22/4/62/1801/Requiem-for-the-Baath-Party-Struggle-for-Change?redirectedFrom=PDF">single ruling party</a>, <a href="https://giswatch.org/en/country-report/communications-surveillance/syria">state surveillance</a> and pervasive covert informants led Syria’s parents to raise children on the saying “Whisper, the walls have ears.” </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/5-ways-the-syrian-revolution-continues-112802">5 ways the Syrian revolution continues</a>
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<p>An “<a href="http://legal-agenda.com/en/article.php?id=2957">Emergency Law</a>,” in place since the 1960s, gave security forces far-reaching powers to arrest anyone at will. </p>
<p>“If they got even a sense that you’re not completely submitting to their demands, you’d be put where the sun doesn’t shine,” a university student told me. “No one would hear from you again.”</p>
<p>While security rule created fear, everyday corruption made indignities the norm. People with whom I spoke recounted their exasperation with paying bribes at every turn and watching regime cronies get rich while their livelihoods deteriorated. </p>
<p>Most demeaning was the sense that complicity was the only way to survive. A mother shrugged, “You just adapted to oppression and rotted along with it.”</p>
<h2>Rebirth and transformation</h2>
<p>In early 2011, the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2011/12/17/143897126/the-arab-spring-a-year-of-revolution">Arab Spring</a> galvanized millions in protest in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere. Outside analysts and many Syrians themselves judged that a history of state violence left Syrians <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/02/201129103121562395.html">too afraid</a> to go out. When a new Facebook page called for revolution on <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/syria-revolution-revolt-against-bashar-al--assads-regime/2011/03/15/ABrwNEX_blog.html">March 15</a>, a few individuals broke the barrier of fear. </p>
<p>That Friday, larger protests formed in southern Syria and security forces opened fire, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2012/03/16/148719850/revisiting-the-spark-that-kindled-the-syrian-uprising">killing</a> two unarmed protesters. A week later, tens of thousands joined <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/26/world/middleeast/26syria.html">demonstrations</a> across the country. </p>
<p>Syrians recall those demonstrations and the hundreds that followed, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/20/world/middleeast/in-uprising-syrians-find-spark-of-creativity.html?src=twr">creative celebrations</a> filled with dance, song and a sense of rebirth. After a lifetime of having to chirp praise for “the Leader,” this was the point Syrians went out and said “no.” Some describe it as the first time they had heard their own <a href="http://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/24325">voice</a>. </p>
<p>A graphic designer described how her husband was the first of the two of them to attend a demonstration. He returned to say, in tears, “Anyone who doesn’t live this moment cannot consider himself alive.” After her first demonstration, she told him that he was right. </p>
<p>Many felt that experience of protest was transformative socially, as well as personally. Hundreds of <a href="https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745337821/burning-country/">neighborhood committees</a> formed to organize protests, bringing together people of different backgrounds to exchange ideas and work together. This <a href="http://www.fifthestate.org/archive/397-winter-2017/the-legacy-of-omar-aziz/">civic engagement</a> defied the collective distrust that the authoritarian state had actively fostered in order to control society. </p>
<p>Solidarity could be heroic. </p>
<p>“People took huge risks just to spread leaflets or bring someone to the hospital,” a young woman recalled. “I also did crazy things to rescue total strangers … Because we were together, shouting for the same goals.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263441/original/file-20190312-86682-db7bgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263441/original/file-20190312-86682-db7bgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263441/original/file-20190312-86682-db7bgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263441/original/file-20190312-86682-db7bgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263441/original/file-20190312-86682-db7bgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263441/original/file-20190312-86682-db7bgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263441/original/file-20190312-86682-db7bgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263441/original/file-20190312-86682-db7bgq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">In this citizen journalism image, people gather around the bodies of what they claim are protesters killed in clashes with police near Damascus, Syria, April 22, 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Mideast-Syria/ea3937ba723a4e99aeba5eda1e07a86b/61/0">Image acquired by AP</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Assad crushes dissent</h2>
<p>It took 12 days and 61 deaths before Bashar al-Assad delivered his first address about the crisis. </p>
<p>“If Bashar had made reform, we would have cheered him and made him king,” an engineer recalled. </p>
<p>Instead, the president vowed to crush unrest, which he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/31/world/middleeast/31syria.html">denounced</a> as a foreign conspiracy to foment sectarian strife.</p>
<p>People I interviewed regard such rhetoric as itself a strategy to “<a href="https://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/sectarianization/">sectarianize</a>” the conflict to divide citizens who shared a unifying aspiration for accountability and good governance. They insist that demonstrations often began at mosques not because they were led by Islamic extremists, but because mosques were the only place where people could legally gather. Many knew stories about Christians or atheists who participated in Friday prayers simply to join marches from the start.</p>
<p>Pounded by repression, the uprising swelled during spring 2011. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/apr/22/syria-protests-forces-shoot">Calls for reform escalated</a> to demands to topple the regime. After months of overwhelmingly peaceful protests, some in <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/how-syrian-revolution-became-militarized/">the opposition took up arms</a>. </p>
<p>The regime intensified its reprisals from <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jul/31/syria-hama-crackdown-tanks-protests">tanks</a> to <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2013/04/10/death-skies/deliberate-and-indiscriminate-air-strikes-civilians">indiscriminate aerial bombardment</a>. Other states and non-state actors intervened on the side of the regime or an increasingly fragmented array of rebel groups, propelling a multi-sided war that shattered the country.</p>
<p>“We tried our best to build something,” an activist told me, a heavy sense of loss in her voice. “We faced a lot and we faced it alone. But we lost control.”</p>
<h2>Telling the story</h2>
<p>Today, violence has killed more than <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/world/middleeast/syria-death-toll.html">half a million</a> Syrians and forced some <a href="https://www.worldvision.org/refugees-news-stories/syrian-refugee-crisis-facts">12 million</a> to flee their homes. </p>
<p>Observers increasingly assert that the Assad regime has “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/30/syria-year-cemented-assad-victory-trump-us-troops">won</a>” the Syrian war. </p>
<p>As the saying goes, history is written by the victors. Assad has a tight grip on <a href="https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2017/vice-goes-inside-syria-to-show-what-media-censorship-really-looks-like/">media</a> and, in the years to come, Syrians expect that he will continue to promote a story about the conflict that ignores or maligns those who found their voices in peaceful protest eight years ago. </p>
<p>This will be a vengeful denial of one of the century’s bravest shows of people’s power. No less, it will be a denial of the many ways in which Syrians today <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-statue/new-assad-statue-triggers-protest-in-cradle-of-syrian-revolt-idUSKBN1QR0SB">continue</a> to call for a society with freedom and justice – and without fear. </p>
<p><em>In <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-ways-the-syrian-revolution-continues-112802">the second part of this series</a>, Wendy Pearlman writes that the struggle for freedom, dignity and justice that Syrians launched eight years ago is not over.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112801/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wendy Pearlman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>On the eighth anniversary of the Syrian uprising, scholar Wendy Pearlman writes about the people who risked their lives and raised their voices to fight the oppressive rule of Bashar al-Assad.Wendy Pearlman, Associate Professor of Political Science, Northwestern UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1110072019-02-07T14:06:24Z2019-02-07T14:06:24ZCommunities, mining corporations and corruption in South Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257273/original/file-20190205-86224-10w4pk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>During the apartheid era in South Africa, the mining industry operated without restraint and had undue influence over government decision-making. This created an environment where companies maximised profits at the expense of people and the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02589346.2016.1245526?scroll=top&needAccess=true">environment</a>.</p>
<p>To establish whether this is still the case I did <a href="https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v7y2018i12p259-d188873.html">research</a> in Dullstroom, Mpumalanga and St. Lucia, KwaZulu-Natal. Dullstroom has a strong agri-tourism sector and is well known for its natural environment, particularly flyfishing. These attributes are now under threat from coal mining license applications. St Lucia is located near South Africa’s coastal border with Mozambique. It’s near the Great St Lucia Wetland Park, a world heritage site. </p>
<p>My research shows that some mining corporations still have influence over mining development in post-apartheid South Africa, although to a lesser degree. The study found that mining corporations, national and local government had a close relationship. Mining companies were strong arming government on how mining developments in the sector should happen. </p>
<h2>Mining houses and development</h2>
<p>The research found that corruption, poor governance and lax compliance were rife in Dullstroom. Generally, mining corporations often employed government officials to get mining licenses approved. Political connections enabled corruption between mining companies and government. </p>
<p>Practices like this have undermined laws that were passed after 1994 to control the negative effects of mining. For example, the <a href="https://www.environment.co.za/documents/legislation/NEMA-National-Environmental-Management-Act-107-1998-G-19519.pdf">National Environmental Management Act</a> stipulates that development shouldn’t be allowed if it will lead to irreversible environmental degradation. And the <a href="https://www.gov.za/documents/constitution/chapter-2-bill-rights#24">South African Constitution</a> makes provision for two rights potentially affected by mining. These are the right to a healthy environment and the right to having the environment protected. </p>
<p>The introduction of the Bill of Rights in the Constitution also enshrines the right of communities to express their dissatisfaction and challenge mining laws and regulations.</p>
<p>A number of communities have used these rights to take action against government and corporate malpractice. </p>
<p>One example is a civil society coalition’s successful <a href="http://www.polity.org.za/article/high-court-refuses-mining-companys-leave-to-appeal-in-the-mabola-case-2019-01-22">defence</a> of a protected area in Mabola in the north of the country. </p>
<p>But in other instances mining companies have found ways to circumvent community resistance. One route has been to get licenses approved by bypassing proper consultation processes with residents by influencing community leaders. For example, a <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2016-05-03-choose-between-mining-and-bloodshed">community campaign</a> against Indian mining giant Jindal, to prospect for iron ore in northern KwaZulu-Natal saw traditional leaders intimidating community members who were opposed to the development. Community members accused traditional leaders of giving Jindal permission to prospect on their land without consulting them.</p>
<p>Mining companies have also used the fact that people living in communities earmarked for mining are poor, and most don’t have jobs. In the Sakhelwe township in Dullstroom, the offer of jobs was to create divisions within the area. Similarly in St Lucia the local mining company promised local residents jobs and bursaries for tertiary education to get community members on their side. </p>
<h2>Why civil society matters</h2>
<p>The influence of companies has placed a strain on South Africa’s participatory model of democracy. This should involve the government, residents and the civic community. Local communities are often not consulted meaningfully during mining development processed. </p>
<p>For now it seems that the strategies being used by civil society organisations may be the best prospect for ensuring mining companies, and the government, are forced to apply the law. </p>
<p>There have already been some notable successes. In <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2018-11-22-high-court-rules-in-favour-of-xolobeni-community-in-historic-mining-rights-case">Xolebeni in the Eastern Cape</a> the community has forced the mining company to stop a proposed development. The court judgment called for thorough consultation with the community prior to any granting of mining rights.</p>
<p>Groups such as these are gaining political momentum and support. For now, they provide the best potential for an enabling political settlement and for deliberative democracy. </p>
<p>It remains to be seen if these victories will have a wider impact on the future of mining in the country. A big question mark still hangs over whether the government, and the leadership of the African National Congress, will continue to be dictated to by corporations. </p>
<p>The signs aren’t good. The mining industry has welcomed the election of new leaders to run the ANC, signalling that it offers a new dawn for <a href="https://www.iol.co.za/business-report/economy/miningindaba-sa-mining-industry-pledges-to-work-with-govt-to-revive-economy-13047259">collaboration</a>. </p>
