May 2012 PEP-NET Speakers Announced

From PEP-NET:

PEP-NET Conference
May 14, 2012
Hamburg, Germany
Registration is free at http://www.amiando.com/pep-net.html
Check this page also for the latest program agenda

"PEP-NET Summit: Out in the Open will cover urban development, eParticipation and transparency. We have speakers who will showcase some examples from here in Hamburg and from abroad. Anyone can join us for a day of discussion, learning and exchange.

Confirmed speakers are:

 ·  Nick Booth, founder and MD of Birmingham social enterprise Podnosh (www.podnosh.com), who recently won the UK Prime Minister’s Big Society award for his social media surgeries;

 ·  Alenka Krek-Poplin, Junior Professor at the HafenCity University, specialist in Computer-based Methods in Urban and Regional Planning, originally from Slovenia, spent several years in Austria;

 ·  Daniel Lentfer, Director of Mehr Demokratie e.V. (Hamburg branch), organiser of the campaign for a local transparency law in Hamburg which calls for transparency and open data in the local authority;

 ·  Erik Tissinghe, Director of Over Morgen in Beeld (inbeeld.overmorgen.nl/), a Dutch company that specialises in 3D models for eParticipation;

 ·  Peter Verhaeghe, of Belgian citizen initiative stRaten-Generaal, which organised citizens against a traffic bridge and in favour of a tunnel, also an architect for the city state;

 ·  Cynthia Wagner, nexthamburg (www.nexthamburg.de), which runs events and an online platform to involve citizens in planning Hamburg’s future urban development."

Why Place Matters Conference

From the Davenport Institute:

"Join us for a policy-focused follow up to last year's "A Place in the World" conference.

THURSDAY • MARCH 22, 2012 • 1-5 PM
Pepperdine University Drescher Graduate Campus Auditorium

The places where we spend our days - our homes, neighborhoods, and cities - shape us as much as we shape them. They are central to who and what we are. And yet the "sense of place" has been withering away in today's mobile, fluid world. Our 2011 conference "A Place in the World," sought to identify the sources of this change. This event will follow up on those insights and explore the challenges facing policy makers in restoring an infrastructure for healthy communities and fostering engaged citizens.

Session One: "Modernity & the Problem of Place for Civic Engagement"

Session Two: "Planning for Spontaneity: Moving from Theory to Practice in Placemaking"

Session Three: "From Bell to the Beach: The Vital Relationship Between Place and Civic Participation"

Session Four: Roundtable Discussion

Speakers will include:

Ted V. McAllister
Edward L. Gaylord Chair/ Associate Professor of Public Policy
Pepperdine University

Wilfred M. McClay
SunTrust Bank Chair of Excellence in Humanities
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Pete Peterson
Executive Director, Davenport Institute
for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership

For more information, and to RSVP, please call 310•506•6878 or email ashley.trim@pepperdine.edu

publicpolicy.pepperdine.edu/why-place-matters"

May 21-22 The Science of Science Communication Conference

May 21-22, 2012
National Academy of Sciences
Washington, DC

"Overview

This colloquium will survey the state of the art of empirical social science research in science communication and will focus on research in psychology, decision science, mass communication, risk communication, health communication, political science, sociology, and related fields on the communication dynamics surrounding issues in science, engineering, technology, and medicine with five distinct goals:

• To improve understanding of relations between the scientific community and the public
• To assess the scientific basis for effective communication about science
• To strengthen ties among and between communication scientists
• To promote greater integration of the disciplines and approaches pertaining to effective communication
• To foster an institutional commitment to evidence-based communication science"

Read more

IAP2 North America Conference 2012 – Call for Proposals

From IAP2