<p>It also remains to be seen how civil society and local communities are able to organise and respond to any risks over mining development. This includes how local leaders will engage with their constituencies over future mining developments.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111007/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Llewellyn Leonard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Before democracy South Africa’s mining sector prioritised profits over the people and environment. Not much has changed.Llewellyn Leonard, Professor Environmental Science, University of South AfricaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1092212019-02-07T11:34:29Z2019-02-07T11:34:29ZJournalism needs an audience to survive, but isn’t sure how to earn its loyalty<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257107/original/file-20190204-193209-y8z40k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is connecting with their audience key to journalism's future?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/622114808?src=cs3W5hDZDID0j5r-VUACEg-1-39&size=huge_jpg">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Journalism is in the midst of an existential crisis: the profession has undergone decades of declines in <a href="http://www.journalism.org/fact-sheet/newspapers/">readership</a>, <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/06/01/circulation-and-revenue-fall-for-newspaper-industry/">revenue</a> and <a href="https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/trust-in-media-down.php">public trust</a>, with no obvious end in sight. </p>
<p>Many in the industry believe that the best way for newsrooms to recover both <a href="https://www.cjr.org/tow_center/how-to-decide-between-subscription-membership-donation.php">revenue</a> and <a href="https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/focused-listening-trust/">public trust</a> is to improve their relationship with their audiences. </p>
<p>News organizations once boasted huge profit margins, which left many feeling confident that they knew exactly what they needed to do in order to reach the public. As a result, journalists rarely sought feedback from their readers. </p>
<p>However, the advent of the internet brought huge drops in journalism revenue. Between 2000 and 2015, newspaper ad revenue in the U.S. fell, as an Atlantic article describes, “from about $60 billion to about $20 billion, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/11/the-print-apocalypse-and-how-to-survive-it/506429/">wiping out the gains of the previous 50 years.”</a></p>
<p>As the news industry struggles to recapture this increasingly distant financial foothold, many within it are certain that the first step forward is to no longer take their audiences for granted. Instead, they have to be more deliberate about earning the audience’s loyalty.</p>
<p>Yet this newfound consensus within the industry has resulted in a lot of uncertainty: How, exactly, should journalists do this? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257098/original/file-20190204-193217-6sxeyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257098/original/file-20190204-193217-6sxeyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257098/original/file-20190204-193217-6sxeyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257098/original/file-20190204-193217-6sxeyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257098/original/file-20190204-193217-6sxeyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257098/original/file-20190204-193217-6sxeyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257098/original/file-20190204-193217-6sxeyy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How should journalists reach their audience?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/freelance-writer-journalist-workplace-laptop-pc-730449052">Shutterstock/by Abscent</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>One goal, different methods</h2>
<p>Newsroom strategies for better understanding and connecting with their readers, viewers and listeners differ from one organization to the next. These differences matter because journalism’s future, and the audience’s role in it, will depend in no small part on which of these strategies succeed.</p>
<p>Some rely on digital metrics to determine what their readers like and dislike, and use that information to give them more of the former and less of the latter. The news company BuzzFeed, for example, is legendary for its use of data to predict <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/daozers/how-buzzfeed-thinks-about-data-science#.vy7BqM5Zz">which of its stories will “go viral</a>.”</p>
<p>Others rely on more qualitative information. <a href="https://www.citybureau.org/">City Bureau</a>, a Chicago-based, nonprofit news organization, hosts weekly “public newsrooms” <a href="https://medium.com/city-bureau/want-to-steal-the-public-newsroom-heres-why-you-should-and-how-faabd1b8e268">intended to</a> “gather journalists and the public to discuss local issues and share resources and knowledge to foster better local reporting.”</p>
<p>What accounts for journalism’s varying approaches to the news audience? </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=keaFci8AAAAJ&hl=en">I research the relationship</a> between journalism and the public. In two recently published studies, my collaborators and I concluded that how journalists perceive their audiences powerfully affects what they do to reach them.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257108/original/file-20190204-193213-cclo6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257108/original/file-20190204-193213-cclo6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/257108/original/file-20190204-193213-cclo6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257108/original/file-20190204-193213-cclo6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257108/original/file-20190204-193213-cclo6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257108/original/file-20190204-193213-cclo6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257108/original/file-20190204-193213-cclo6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/257108/original/file-20190204-193213-cclo6d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">BuzzFeed used data to predict story popularity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/BuzzFeed-Layoffs/b4544752653d48dbba58babd7ed7d73c/127/0">AP/Richard Vogel, File</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Making meaning from audience metrics</h2>
<p>The first study, published in the academic journal <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1461670X.2018.1547122?scroll=top&needAccess=true">Journalism Studies</a>, drew on interview and observational data collected from a large daily newspaper. </p>
<p>My co-author <a href="http://research.ntu.edu.sg/expertise/academicprofile/Pages/StaffProfile.aspx?ST_EMAILID=EDSON">Edson C. Tandoc Jr.</a> and I examined how journalists use audience measurement data to understand who their work reaches. </p>
<p>We found that, when presented with a variety of sophisticated tools available for analyzing reader behavior, the newsroom’s staff tended to favor audience size measures above all others. They wanted to know which story got the most readers.</p>
<p>The journalists we spoke to explained their focus on audience size metrics in two ways. </p>
<p>The first was economic: Media companies depend on advertising and subscription revenue. The larger the audience, the more advertisers will pay to reach it and the more financially secure the organization. </p>
<p>The second related to the watchdog mission of the newspaper: The journalists argued that their stories can’t make an impact on their community if no one reads them.</p>
<p>The reliance on these metrics made clear an important assumption these journalists held about the nature of their audience. When they used metrics to observe that readers tended to click on “soft” news stories (e.g., lifestyle, sports, dining) and not “hard” news stories (e.g., city hall), many of the journalists we interviewed concluded that a majority of the public is simply not interested in what they deemed “important” public affairs news. </p>
<p>As one of the paper’s senior editors explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The mission journalism — the watchdog journalism, the covering city events, making sure that people aren’t getting screwed over, etc. … There’s not enough people reading those stories … to keep us where we are now. … The money does not exist there.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In short, the increasing emphasis on understanding and measuring the news audience revealed that many within this newsroom perceive reaching a large audience and publishing public service journalism as separate pursuits. </p>
<p>While we can’t generalize from our study of this one organization, a number of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1461444814530541">other</a> <a href="https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D80293W1">academic</a> <a href="http://www.niemanlab.org/2014/08/when-it-comes-to-chasing-clicks-journalists-say-one-thing-but-feel-pressure-to-do-another/">studies</a> have similarly observed that journalists associate what people click on with what they like. Since people tend to click more soft news than hard, this association has led <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08900523.2004.9679688">some journalism scholars to worry</a>: “The market requires giving the public what it wants; democracy requires giving the public what it needs.”</p>
<h2>From measurement to engagement</h2>
<p>Not everyone in journalism shares this assumption. A growing group of news industry innovators believes a majority of the public is genuinely interested in reading about civic issues, despite what some of the data appear to say.</p>
<p>This other group believes it’s not a lack of interest that keeps citizens away from those stories, but a disdain for how those stories are being reported. </p>
<p>They argue the public feels alienated by, and distrustful of, journalism that rarely solicits their perspectives and, consequently, fails to accurately reflect their lives. To fix this, journalists need to more actively “engage” with the public. <a href="https://dl.orangedox.com/putting-engagement-to-work">As the journalism researchers Thomas R. Schmidt and Regina Lawrence write</a>, “Many increasingly see engaging with audiences and communities as a key strategy to maintain relevance and achieve sustainability.”</p>
<p>The motivations and pursuit of engaged journalism came up in another study recently published in the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17512786.2018.1542975?journalCode=rjop20">academic journal Journalism Practice</a>, which I co-authored with <a href="https://www.valeriebelairgagnon.com/">Valerie Belair-Gagnon</a> and <a href="http://sethlewis.org/">Seth C. Lewis</a>. </p>
<p>We examined how journalists at two different public media news organizations attempt to engage with their audiences. This research also relied on interview and observational data. </p>
<p>We found that these journalists felt strongly about creating opportunities for more meaningful engagement with the public than has traditionally been the case, especially with communities the journalists felt had been “left out.” </p>
<p>These opportunities included online initiatives <a href="https://www.wuwm.com/post/beats-me-what-questions-do-you-have-wuwms-beat-reporters#stream/0">like soliciting questions from listeners about topics they are interested in</a>, as well as offline events like “listening sessions” designed to build trust and strengthen ties with minority residents whom these journalists cover in their reporting – but do not necessarily reach with their reporting. </p>
<p>For example, when the 2010 census revealed that <a href="https://www.citylab.com/equity/2016/08/how-wisconsin-became-the-home-of-black-incarceration/496130/">Wisconsin led the nation in black male incarceration</a>, this newsroom hosted a listening session with black men who had been released from prison. </p>
<p>The journalists we interviewed explained that the session was led by a university professor who had experience guiding a listening session and creating a safe place for people to share their stories. </p>
<p>“We didn’t record it or anything. We used it more as a way to try to understand the issues that we’re overlooking,” one of the editors who organized the session said. “Out of that grew this sense that we weren’t really giving these men a place … to tell their own stories” in the newsroom’s reporting.</p>
<p>By pursuing these initiatives, these journalists sought to ensure their stories did not solely originate from what they believed to be the most important issues facing their readers. </p>
<p>Instead, they wanted to create opportunities to hear from their readers – specifically those who they infrequently hear from – about what they believed needed to be covered.</p>
<h2>Same goal, different assumptions</h2>
<p>These two studies show that journalism’s growing focus on the news audience has not been accompanied by a growing consensus about who these audiences comprise and what they want from news. </p>
<p>Even when journalists agree that the audience consumes less public affairs news than it does other kinds, they draw different conclusions about why this is the case. Some blame the audience, others blame the journalists. </p>
<p>One thing that these studies make clear: As the news industry struggles to survive, many within it increasingly believe their best path forward lies with an improved relationship with the public. </p>
<p>However, the steps journalists take to do the work of improving that relationship remains an open question.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109221/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacob Nelson receives funding from the Tow Center for Digital Journalism. </span></em></p>Journalism’s crisis – loss of readers, revenue and respect – has led many to conclude that if the news business is to survive, it has to do a better job of connecting with its audience. How can it be done?Jacob L. Nelson, Assistant Professor of digital audience engagement, Arizona State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1048172018-10-15T21:29:49Z2018-10-15T21:29:49ZBig Fail: The internet hasn’t helped democracy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240599/original/file-20181015-165888-1a4fk3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New research shows that more and more of our public conversation is unfolding within a dwindling coterie of sites that are controlled by a small few, largely unregulated and geared primarily to profit rather than public interest.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Hardly a week goes by without news of another data breach at a large corporation affecting millions, <a href="https://www.crn.com.au/news/facebook-says-data-breach-affected-29-million-users-513917">most recently Facebook.</a> </p>
<p>In 2016, the issue became political with evidence of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/09/20/us/politics/russia-trump-election-timeline.html">Russian interference in the U.S. election</a> and the spectre of foreign control over public opinion.</p>
<p>American lawmakers called on Facebook’s CEO to account <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/apr/11/mark-zuckerbergs-testimony-to-congress-the-key-moments">in high-profile congressional hearings</a>, but the discussion focused mainly on privacy and personal data.</p>
<p>We have yet to come to terms with the staggering degree of control the major platforms exercise over political speech and what it means for democracy.</p>
<p>A new book on the economics of attention online urges us to do so. It shows that more and more of our public conversation is unfolding within a dwindling coterie of sites that are controlled by a small few, largely unregulated and geared primarily to profit rather than public interest.</p>
<h2>False earlier assumptions about the net</h2>
<p>In the recently published <em><a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/13236.html">The Internet Trap: How the Digital Economy Builds Monopolies and Undermines Democracy</a></em> author and professor <a href="https://politicalscience.columbian.gwu.edu/matthew-hindman">Matthew Hindman</a> suggests that as we enter the web’s third decade, market forces drive the vast majority of traffic and profit to an exceedingly small group of sites, with no change on the horizon.</p>
<p>Hindman’s findings unsettle an earlier picture of the web as a tool for broader civic engagement and a healthier democracy — a view prominently associated with Harvard’s Yochai Benkler.</p>
<p>In his 2006 book <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300125771/wealth-networks"><em>The Wealth of Networks</em></a>, Benkler noted that in the industrial age, one could only reach a wider audience by making “ever-larger investments in physical capital” — for example in telegraphs, presses, radio and TV transmitters — ensuring a corporate monopoly over public speech.</p>
<p>But with digital networks enabling anyone to reach millions of people for virtually nothing, the public sphere was sure to become more accessible, diverse and robust. Others were equally bullish. </p>
<p>In the 2008 book <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/300615/here-comes-everybody-by-clay-shirky/9780143114949/"><em>Here Comes Everybody</em></a>, Clay Shirky saw the new terrain fostering a “mass amateurization” of cultural and political engagement.</p>
<h2>Reality was less rosy</h2>
<p>Yet, as Hindman wrote in 2008 in <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/titles/8781.html"><em>The Myth of Digital Democracy</em></a>, the blogosphere did not result in a great dispersal of attention or a big increase in audience diversity. By decade’s end, news and political organizations online remained highly concentrated.</p>
<p>James Webster corroborated this view in 2014’s <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/marketplace-attention"><em>The Marketplace of Attention</em></a>, showing that greater diversity and polarization on the web had been “overstated.” The long online tail stretches far, he noted, but few tend to dwell for long in the “sanctuaries” at its extremes.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240598/original/file-20181015-165891-177cbo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240598/original/file-20181015-165891-177cbo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240598/original/file-20181015-165891-177cbo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240598/original/file-20181015-165891-177cbo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240598/original/file-20181015-165891-177cbo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240598/original/file-20181015-165891-177cbo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240598/original/file-20181015-165891-177cbo5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Early assumptions that the web would be boon to democracy have proven woefully false.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">John Schnobrich/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <em>The Internet Trap</em>, Hindman extends the inquiry, finding that while the net does lower the basic cost of mass communication, the cost of building and keeping a large audience remains high.</p>
<p>Studying the rise of sites like Google and Amazon, Hindman found that the net’s most popular sites built and maintained their audiences by harnessing “a host of economies of scale” that go beyond network effects.</p>
<p>Popular sites have the staff and resources to ensure their sites “load faster,” “are prettier and more usable” and “have more content updated more frequently.” Their users are “more practised in navigating” their sites and return more often, boosting their search rankings and ad revenue.</p>
<h2>What it means for news and political speech</h2>
<p>We often assume small newspapers “have a revenue problem, not a readership problem.” Hindman shows they have both. Tracking some 250,000 users in the “100 largest local media markets” in the United States, he found that local news sites garner roughly one-sixth of news traffic, and “just one-half of one per cent of traffic overall.”</p>
<p>The smaller players online are thus becoming ever more marginal to the larger political conversation. Hindman counsels them to build stickier sites — less cluttered, faster to load, fresher.</p>
<p>But his findings suggest it may not be that simple.</p>
<p>Hindman’s work points to a future where a few sites exert an outsized influence over public debate, raising a host of concerns.</p>
<p>Russian interference in another major election by hacking a hugely popular platform like Facebook is obviously one of them. </p>
<p>More crucially, as British historian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/21/how-democracy-ends-david-runciman-review">Mark Mazower notes</a>, the near-monopoly over attention online by Facebook and other large sites threatens democracy by constraining conversation in terms of “profits not politics.” </p>
<p>The large portals encourage “instant gratification, when democracy presupposes a capacity for frustration and patience.” As <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jun/21/how-democracy-ends-david-runciman-review">Mazower writes</a>: “Populism is the natural condition of democratic politics in the age of Twitter.”</p>
<p>If our picture of the web as a tool for citizen empowerment is a mostly a mirage, it’s time we regulated the dominant sites more effectively in order to serve the public interest.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104817/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robert Diab does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>New research into the economics of attention online casts doubt on the net’s role in fostering public debate, and raises concerns about the future of democracy.Robert Diab, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Thompson Rivers UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1023692018-08-29T22:54:12Z2018-08-29T22:54:12ZWhat we can learn from John McCain’s civic vulnerability<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234117/original/file-20180829-195301-6sp3gi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In what became one of the defining moments of his unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign, Republican candidate John McCain takes back the microphone from Gayle Quinnell, who said Barack Obama "was an Arab." The moment occurred during a town hall meeting on Oct. 10, 2008, in Lakeville, Minn.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Jim Mone)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the countless reflections on the life of U.S. Sen. John McCain, his interventions to shut down ignorant and racist comments about his adversary Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential election campaign have featured prominently.</p>
<p>McCain didn’t just stop the interventions. He <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/26/politics/john-mccain-memorable-quotes/index.html">forcefully challenged them and spoke up for the character</a> and integrity of Obama. My opponent is “a decent person, and a person that you do not have to be scared of as President of the United States,” McCain told his own supporters who expressed concerns about the man who would eventually become American’s first Black president.</p>
<p>In that moment, McCain exercised civic vulnerability — potentially weakening his own strategic position in the service of the common good. </p>
<p>McCain’s actions are getting so much attention because they are not very common. Civic rage, rather than civic vulnerability, seems to be the order of the day.</p>
<h2>Vitriolic rhetoric now the norm</h2>
<p>Virtually everyone involved in public life is subjected to vitriolic rhetoric — with particularly heinous, sexually laden comments reserved for women who dare venture into the public square.</p>
<p>As the British newspaper <em>The Telegraph</em> put it <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/politics/jo-cox-murder-death-threats-and-sexual-torment-have-become-part/">following the murder of politician Jo Cox</a>, killed as she campaigned for the U.K. to remain in the European Union, “death threats and sexual torment have become part of the job for our MPs.”</p>
<p>U.S. President Donald Trump actively feeds this civic rage with his Twitter feed and speeches at campaign rallies, which regularly feature degrading comments about not only opponents’ policy positions but also their looks and intelligence. He ferociously eschews any semblance of vulnerability, proclaiming on Twitter it’s his “way of life.” </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"267626951097868289"}"></div></p>
<p>And Trump’s style seems to be winning the day. A recent CNN headline lamented the fact that <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/28/politics/donald-trump-john-mccain-republican-party/index.html">“Trump’s brand of politics has eclipsed McCain’s</a>.” </p>
<p>But it need not be so. John McCain was not the first person to use civic vulnerability in the public square and he won’t be the last. </p>
<h2>The common good</h2>
<p>All human beings experience what’s known as contextual vulnerability. We find ourselves in positions when circumstances make us relatively weak and we feel, or are, threatened. The large bully with an aggressive entourage who pushed us around in elementary school; shifting economic conditions that threaten our job or retirement savings; systemic power imbalances that subject large groups of people to persecution and discrimination: these are all examples of contextual vulnerability. </p>
<p>Civic vulnerability, on the other hand, is something we choose to take up in the service of the common good.</p>
<p>We can do this from either a position of strength — intentionally divesting ourselves of power in the service of others — or from a position of contextual vulnerability and weakness, intentionally making ourselves even more vulnerable in order to make our point and win over others. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/obituary-john-mccain-who-survived-torture-and-ran-for-the-us-presidency-97020">Obituary: John McCain, who survived torture and ran for the US presidency</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It is hard to imagine anyone operating from a more secure position of strength than a contender for president of the United States.</p>
<p>In the fall of 2008, John McCain was at the top of his game. He had a long and storied career both as a military officer and senator. He had been chosen by his party to lead them into the election and he was supported by a loving family and a talented and committed team of advisers and campaign workers.</p>
<h2>‘A decent family man’</h2>
<p>McCain had a reputation as an experienced and tough political infighter. Yet, in the moment — at least two moments, in fact — he stepped back from aggressive campaigning to assure supporters and all Americans listening that his opponent was “a decent family man (and) citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that’s what the campaign’s all about.”</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jrnRU3ocIH4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">John McCain reacts to supporters who express concerns about Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>McCain did it to counter a racist narrative and subtext that was dogging the campaign. He did it because he thought the country would be better off if that narrative and subtext were countered and put to rest. He did it at some risk to his own position.</p>
<p>Another example of civic vulnerability from a position of strength is when a powerful majority voluntarily cedes aspects of its power and control in order to build trust with, and promote justice for, a vulnerable minority.</p>
<p>In 1969, for example, my home province of New Brunswick passed its first Official Languages Act, making it the only officially bilingual province in Canada. That status was later solidified when New Brunswick’s bilingual status was entrenched in <a href="http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/Const/">the Canadian Constitution Act of 1982</a>.</p>
<h2>Ceding power and influence</h2>
<p>In making that move, the province’s substantial Anglophone majority (two thirds of the population) ceded some power and influence to the Francophone minority. Historically schools and other public institutions in New Brunswick were aggressively English. It wasn’t until after the Second World War that French became an official language for the purpose of schooling.</p>
<p>This highlights the civic value of the move to constitutionally protect the French language: it both fostered trust between linguistic communities and brought a measure of justice for a beleaguered minority.</p>
<p>Virtually all efforts to enshrine minority rights in law or constitutions are exercises in civic vulnerability where those in power surrender some of their control in the service of others. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234125/original/file-20180829-195301-ix61ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/234125/original/file-20180829-195301-ix61ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234125/original/file-20180829-195301-ix61ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234125/original/file-20180829-195301-ix61ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234125/original/file-20180829-195301-ix61ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234125/original/file-20180829-195301-ix61ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/234125/original/file-20180829-195301-ix61ob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Martin Luther King, Jr. and his civil rights marchers cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., in 1965, to protest voting laws.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/File)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is also possible to exercise civic vulnerability from a position of relative weakness. This was the approach of both Mahatma Gandhi in India and much of the civil rights movement in the U.S., including <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/southern-christian-leadership-conference-sclc">Martin Luther King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference</a> and the <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/student-nonviolent-coordinating-committee-sncc">Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.</a></p>
<p>To march on the heavily guarded <a href="https://www.upi.com/Archives/1930/05/21/Natives-beaten-down-by-police-in-India-salt-bed-raid/5882104113261/">Dharasana Salt Works</a> with no weapons or shields, <a href="https://www.tennessean.com/story/money/2018/02/01/inside-look-civil-rights-history-takes-stage-woolworth-5th-pays-homage-nashville-civil-rights-histor/1055003001/">to sit at “whites only” lunch counters in Nashville</a> and endure verbal and physical abuse, or <a href="https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/al4.htm">to march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge</a> in Selma, Ala., into the waiting phalanx of state troopers were moments when people experiencing contextual vulnerability and subjugation took on even more vulnerability.</p>
<h2>Galvanizing support</h2>
<p>These acts of vulnerability were meant to galvanize support from others by demonstrating the unfairness of certain laws and the institutions and individuals who supported them. More importantly, they were designed to win over the very individuals and institutions that perpetrated the oppression.</p>
<p>Gandhi and King believed that the oppressor and the oppressed were both trapped by policies of subjugation and that a commitment to justice would liberate both sides. Victory for them was peace and justice for all, not simply to switch the equation of domination.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.stfrancisinthewood.ca/news/rev-dr-naim-ateek-was-our-preacher-on-april-22-2018">Naim Stifan Ateek</a>, a Palestinian and contemporary practitioner of non-violent resistance in the tradition of Gandhi and King, puts it: “It is of paramount importance that we maintain the principles of human morality and decency in relating to our adversaries.” </p>
<p>In defending Barack Obama’s right and fitness to be president, John McCain maintained the principle of human morality and decency in relating to his adversary. In doing so he set an example of another way to do politics.</p>
<p>It is an approach with a long and important pedigree, a pedigree that deserves much more attention in history and civics classes and contemporary civic engagement.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102369/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Sears receives funding from The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>John McCain did something during the 2008 U.S. presidential election that would seem very out of place today: he made himself vulnerable by speaking up about the character of opponent Barack Obama.Alan Sears, Professor of Education, University of New BrunswickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/992352018-07-05T06:46:19Z2018-07-05T06:46:19ZHow young activists are keeping Mandela’s legacy alive across Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/225745/original/file-20180702-116120-16ful90.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last month, at a conference on <a href="http://www.gsdpp.uct.ac.za/news/june-inequalities-conference">African Inequalities</a> co-organised by our school and the London School of Economics, the first audience question came from a young woman. Why, she asked, was the graduate school relaunching as the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance when Mandela’s legacy of appeasement entrenched much of apartheid’s economic structures?</p>
<p>Her question, despite its narrow context, echoes the broader concerns of many students and young people struggling to reconcile the present need for meaningful transformation with Mandela’s first steps towards its possibility.</p>
<p>This demand for a more critical view of his legacy troubles some who are intent on preserving the Madiba mythology or those who are focused only on his remarkable personal and moral qualities. Young people are too radical, too eager to break instead of consolidate, the arguments go.</p>
<p>But I believe there’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-compromises-and-mistakes-made-in-the-mandela-era-hobbled-south-africas-economy-52156">a healthy debate</a> to be had about his legacy. And only by looking back at it through fresh eyes will it be possible to extract what’s valuable. And for young people to build on the best of what he achieved.</p>
<p>Mandela’s greatest legacy is much broader than the merits – or otherwise – of his policy decisions which were constrained by the circumstances of his times. His central legacy was the example he set of bold, self-sacrificing yet ethical and accountable leadership. Mandela’s leadership is a beacon for our times, all over Africa.</p>
<p>Increasingly, young people across the continent are taking up Mandela’s challenge. Some are already leading powerful civic and political organisations and campaigns. For example, Sampson Itodo has successfully spearheaded a campaign to benefit young Nigerians seeking political office. He is one among many innovative and effective young Africans.</p>
<p>Youth activism is critical in this challenging era when Africa is both the youngest continent and the poorest.</p>
<h2>Reasons for optimism</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.gsdpp.uct.ac.za/masters-development-policy-and-practice-students-and-alumni">Itodo</a> is executive director of <a href="http://yiaga.org/about/">YIAGA</a>, an advocacy group that promotes young people getting involved in governance. He also convened the <a href="https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/270652-not-too-young-to-run-movement-seeks-reduction-of-age-for-senate-governorship.html">Not Too Young To Run movement</a>, which spent years petitioning the Nigerian government to change constitutional constraints on the age limits of those running for office.</p>
<p>I first met Sampson in 2016 when he was a participant in our school’s <a href="http://www.gsdpp.uct.ac.za/gsdpp/ealp">Emerging African Leaders Programme</a> – one of many offered for emerging African leaders from mid-career civil servants to high level experts. Known as the Graduate School of Development Policy and Practice, our work has always been inspired by the urgent call Mandela made at the University of Cape Town in 1990 to [transform] centres of learning into institutions that have relevance to the future of the country and the continent. </p>
<p>Sampson was one of 30 participants on the programme that year, drawn from ten African countries. Among them was a Ugandan transitional justice coordinator, a South African human rights lawyer, a Kenyan food security activist and a Zimbabwean public health programme director focusing on eliminating malaria. Despite their geographical and occupational differences, they were all passionate about creating and sustaining meaningful change – in their countries and across the continent.</p>
<p>Investing in young leaders creates the kind of legacy I believe Mandela himself would have been delighted by: a living memorial, carried out by young, politically-engaged people pushing the imagination of what our continent can and should look like. </p>
<h2>Actions speak louder than words</h2>
<p>Mandela knew that actions spoke louder than words. This is evident from the fact that he was remarkably disinterested in preserving the heroic cult built around him. He left <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00w8h71">explicit instructions</a>, routinely ignored, that he should not be treated as a demi god and that no statues or monolithic structures should be erected in his memory. </p>
<p>On May 31 this year, Sampson’s bill was passed overwhelmingly in the Nigerian Senate and House of Representatives. President Muhammadu Buhari <a href="http://yiaga.org/nottooyoungtorun/26248-2/">signed it into law</a>. Any Nigerian from the age of 35 years can now run for President, and from 25 years for the House or State Assembly. </p>
<p>Although he drove the process, Sampson did not achieve this remarkable feat alone. He did it through two years of concerted, strategic mobilisation of young people who cared about representation and wanted a voice in a political system they felt had failed them.</p>
<p>For Sampson, as for so many young people on the continent, Mandela’s legacy of belief in the power of youth action is alive and well.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99235/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Hirsch works for The Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance mentioned in this article.</span></em></p>Increasingly, young people across Africa are taking up Nelson Mandela’s challenge of working to improve the lives of ordinary people.Alan Hirsch, Professor and Director of The Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/983832018-06-27T19:57:04Z2018-06-27T19:57:04ZCommunity pool projects show how citizens are helping to build cities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223296/original/file-20180615-32310-sp4lix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Badeschi on the Spree River in Berlin. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nordicbird/Flickr </span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Swimming is central to Australian identity, whether at the beach, in a river or a backyard pool or creek. At the heart of Australia’s bathing culture is the public pool. Its persistent popularity is reflected in a raft of recent proposals to construct pools across the country. </p>
<p>Property developer Riverside Marine has <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-17/floating-pool-planned-for-brisbane-river/8034092">proposed building a pool</a> that would float in the Teneriffe section of the Brisbane River. And the <a href="http://yarrapools.com/">Yarra Pools project</a> in Melbourne, which also seeks to create a floating swimming pool on the Yarra River, is gaining momentum through the input of a collection of peak bodies and community organisations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224635/original/file-20180625-114736-1wfpm5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224635/original/file-20180625-114736-1wfpm5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/224635/original/file-20180625-114736-1wfpm5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224635/original/file-20180625-114736-1wfpm5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224635/original/file-20180625-114736-1wfpm5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=271&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224635/original/file-20180625-114736-1wfpm5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224635/original/file-20180625-114736-1wfpm5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/224635/original/file-20180625-114736-1wfpm5z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=341&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Artist’s impression of the Yarra Pool, Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image courtesy of Studio Octopi, Yarra Swim and Picture Plane</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Such realities reflect a growing trend of individual and organisational interests, not local and state governments, leading Australian community construction proposals.</p>
<h2>Rise of the public pool</h2>
<p>The public pool became embedded in <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-segregation-to-celebration-the-public-pool-in-australian-culture-82916">Australia’s cultural consciousness</a> after hundreds of seaside and suburban pools were constructed all over the country in the early to mid 20th century.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-segregation-to-celebration-the-public-pool-in-australian-culture-82916">From segregation to celebration: the public pool in Australian culture</a>
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<p>This reflected a belief that government should provide amenities for citizens that promoted health, safety and appropriate leisure activities. It was also part of a belief that humankind could control, regulate and tame nature, including water.</p>
<p>With the rise of indoor leisure centres and backyard pools in the 1970s and ’80s, the popularity of outdoor public pools declined. Attendances waned and public funding fell away. This exacerbated under-investment and led to <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/community-groups-swim-against-the-tide-in-a-bid-to-save-outdoor-pools-20150203-134mqe.html">many closures in the 1990s</a>. </p>
<p>But the 21st century has seen a wider global interest in urban pools, water parks and promenades – like Helsinki’s <a href="https://www.allasseapool.com/">Allas Sea Pool</a> – as part of efforts to make places more healthy and attractive. There is particular interest in the redevelopment of many docks, ports and city beaches in wealthy cities.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223297/original/file-20180615-32342-1omgn6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223297/original/file-20180615-32342-1omgn6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223297/original/file-20180615-32342-1omgn6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223297/original/file-20180615-32342-1omgn6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223297/original/file-20180615-32342-1omgn6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223297/original/file-20180615-32342-1omgn6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223297/original/file-20180615-32342-1omgn6u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Allas Sea Pool in Helsinki.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ninara/Flickr</span></span>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-that-clean-swimming-pool-smell-is-actually-bad-for-your-health-73936">Why that 'clean swimming pool' smell is actually bad for your health</a>
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<h2>Popular opinion and public support</h2>
<p>The private sector has been active in proposing pool developments. Some design firms and property developers have signalled their interest through what’s called the “render drop”. This is the release to media outlets of an artist’s impression of a project that has a novelty factor, in the hope of gaining traction and public support. </p>
<p>Damian Rogers Architecture and Arup employed the render drop to gain attention for a proposal for <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-10/docklands-surf-beach-proposal-firm-wants-to-build-wave-pool-/5878632">a surf pool at Melbourne’s Docklands</a>. But attention for a project does not equate to support for it. A render drop can test popular opinion, but a project put forward this way can fail to achieve engagement with the stakeholders that would have to help plan, deliver, maintain and use the project.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-that-clean-swimming-pool-smell-is-actually-bad-for-your-health-73936">Why that 'clean swimming pool' smell is actually bad for your health</a>
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<p>Community and private interests should work with government from early on in a project’s conception. Yarra Pools has, for instance, had a long road-map for gaining public support for the pool. This includes <a href="https://theurbandeveloper.com/articles/yarra-swim-co">partnering peak community bodies</a>, engaging with private firms and speaking with governmental organisations.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223298/original/file-20180615-32339-tvongw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223298/original/file-20180615-32339-tvongw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/223298/original/file-20180615-32339-tvongw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223298/original/file-20180615-32339-tvongw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223298/original/file-20180615-32339-tvongw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223298/original/file-20180615-32339-tvongw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223298/original/file-20180615-32339-tvongw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/223298/original/file-20180615-32339-tvongw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Artist’s impression of the proposed surf pool at Docklands, Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Image courtesy of Studio Magnified/Aurecon</span></span>
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<h2>Working together</h2>
<p>The visibility of non-government proposals may reflect a sense that governments lack the responsibility, will, finance or imagination to deliver public projects. This makes way for the private and community sectors to meet an untapped demand. </p>
<p>An increase in non-government proposals may also be the result of an increased push from the community and private sectors to be involved in the processes of urbanism. </p>
<p>Though, as architect and historian Hannah Lewi argues in the 2010 book <a href="https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/4901519">Community: Building Modern Australia (2010)</a>, governments weren’t always responsible for urban projects. She writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Progress societies and local groups were instrumental in the building of public pools through fundraising to bolster municipal, state and federal government assistance that was typically meagre and stopped short of achieving such a costly undertaking.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Scarce public funding has often pushed the delivery of community infrastructure towards collaboration between community, government and private sectors. In this relationship, if one wants to shift the behaviour of local government – at the very least, to get a pool built – one needs to engage with government rules, regulations and organisational culture from the outset. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/this-is-what-our-cities-need-to-do-to-be-truly-liveable-for-all-83967">This is what our cities need to do to be truly liveable for all</a>
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<p>A community project to create a pool with the input of individuals and organisations shifts the role of the public. They go from being a passive agent, which is consulted at the beginning of the design process, to a potentially ongoing and active participant – or collaborator – in the continuing life of buildings and cities.</p>
<p>This model can also hold governments and private stakeholders to account in the area of project delivery while building trust by opening up the often opaque processes of urban development. </p>
<p>The building of a pool can be part of a larger project of building new civic institutions and networks that fall somewhere between market, state and civil society.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The Conversation is co-publishing articles with <a href="http://www.alva.uwa.edu.au/community/futurewest">Future West (Australian Urbanism)</a>, produced by the University of Western Australia’s Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts. These articles look towards the future of urbanism, taking Perth and Western Australia as its reference point. You can read other articles <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/future-west-30248">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/98383/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Moore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Community proposals for public swimming pools are popping up all over the country. But individuals need to work with governments to ensure these projects actually get off the ground.Timothy Moore, PhD Candidate, Melbourne School of Design, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/968382018-06-04T10:37:05Z2018-06-04T10:37:05ZWhen will Google defend democracy?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220802/original/file-20180529-80623-ieg905.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How does searching affect voting?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/illustration-long-shadow-glass-magnifier-hand-658091983">Blablo101/Shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the 2018 midterm elections approach in the U.S., Google’s <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/how-google-could-rig-the-2016-election-121548.html">power to influence undecided voters</a> remains overshadowed by Facebook’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/understanding-facebooks-data-crisis-5-essential-reads-94066">personal data crisis</a>.</p>
<p>Facebook has “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/13/technology/facebook-silicon-valley.html">taken it on the chin</a>” for its role in the 2016 presidential election, and organizations like the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/17/us/politics/cambridge-analytica-trump-campaign.html">political consulting firm</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-cambridge-analyticas-facebook-targeting-model-really-worked-according-to-the-person-who-built-it-94078">Cambridge Analytica</a> and the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/06/us/politics/document-russia-hacking-report-intelligence-agencies.html">Russian troll farm</a> known as the <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/mueller-indictment-internet-research-agency/">Internet Research Agency</a> have dominated headlines. Yet, despite having a <a href="https://www.dissentmagazine.org/online_articles/googles-snoops-mining-our-data-for-profit-and-pleasure">troubling history</a> and collecting <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/technology/personaltech/google-personal-data-facebook.html">more personal data</a> through <a href="https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2013/05/10/15-ways-google-monitors-you">more products</a> than Facebook, Google has somehow managed to evade the public spotlight on this one. That may be changing.</p>
<p>The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee recently sent Google a <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2018-04-10%20CEG%20to%20Google%20-%20Data%20Privacy.pdf">letter asking a series of questions</a> about the company’s personal data protections. As one of the researchers who helped discover that search engines can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1419828112">substantially influence users’ voting preferences</a>, I found the last question to be the most intriguing: “Are you aware of any foreign entities seeking to influence or interfere with U.S. elections through your platforms?” If Google’s response to this question exists, it has not been made public. </p>
<h2>Search engine influence</h2>
<p>Since 2013, I’ve been involved in the design and execution of a <a href="http://aibrt.org/index.php/internet-studies">long series of experiments</a> that have demonstrated how search engines can influence undecided voters’ candidate choices through nearly undetectable manipulations to search rankings. We labeled this powerful new form of influence the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1419828112">search engine manipulation effect</a>.</p>
<p>The way this effect works is simple: Favoritism for a particular candidate in election-related search rankings leads to people preferring that candidate. For example, a search related to an upcoming election might return results favoring candidate A higher than results favoring candidate B. That’s called partisan <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/2998181.2998321">ranking bias</a>. Since people tend to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2007.00351.x">click on and trust</a> highly ranked results, more people will then trust and consume the information supporting candidate A. In turn, that consumption increases their preference for candidate A. </p>
<p>The most important aspect of this effect, however, is that most people can’t detect the partisan ranking bias – and it’s virtually impossible to defend yourself from <a href="https://aeon.co/essays/how-the-internet-flips-elections-and-alters-our-thoughts">influences you can’t perceive</a>. Fortunately, in three follow-up experiments, involving 3,600 participants, we demonstrated that alerting people to partisan ranking bias <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3134677">can help suppress the effect</a> – though only laws or regulations actually preventing partisan ranking could eliminate the effect entirely. </p>
<h2>Why focus on Google?</h2>
<p>Google handles <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/267161/market-share-of-search-engines-in-the-united-states/">more than 60 percent</a> of internet search activity in the U.S., and nearly <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/216573/worldwide-market-share-of-search-engines/">90 percent worldwide</a>. Every year, this translates to <a href="https://searchengineland.com/google-now-handles-2-999-trillion-searches-per-year-250247">trillions of queries</a> related to people’s private thoughts, concerns and questions.</p>
<p>With respect to news, search engines are a <a href="https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/Digital%20News%20Report%202017%20web_0.pdf">bigger</a> <a href="https://www.americanpressinstitute.org/publications/reports/survey-research/how-americans-get-news/">source</a> than social media. Although an often cited 2016 Pew study found that a majority, <a href="http://www.journalism.org/2016/05/26/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-2016/">62 percent, of U.S. adults</a> got news on social media, the devil is in the details. If you unpack that statistic, you’ll find that 18 percent do so “hardly ever.” Added to the 38 percent of Americans who “never” got news on social media, the same study suggests that social media is a negligible source of news for 56 percent of Americans, also a majority.</p>
<p><img src="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/138/PewGif.gif?1527691715"></p>
<p>Think about it: When you need to fact-check something or learn more about a topic, what do you do? You <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/google">Google</a> it. This fact is supported by a recent international survey that found that <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2944191">74 percent of participants</a> reported using search engines to fact-check information they found on social media. The same survey found that <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2944191">68 percent</a> reported that the information they found while searching was “important to influencing their decisions about voting.” </p>
<h2>What does Google think?</h2>
<p>Google’s executives rarely make public responses to critiques of its search system. But in 2015, my mentor at the time <a href="http://drrobertepstein.com">Robert Epstein</a> published an article in Politico – entitled “<a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/how-google-could-rig-the-2016-election-121548.html">How Google Could Rig the 2016 Election</a>” – and that did the trick. Google’s head of search at the time, Amit Singhal, responded with his own article, calling Epstein a <a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/08/google-2016-election-121766">conspiracy theorist</a>, stating that “there is absolutely no truth to Epstein’s hypothesis that Google could work secretly to influence election outcomes” and that “Google has never ever re-ranked search results on any topic (including elections) to manipulate user sentiment.”</p>
<p>Singhal’s first claim is hard to believe, unless you dismiss <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1419828112">our research</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3134677">our replication</a>, and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3121050.3121074">independent research</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3020165.3020185">built on our findings</a>. Search engines do have the capacity to shift people’s opinions, including who to vote for.</p>
<p>His second claim, that Google “never ever re-ranked search results,” also doesn’t quite hold up: The EU recently fined the company <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/27/technology/eu-google-fine.html">US$2.7 billion</a> for ranking its own services higher in search results than its competitors.</p>
<h2>Defending democracy</h2>
<p>Another one of the <a href="https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2018-04-10%20CEG%20to%20Google%20-%20Data%20Privacy.pdf">Judiciary Committee’s questions to Google</a> also struck a chord with me: “How do you monitor the ability of foreign entities to influence and interfere with U.S. elections?” </p>
<p>This question struck me because I’ve been developing systems for exactly this purpose – preserving search rankings and analyzing them for systematic differences – for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3178876.3186143">several</a> <a href="http://aibrt.org/downloads/EPSTEIN_&_ROBERTSON_2017-A_Method_for_Detecting_Bias_in_Search_Rankings-AIBRT_WP-17-02_6-1-17.pdf">years</a>. In the course of this work, however, I’ve come to believe that freeing the democratic process from technologically enabled influences is virtually impossible without the cooperation of modern tech giants.</p>
<p>Facebook is now <a href="https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/04/new-elections-initiative/">offering to collaborate with academic researchers</a> who can measure and perhaps lessen or prevent undue influence on elections, and <a href="http://www.niemanlab.org/2018/04/facebook-and-twitter-are-opening-up-a-bit-to-academic-researchers-so-platforms-can-make-better-decisions/">Twitter is doing something similar</a>. Related efforts are also bringing transparency to other platforms like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/10/opinion/sunday/youtube-politics-radical.html">YouTube</a> and <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/announcements/comments/8bb85p/reddits_2017_transparency_report_and_suspect/">Reddit</a>. When will Google get on board?</p>
<p>At an <a href="https://apen18.hans-bredow-institut.de/program/">upcoming conference</a>, I will <a href="http://ronalderobertson.com/static/robertson_icwsm2018_final.pdf">present the latest system</a> I’ve been designing with <a href="https://cbw.sh">Christo Wilson</a>, a leading scientist in the field of algorithm auditing, for monitoring search rankings for partisan bias. With a little assistance from Google, no more than Facebook is offering, accurately monitoring or preventing search engine influence in the 2018 elections is actually a feasible goal. Without the company’s help, things look bleak.</p>
<p>Although Google is an advertising business, its core is composed of creative and intelligent individuals who care deeply about the impact their work has on the world. This is evidenced by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/04/technology/google-letter-ceo-pentagon-project.html">the recent letter</a> signed by more than 3,100 Google employees protesting the use of their work in warfare technology. Nearly a dozen Google workers went so far as to <a href="https://gizmodo.com/google-employees-resign-in-protest-against-pentagon-con-1825729300">resign in protest</a>.</p>
<p>Perhaps the day is fast approaching when Google will step up, as Facebook, Twitter and Reddit have, to help defend democracy from the new world of computational propaganda. Perhaps there is already a letter circulating internally and gathering signatures. With state and federal primary elections already underway, let’s hope so.</p>
<p><em>Correction: This article was updated on June 11, 2018, to correct the description of Robert Epstein.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96838/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ronald Robertson is supported in part by NSF grants IIS-1408345 and IIS-1553088. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions
or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.</span></em></p>Social media sites aren’t the only online systems that can secretly influence people’s votes. Search engines can too and may be even more successful – and undetectable.Ronald Robertson, Ph.D. Student in Network Science, Northeastern UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/969752018-05-24T10:23:28Z2018-05-24T10:23:28ZCould protest curb school violence? Lessons from the opt-out movement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/220014/original/file-20180522-51115-1egdc1c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students walk out of school in March 2018 as part of a nationwide protest against gun violence.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/School-Shooting-Mobilizing-A-Movement/5a28cb010acf4a4cab85b7453598f6a3/147/0">Lynne Sladky/AP</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the wake of the Santa Fe, Texas, school shooting, former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan voiced support for a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/05/20/612859118/to-pressure-lawmakers-on-gun-control-a-push-to-boycott-school">school boycott</a>. The boycott – which Duncan has said could take place in September – would involve keeping kids out of school until changes are made to the nation’s gun laws to make America’s schools safer. It is unclear how long the boycott would last.</p>
<p>If parents, students and others decide to stage a national school boycott, it would pay for them to take a few pages out of the <a href="https://files-eric-ed-gov.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/fulltext/EJ1100171.pdf">playbook</a> from a different protest: the <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/10/26/556840091/2-years-after-opt-out-are-students-taking-fewer-tests">opt-out movement</a> that seeks to reduce burdensome testing. I make this observation as the author of books on <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Teaching-for-Dissent-Citizenship-Education-and-Political-Activism/Stitzlein/p/book/9781612052298">political dissent in schools</a> and the <a href="http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190657383.001.0001/acprof-9780190657383">state of public education</a>.</p>
<h2>A more compelling argument</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.tc.columbia.edu/media/news/docs/Opt_Out_National-Survey----FINAL-FULL-REPORT.pdf">opt-out movement</a> draws attention to the suffering of children, reveals <a href="http://www.tc.columbia.edu/articles/2016/august/results-from-a-national-survey-on-opting-out-of-standardized-tests/">political and economic concerns</a> with individuals and corporations who benefit from testing, and exposes the learning time lost to testing. Since school safety carries more significance than testing, a school boycott to change gun laws may employ similar justifications in an even more compelling way.</p>
<p>The opt-out movement has effectively <a href="http://educationnext.org/opt-out-reflects-genuine-concerns-of-parents-forum-testing/">raised awareness</a> about problems introduced by testing, including the stress inflicted on teachers and students. It has done so through public demonstrations at sites such as the <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/shaun-johnson/occupying-the-department-_b_1378555.html">Department of Education</a>, but also by generating smaller <a href="http://www.unitedoptoutnational.org/">local conversations</a> with other stakeholders. </p>
<p>Importantly, opt-out leaders have invited a wide and <a href="http://www.tc.columbia.edu/media/news/docs/Opt_Out_National-Survey----FINAL-FULL-REPORT.pdf">diverse collection</a> of parents into their movement. They have proposed <a href="http://www.fairtest.org/national/alternatives">alternative forms of assessment</a>. They have effectively pressured legislators to <a href="http://wrvo.org/post/ny-makes-substantial-changes-standardized-tests-curb-opt-out-movement">reduce testing</a> in states like New York and to remove “zero score” penalties for children who do not take the test.</p>
<h2>Overcoming complacency</h2>
<p>The consciousness-raising actions of opt-out organizations have forced some people who see testing as an unavoidable part of life in schools to rethink their assumptions. A school boycott could lead to rethinking among those who feel powerless to stop school shootings.</p>
<p>The school boycott cannot just focus on troubling, but rare mass shootings. Based on what I know about effective political dissent, boycotters would need to expose widespread smaller forms of violence in our schools in order to paint a more complete picture of the problem and spur change. Like the Opt Out movement, boycotters would also need to highlight related practices, such as lock down drills and the arming of teachers, to expose ways in which those practices deprive classrooms of educational time, <a href="http://neatoday.org/2018/03/13/nea-poll-arming-teachers/">concern teachers</a>, and <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/metroparent/features/2018/03/02/school-lockdown-drills-routine-young-children-and-terrifying-their-parents/378245002/">cause fear in children</a>. Boycotters should reveal how insecurity due to violence create a climate that lacks the stability and focus children need to learn well.</p>
<h2>More than just skipping school</h2>
<p>Finally, boycotting doesn’t mean simply staying home. It requires public demonstrations to raise awareness and to pressure legislators by letting them see the dissatisfaction and demands of the public. It entails a call to deliberate with other citizens, gun advocates, teachers, legislators and others to reach moments of compromise and consensus as well as to craft alternatives.</p>
<p>These alternatives might take the form of particular gun laws, but may also relate to other aspects of <a href="https://theconversation.com/improving-school-climate-not-just-security-is-key-to-violence-prevention-96898">school culture</a> that impact school violence, such as bullying, stress and exclusion.</p>
<p>How do we preserve educational opportunity if classrooms are empty? At a minimum, boycotters must model quality political dissent for students so that they learn how to be effective citizens, one of the most longstanding and widely accepted <a href="http://pdkpoll.pdkintl.org/;%20Jennifer%20L.%20Hochschild%20and%20Nathan%20B.%20Scovronick,%20The%20American%20Dream%20and%20the%20Public%20Schools%20(Oxford:%20Oxford%20University%20Press,%202003).11.%20%20And%20Phi%20Delta%20Kappan%20annual%20poll%202016%20http:/pdkpoll2015.pdkintl.org/581">educational aims</a>.</p>
<p>Moreover, parents should join up with students who’ve already led the charge through staging <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-national-school-walkout-says-about-schools-and-free-speech-93327">national school walkouts</a> in the wake of Parkland and other shootings. And they should collaborate with organizations like <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/3/14/17120796/national-school-walkout-race-gun-violence-protests">Black Lives Matter</a>, who have already been championing the need for safety in schools, in order to craft better informed plans for change.</p>
<p>A sufficiently robust boycott could prompt new forms of gun legislation and bring new practices to curb violence to America’s schools. All the while, parents may become more active citizens in the democratic process of public education and students may witness – and participate in – political dissent in action.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96975/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Stitzlein receives funding from the Center for Ethics and Education and the Spencer Foundation. </span></em></p>Former Education Secretary Arne Duncan has called for a school boycott to change the nation’s gun laws and make schools safer. A scholar who studies protest explains how the boycott could work.Sarah Stitzlein, Professor of Education and Affiliate Faculty in Philosophy, University of Cincinnati Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/935672018-03-22T23:41:26Z2018-03-22T23:41:26ZHow lowering the voting age to 16 could save democracy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/211264/original/file-20180320-80649-dyezoe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Thousands of high school students across the US walked out of their schools to protest gun violence and to call for changes to gun laws.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA/Tannen Maury</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Former US president Barack Obama visited New Zealand this week and met with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Both leaders share an interest in youth development and their discussions focused on how to keep <a href="https://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/353130/ardern-on-obama-we-talked-about-pressing-issues">younger generations engaged and involved</a>.</p>
<p>In the wake of the school shooting in Florida last month, there have been calls in the US to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/02/opinion/sunday/voting-age-school-shootings.html">lower the voting age to 16</a> to give high school students power to challenge gun laws. In New Zealand, too, the idea of allowing 16-year-olds to vote has again been <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/101837308/childrens-commissioner-calls-for-discussion-on-lowering-voting-age-to-16">mooted by the children’s commissioner</a>, Andrew Becroft. </p>
<p>So, what are the arguments against and for a lower voting age?</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/neveragain-do-student-protests-work-history-tells-us-they-can-93002">#NeverAgain: do student protests work? History tells us they can</a>
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<h2>Ongoing opposition to lower voting age</h2>
<p>Becroft argues that a lower voting age could enhance turnout, ingrain the habit of voting, and give young people more rights.</p>
<p>However, his comments have been met by similar responses to those former New Zealand Green MP Sue Bradford received when she initially <a href="https://home.greens.org.nz/press-releases/bradford-launches-bill-lower-voting-age-16">proposed lowering the voting age</a> back in 2007.</p>
<p>Opponents argue that young people lack maturity, life experience and civic knowledge. At 16 and 17, critics say, young people are heavily influenced by adults such as teachers and parents (and therefore subject to coercion), and their ability to vote doesn’t match other responsibilities young people hold as they are still largely dependent economically on adults. </p>
<p>This time, however, New Zealand would not be alone in giving younger people the vote. Sixteen-year-olds in Argentina, Cuba, Ecuador, Austria, Nicaragua and Brazil now have voting rights. </p>
<p>In the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, 16- and 17-year-olds seized the opportunity to vote; <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/29279384/scottish-referendum-how-first-vote-went-for-1617-year-olds">75% of their cohort</a> turned out to vote. In the US, high school students are showing their considerable political strength in <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/lower-the-voting-age-to-16/">protesting against gun violence</a> in their schools. </p>
<h2>Inconsistent arguments</h2>
<p>New Zealand has a very inclusive electoral system. It allows people on benefits to vote, despite their lack of economic independence. It also allows those with cognitive disabilities to vote, regardless of the severity of their disability and the degree to which they are influenced by their parents or caregivers. And it allows that members of religious groups are given guidance on how to vote by their religious leaders. </p>
<p>The system ought to be more consistent in applying its reasons for preventing people from voting. If lack of maturity is a reason to stop someone voting, it applies to all who lack maturity. If being heavily influenced by others is a reason to prevent someone from voting, it applies to all who are subject to this sort of influence. </p>
<p>There is an even deeper problem with the objections against a lower voting age. Consider how we treat those aged above 18 and those below 18 when it comes to proving their capacity to vote. </p>
<p>Those over 18 are accepted as voters, and remain so regardless of their actions (short of criminal offences that see them imprisoned and their voting rights removed). Those under 18 are presumed not to have the capacity to vote, and are denied any opportunity to show otherwise. But in neither case are we actually examining whether the individual concerned has the qualities we want in a voter.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/giving-voice-to-the-young-survey-shows-people-want-under-18s-involved-in-politics-83101">Giving voice to the young: survey shows people want under-18s involved in politics</a>
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<p>Young people have perhaps more opportunity than older people to develop these qualities. The younger a person the more time they have to spend in formal education, where they can develop their civic knowledge and recognise the importance of political participation – including voting. </p>
<p>Lowering the voting age to 16 would bring the age of political responsibility <a href="http://thewireless.co.nz/articles/lowering-the-voting-age-to-16-could-help-democracy-in-nz">more in line</a> with the age of criminal responsibility and the age of informed consent for medical procedures. </p>
<p>New Zealand’s current system is willing to hold a 16-year-old responsible for murder, but deny that same 16-year-old the responsibility to cast a vote. This isn’t right. They are either capable of acting both well and badly, or of doing neither. </p>
<h2>Civic education</h2>
<p>In New Zealand, discussions on lower voting ages take place alongside conversations about civic education in schools. Becroft and others recognise that both should go hand in hand. However, this is not a simple premise. </p>
<p>Merely learning more about civics and political processes has not been shown to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1532-7795.00027">lead to greater citizenship participation</a>. The <a href="http://iccs.iea.nl/fileadmin/user_upload/Editor_Group/Downloads/ICCS_2016_International_report.pdf">type of civic learning matters</a>.</p>
<p>A large-scale longitudinal study of <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0002831208316951">more than 4,000 students in the US</a> found that civic learning in which students actually experienced involvement in civic and political issues — and particularly on issues that matter to them – had the greatest long-term impact on future political participation.</p>
<p>This bodes well for New Zealand, as <a href="http://www.tlri.org.nz/tlri-research/research-completed/school-sector/creating-active-citizens-interpreting-implementing">research published last year</a> following a two-year study on social studies students taking social action for their internal assessment credits showed the curriculum is well set up for young people to experience civic engagement.</p>
<p>Encouraging younger voter participation is complex but essential if we want to maintain the health of our democracy.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93567/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bronwyn E Wood receives funding from the Royal Society Marsden Fund. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Munn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Lowering the voting age to 16 would bring the age of political responsibility more in line with the age of criminal responsibility and the age of informed consent for medical procedures.Bronwyn E Wood, Senior Lecturer in Education, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of WellingtonNick Munn, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/839192017-11-21T02:27:42Z2017-11-21T02:27:42ZWant to change federal policies? Here’s how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195542/original/file-20171120-18566-1lzf3dp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Protesters carry signs during a march for science Saturday, April 22, 2017, in Denver.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/David Zalubowski</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What can those armed with facts – like scientists, professionals and knowledgeable citizens – do to shape policy?</p>
<p>In April, scientists and their supporters took to the streets. The <a href="http://www.marchforscience.com">March for Science</a> was a public defense of science as an invaluable part of society and policy. We, as academic scientists, were among them. When everyone returned to their labs and offices, we saw our fellow marchers search for ways to build on the momentum.</p>
<p>One of the most accessible options to do so is the federal public comment process.</p>
<h2>What is public comment?</h2>
<p>Public comment subjects federal policies to peer review. Scientists and other professionals can use public comment to ensure that policy is based on the best available evidence, vetting the science behind regulations. </p>
<p>When Congress passes a law, it provides a framework for federal agencies on how to implement it. Figuring out the details of implementation is usually up to the agency by making rules and regulations. Since 1946, the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/federal-register/laws/administrative-procedure">Administrative Procedures Act</a> has required that each new rule be subject to public comment, giving citizens the chance to comment on and change the proposed rule before it becomes legally enforceable. Proposed and final rules are all published in the <a href="http://www.federalregister.gov">Federal Register</a>, a publicly accessible online government database. </p>
<p>The act also ensures that agencies cannot ignore these comments by requiring the agency to respond to all “material” comments. This qualifier is critical. For an agency to respond to the comment, <a href="http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-dc-circuit/1484087.html">it must be unique</a> and fact-based, such that it could “require a change in [the] proposed rule.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190689/original/file-20171017-30441-1xam9bi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190689/original/file-20171017-30441-1xam9bi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/190689/original/file-20171017-30441-1xam9bi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190689/original/file-20171017-30441-1xam9bi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190689/original/file-20171017-30441-1xam9bi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190689/original/file-20171017-30441-1xam9bi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190689/original/file-20171017-30441-1xam9bi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/190689/original/file-20171017-30441-1xam9bi.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=621&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Snapshot of the number of federal documents open for public comment on Oct. 7, 2017. Only a subset of federal agencies are shown. Data taken from Federal Register API v2.0.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://public.tableau.com/views/PubCommProject_CountByAgency_barplot/Dashboard1?:embed=y&:display_count=yes&publish=yes&:showVizHome=no">Public Comments Project</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>You may have already encountered a public comment if anyone has asked you to submit a prewritten letter regarding a proposed rule. These “form letters” are written by organizations – often nonprofits – and then a copy is signed and submitted by a large number of people. While agencies may note the impressive response a proposed regulation triggers, these form letters are legally considered a single material comment.</p>
<p>Yet form letters often make up a large percentage of comments received. For example, in 2004, the EPA was in the process of <a href="https://www3.epa.gov/ttn/atw/utility/frnotice_013003.pdf">making a rule</a> that would reduce emissions of mercury from coal-fired utility units. The <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2202/1944-2866.1010/full">majority of comments</a> on this proposed rule submitted through MoveOn.org were duplicates of the same two-sentence form letter or slight variants of a broad claim about the inadequacy of the proposed rule. This meant that the EPA received little real information to which it had to respond.</p>
<p>Form letters are popular because they are easier than writing a unique, fact-based comment. But scientists and other professionals often have the knowledge required to do so. They are trained to read and summarize evidence from a variety of sources. They are also familiar with the general principles of subject fields like ecology, economics or nutrition, which are recurring themes across many regulations.</p>
<p>Federal agencies need the expert information that scientists and professionals can provide. <a href="http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/saf/jof/1999/00000097/00000001/art00010">An analysis</a> by the U.S. Forest Service found that the majority of public input was value-based. While these comments provided agency employees with critical information on public opinion, value-based comments were not as helpful to the planning staff as detailed comments that provided technical feedback. Only 9 percent of the comments sampled were classified as having a high level of detail.</p>
<h2>Why should scientists engage?</h2>
<p>Public comment allows for flexibility. With an online submission portal, it doesn’t require participants to be in a certain place to have input. Its consistency across federal agencies avoids the need to reacquaint oneself with agency-specific processes. Perhaps most importantly, it allows for public participation, opening the process to scientists and professionals across sectors and career stages without a personal contact or advisory position at the agency.</p>
<p>This isn’t to say that there are no barriers. For example, proposed regulations are often filled with jargon and organized in unclear ways. But there are sources designed to coach you through the process, including <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/">Regulations.gov</a>. Material specifically oriented toward helping scientists and other professionals is available through the Public Comment Project, <a href="https://publiccommentproject.org/">a website</a> that we created with other colleagues and maintain. It includes how-to guides and helps you find rules of interest that are open for comment.</p>
<h2>Has it made a difference?</h2>
<p>Changes to rules as a result of public comment happen often. For example, in a 2016 <a href="https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=CMS-2016-0008-0002">proposed rule</a> by the Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services, the agencies expanded the definition of “patient” in the <a href="https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/07/07/2016-15708/medicare-program-expanding-uses-of-medicare-data-by-qualified-entities">final rule</a>. The expansion was in response to comments by the Midwest Health Initiative and the American Hospital Association, among others. This effectively changed the scope of data that could be extracted for providers, suppliers, hospital associations and medical societies. </p>
<p>Or, take a National Marine Fisheries Service proposed rule to designate critical habitat for a marine snail, the black abalone. <a href="https://publiccommentproject.org/abalone-comment">A comment</a> written by one of us expanded the critical habitat designation so that all life stages of the species would be covered.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/261812">A formal analysis</a> on a 1992 Environmental Protection Agency proposed rule on certain cancer-causing pesticides found that the agency was was more likely to bar the use of a particular cancer-causing pesticide when faced with evidence of high risk to human health or the environment. Public comment by environmental advocacy groups increased the probability of cancellation. </p>
<h2>Why comment now?</h2>
<p>Experts, from scientists to professionals, have an increasingly important role to quality-check the research that makes its way into policy – see, for example, <a href="https://mcmprodaaas.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/International-Landscape-Analyis-ExecSumm-02162017.pdf">this statement</a> by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, one of the world’s largest scientific societies. Although the devaluation of science in public policy is a long-term issue, it has recently escalated rapidly. A few of the most recent examples include the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/14/donald-trump-climate-change-mentions-government-websites">removal of climate change-related data and research</a> from government websites, proposed reduction in <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/03/grim-budget-day-us-science-analysis-and-reaction-trumps-plan">federal budgets for science</a> including the complete removal of certain programs like NOAA’s Sea Grant, and <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25082017/energy-dept-asked-scientist-remove-climate-change-project-description">the request of agencies</a> for scientists to censor their language.</p>
<p>Responding to a call for public comment is one way to check the facts that make up public policy. We call all scientists, professionals and knowledgeable members of the public to apply their specific expertise to this process.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83919/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mary Fisher is affiliated with The Public Comment Project, a volunteer, graduate student-organized group.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Lowell is affiliated with The Public Comment Project, a volunteer, graduate student-organized group.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samuel May is affiliated with The Public Comment Project, a volunteer, graduate student-organized group</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Kelly does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>One of the best ways to shape public policy is for experts to submit detailed, technical information through the public comment process.Mary Fisher, M.S. Student, Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of WashingtonNatalie Lowell, Ph.D. Candidate in Fisheries Science, University of WashingtonRyan Kelly, Assistant Professor, Marine and Environmental Affairs, University of WashingtonSamuel May, Graduate Student in Fisheries Science, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/756892017-04-30T20:02:15Z2017-04-30T20:02:15ZWe should create cities for slowing down<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167164/original/file-20170428-12970-1kui3j7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Brisbane cycle path signage: Slow!</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mikecogh/14218979300/in/photolist-8Y9JFp-8Y9J3k-8Y9Kue-8Y9Htz-8Y9Ji8-8Y9Hv8-8YcKBh-8YcL6j-8YcKFd-8Y9Jex-8YcLAo-8Y9Jxr-8Y9H8t-8YcM1b-8Y9Kse-8Y9GGz-8YcLwy-8Y9JAg-98bL5Z-8Y9Hqv-8YcMiN-8YcKYE-8Y9H6x-8Y9K7D-8YcKeL-8Y9JCD-8Y9JYi-8Y9J7g-8YcL4u-8Y9KfB-8YcMvf-8YcKkd-8Y9JVV-8YcKUs-8Y9HRe-8Y9K4X-8Y9HK8-8Y9KaZ-8Y9Jb2-8YcL2S-8tZrXe-8YcKnG-833rwF-8Y9HcZ-8YcLgE-dRz3XW-9EfCS1-8YcLHQ-nEtZaw-9gdTXs">Michael Coghlan</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Peter Jackson employed an intricate approach to the stage design of <a href="https://www.compleatseanbean.com/lotr-production5.html">Lord of the Rings</a>. The people who inhabited Middle Earth for hundreds of generations slowly left cultural traces, alterations, artefacts and remnants of their human existence on the environment. </p>
<p>For example, the cinematographic stage set for Rivendell gives the viewer the impression of use and legacy over generations. Stage designers aged artefacts and applied, erased and reapplied cultural marks and insignia to “make” Rivendell the special and legendary place that author J.R.R. Tolkien had intended.</p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Designing Middle Earth: behind the scenes of the Lord of the Rings.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Placemaking</h2>
<p>Urban space turns into <a href="https://au.sagepub.com/en-gb/oce/place-and-placelessness/book249276">place</a> in a similar way. People are natural placemakers. </p>
<p>When they live in cities, they create “<a href="http://livehoods.org">livehoods</a>”, build, modify, <a href="https://theconversation.com/switched-on-city-how-london-learned-to-love-christmas-lights-70609">decorate</a>, expand and <a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/320919/how-buildings-learn-by-stewart-brand/9780140139969/">renovate</a>. In doing so, they slowly leave their mark on the city.</p>
<p>In the 1960s, progressive urban planners and designers like <a href="http://www.pps.org/reference/jjacobs-2/">Jane Jacobs</a> and <a href="http://www.pps.org/reference/wwhyte/">William H. Whyte</a> argued that catering for <em>slow</em> pedestrians rather than <em>fast</em> cars results in better city design. </p>
<p>Placemaking can make places “<a href="https://www.planetizen.com/node/69454">sticky</a>,” so people dwell longer, customers spend more in retail shops, and <a href="https://www.foreground.com.au/public-domain/the-sticky-wars-battling-to-keep-students-on-campus/">students stay on campus</a>.</p>
<p>Trying to accommodate sustained high levels of <a href="https://theconversation.com/density-sprawl-growth-how-australian-cities-have-changed-in-the-last-30-years-65870">growth</a>, coupled with the need to contain urban sprawl, has led to the <a href="http://www.londonischanging.org">rapid gentrification</a> of inner-city suburbs. As construction companies are trying to keep up with the mandate to grow Australian cities, they won’t slow down easily.</p>
<p>Placemaking is being used to quickly breathe life into new urban developments. Speedy placemaking is of the essence when generic turnkey residential stock is sold as “vibrant communities”, “liveable neighbourhoods” and “distinctive precincts”.</p>
<h2>Cookie-cutter cities</h2>
<p>Accelerated placemaking poses several risks.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Places come with history and heritage to be conserved and protected. <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/8985/">Digital storytelling</a> has been used as a form of digital placemaking that not only enables the study of a place’s history, but also ways of embedding and commemorating historic evidence and artefacts in place.</p></li>
<li><p>To avoid making places that suit the placemakers and their funders more than the current or future occupants, inclusive practices of placemaking are needed. Marginalised and economically threatened communities should be enabled to engage with their neighbourhood on <a href="http://www.righttobne.org">their own terms</a> and create their own <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/urban-imaginaries">urban imaginaries</a>. This requires <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Place-making-and-Urban-Development-New-challenges-for-contemporary-planning/Palermo-Ponzini/p/book/9780415709569">transdisciplinary</a>, <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/77903/">participatory</a> and <a href="http://eprints.qut.edu.au/84026/">action research</a> approaches to placemaking.</p></li>
<li><p>Placemaking can fuel further gentrification with its well-known set of associated <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/nov/24/who-owns-our-cities-and-why-this-urban-takeover-should-concern-us-all">issues and consequences</a>. Activating places often aims at making nearby retail and residential properties more profitable. Yet genuine and slow placemaking can add further value by unlocking a city’s <a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Intercultural-City-Phil-Wood/9781844074365">diversity advantage</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>Many placemaking techniques such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/urban-hacktivism-getting-creative-about-involving-citizens-in-city-planning-62277">urban hacktivism</a> and <a href="http://eprints.qut.edu.au/66197/">urban acupuncture</a> tend to be small and hyperlocal. They have been <a href="http://post.at.moma.org/content_items/587-is-tactical-urbanism-an-alternative-to-neoliberal-urbanism">criticised</a> for being limited in scale and impact. Can placemaking through <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17549175.2015.1029508">DIY urban design</a> scale up from subversive citymaking to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/2768545.2768564">systemic change</a>?</p></li>
<li><p>Contemporary placemaking relies more and more on stereotypes. An example is the iconic architectures of kerbside coffee shops. Christian Norberg-Schulz speaks of the <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Genius_loci.html?id=FlYkAQAAMAAJ">genius loci</a> as a fundamental element of placemaking: the essence of a place that makes it <a href="https://theconversation.com/sense-of-place-messier-than-it-ever-was-so-how-do-we-manage-this-shifting-world-64591">unique</a>. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>This approach seems currently ignored in favour of a cookie-cutter approach. Copying success stories – <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10462930500362403">Venice in Vegas</a>, for example – is a constant in architecture and urban design. But the trends of tactical urbanism, pop-up interventions and gentrification actually risk impoverishing our urban landscape and our urban ecologies.</p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">James Howard Kunstler: The ghastly tragedy of the suburbs. TED 2004.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Slow cities</h2>
<p>In addition to a set of ongoing challenges, there are exciting opportunities on the horizon for slowing down placemaking and for placemaking to slow down cities.</p>
<p>Our fast-paced world of <a href="https://theconversation.com/robot-revolution-rise-of-the-intelligent-automated-workforce-58252">automation</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/from-smart-cities-1-0-to-2-0-its-not-only-about-the-tech-73851">smart cities</a> prioritises speed and efficiency. Yet the health and wellbeing of city residents can be improved by slowing down. </p>
<p>This is about not only a slower pace of <a href="https://theconversation.com/life-in-the-pedestrian-fast-lane-is-no-life-at-all-lets-slow-our-cities-down-instead-50254">pedestrian flow</a>, traffic and life in public spaces. It also relates to appreciating artisan crafts, <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/56591/">food provenance</a>, seasonal changes, local customs, and even <a href="https://tedxsydney.com/talk/the-value-of-boredom/">boredom</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-should-design-smart-cities-for-getting-lost-56492">getting lost</a>. In Australia, the <a href="http://cittaslowaustralasia.com/">cities</a> of Goolwa (South Australia), Katoomba (New South Wales) and Yea (Victoria) have joined <a href="http://www.cittaslow.org/">Cittaslow</a> – “the international network of cities where living is good.”</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165502/original/image-20170417-25870-x4mp48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165502/original/image-20170417-25870-x4mp48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165502/original/image-20170417-25870-x4mp48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165502/original/image-20170417-25870-x4mp48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165502/original/image-20170417-25870-x4mp48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165502/original/image-20170417-25870-x4mp48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165502/original/image-20170417-25870-x4mp48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165502/original/image-20170417-25870-x4mp48.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Le Dîner en Blanc, Brisbane, September 1, 2012.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">brisbrad/flickr</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This “slow cities” movement promotes the use of technology. Yet this is different to how technology is portrayed in many smart city visions, which liken cities to corporations that are about growth, efficiency and productivity. However, a city is neither a <a href="https://theconversation.com/early-experiments-show-a-smart-city-plan-should-start-with-people-first-60174">business</a> nor a <a href="https://placesjournal.org/article/a-city-is-not-a-computer/">computer</a>.</p>
<h2>Making cities collaboratively</h2>
<p>Revisiting Henri Lefebvre’s “<a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/78107/">right to the city</a>,” we understand placemaking as a strategy to bring about much-needed social change and urban renewal through <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/1411-rebel-cities">grassroots democratisation</a>. </p>
<p>Cities often invite people as participants in urban planning decision-making. Yet why limit people to just providing feedback to city governments as part of conventional community consultation processes? Genuine placemaking regards them as co-creators in <a href="http://eprints.qut.edu.au/105753/">collaborative citymaking</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"763816961784606720"}"></div></p>
<p>The exposure to <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-should-design-smart-cities-for-getting-lost-56492">diverse ideas, places and communities</a> is crucial for <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-needs-an-innovation-skunkworks-51326">innovation</a> and the functioning of <a href="https://theconversation.com/cities-in-the-future-of-democracy-16688">democracy</a>. We believe placemaking can help develop a better <a href="http://eprints.qut.edu.au/88937/">dialogue</a> between citizens, communities, government, businesses, civic groups and non-profits. </p>
<p>Placemaking is meant to provide a close connection between people and their locale. Placemaking has to be specific and unique to urban space, taking into account its community, environment, culture, food and social practices.</p>
<p>Finally, cities certainly need to face up to the challenges of climate change. Placemaking provides opportunities for more <a href="https://www.epicpeople.org/place-making-sustainability/">sustainable ways of life</a> not only by creating accessible, healthy, democratic and slow cities, but also by imagining the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1162/DESI_a_00398">post-anthropocentric city</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75689/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marcus Foth receives research funding from the Australian Research Council's Linkage Projects funding scheme, and the CRC for Spatial Information. He is a member of the Queensland Greens.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mirko Guaralda receives funding from United States Study Centre - Sydney. </span></em></p>Smart cities are usually optimised like a business for speed and efficiency. Placemaking can slow down cities to improve health and wellbeing and promote more democratic engagement of citizens.Marcus Foth, Professor of Urban Informatics, Queensland University of TechnologyMirko Guaralda, Senior Lecturer in Architecture, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/618162016-08-28T18:16:08Z2016-08-28T18:16:08ZTechnology can boost active citizenship – if it’s chosen well<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/128820/original/image-20160630-30635-1u7pdoz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">However powerful technologies may seem, choices are made by people – not the machines they invent.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Legnan Koula/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemontgomery/2015/06/24/why-civic-tech-is-the-next-big-thing/#355794fce24b">Civic technology</a> initiatives are on the rise. They are using new information and communication technologies to improve transparency, accountability and governance – faster and more cheaply than before.</p>
<p>In Taiwan, for instance, tech activists have built online databases to <a href="http://techpresident.com/news/wegov/25339/sunflower-movement-g0v-taiwan-open-government">track political contributions</a> and create channels for public participation in parliamentary debates. In South Africa, anti-corruption organisation <a href="http://www.corruptionwatch.org.za/about-us/who-we-are/about-corruption-watch/">Corruption Watch</a> has used online and mobile platforms to <a href="http://www.corruptionwatch.org.za/bua-mzansi-the-importance-of-the-public-protector/">gather public votes</a> for Public Protector candidates. </p>
<p>But <a href="http://www.makingallvoicescount.org/publication/six-rules-thumb-select-tools-transparency-accountability-project">research</a> I recently completed with <a href="https://www.theengineroom.org">partners</a> in Africa and Europe suggests that few of these organisations may be choosing the right technological tools to make their initiatives work. </p>
<p>We interviewed people in Kenya and South Africa who are responsible for choosing technologies when implementing transparency and accountability initiatives. In many cases, they’re <a href="http://www.makingallvoicescount.org/publication/six-rules-thumb-select-tools-transparency-accountability-project">not choosing their tech well</a>. They often only recognised in retrospect how important their technology choices were. Most would have chosen differently if they were put in the same position again.</p>
<p>Our findings challenge a common mantra which holds that technological failures are usually caused by people or strategies rather than technologies. It’s certainly true that human agency matters. However powerful technologies may seem, choices are made by people – not the machines they invent. But our research supports the idea that technology isn’t neutral. It suggests that sometimes the problem really <em>is</em> the tech. </p>
<h2>Code is law</h2>
<p>This isn’t a new discovery. As the technology historian <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3105385?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">Melvin Kranzberg</a> put it: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>US legal professor <a href="http://www.lessig.org/about/">Lawrence Lessig</a> made a similar case when he argued that <a href="http://harvardmagazine.com/2000/01/code-is-law-html">“Code is Law”</a>. </p>
<p>Lessig pointed out that software – along with laws, social norms and markets —- can regulate individual and social behaviour. Laws can make it compulsory to use a seat belt. But car design can make it difficult or impossible to start a car without a seat belt on.</p>
<p>Our study examined initiatives with a wide array of purposes. Some focused on mobile or online corruption reporting, others on public service monitoring, open government data publishing, complaints systems or public data mapping and budget tracking. </p>
<p>They also used a range of different technological tools. These included “off-the-shelf” software; open-source software developed within the civic tech community; bespoke software created specifically for the initiatives; and popular social media platforms.</p>
<p>Less than one-quarter of the organisations were happy with the tools they’d chosen. They often encountered technical issues that made the tool hard to use. Half the organisations we surveyed discovered that their intended users did not use the tools to the extent that they had hoped. This trend was often linked to the tools’ specific attributes.</p>
<p>For instance: if an initiative uses <a href="https://www.whatsapp.com/about/">WhatsApp</a> as a channel for citizens to report corruption, the messages will be strongly <a href="https://blog.whatsapp.com/10000618/end-to-end-encryption">“end-to-end” encrypted</a>. This security limits the behaviour of governments or other actors if they seek to read those messages. If <a href="https://www.facebook.com/help/237721796268379">Facebook Messenger</a> is used instead, content will not be encrypted in the same way. Such decisions could affect the risks users face and influence their willingness to use a particular tool.</p>
<p>Other applications, like <a href="https://www.youtube.com/yt/about/">YouTube</a> and <a href="https://vimeo.com/about">Vimeo</a>, may differ in their consumption of data. One may be more expensive than the other for users. Organisations will need to consider this when choosing their primary platform.</p>
<p>It’s not always easy to choose between the many available technologies. Differences are not transparent. The effects of those differences and their relevance to an initiative’s aims may be uncertain. Many of the people we spoke to had very limited technical knowledge, experience or skills. This limited their ability to understand the differences between options.</p>
<p>One of the most common frustrations interviewees reported was that the intended users didn’t use the tool they had developed. This uptake failure is not only common in the civic tech fields we examined. It has been noted <a href="https://wiki.cc.gatech.edu/ccg/_media/people/dan/quals/if_we_build_it.pdf">since at least the 1990s</a> in the worlds of business and development.</p>
<p>Large corporations’ IT departments introduced “change management” techniques in answer to this problem. They changed employees’ work practices to adapt to the introduction of new technologies. In civic tech, the users are rarely employees who can be instructed or even trained. Tech choices need to be adapted for the intended users, not for a structured organisation.</p>
<h2>Try before you buy</h2>
<p>So what should those working in civic technology do about improving tool selection? From our research, we developed <a href="https://toolselect.theengineroom.org/page/rules-of-thumb">six “rules” for better tool choices</a>. These are:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>first work out what you don’t know;</p></li>
<li><p>think twice before building a new tool;</p></li>
<li><p>get a second opinion;</p></li>
<li><p>try it before you buy it;</p></li>
<li><p>plan for failure; and</p></li>
<li><p>share what you learn.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Possibly the most important of these recommendations is to try or “trial” technologies before making a final selection. This might seem obvious. But it was rarely done in our sample. </p>
<p>Testing in the field is a chance to explore how a specific technology and a specific group of people interact. It often brings issues to the surface that are initially far from obvious. It exposes explicit or implicit assumptions about a technology and its intended users. </p>
<p>Failure can be OK. Silicon Valley’s leading tech organisations fail regularly. But if transparency and accountability initiatives are going to improve their use of technology, they are going to need to learn from this and from <a href="http://digitalprinciples.org">other research</a> – and from their own experiences.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/61816/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Indra de Lanerolle receives funding for this research from Making All Voices Count, a challenge fund for innovation in accountability and governance supported by UK Aid (DFID), USAID and Omidyar Network. He leads the Network Society Lab at the University of Witwatersrand and is a member of the World Internet Project, a network of Internet researchers in more than 20 countries. </span></em></p>Very few organisations in the field of civic technology are choosing the right tools for the job.Indra de Lanerolle, Visiting Researcher, Network Society Lab, Journalism and Media Programme, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.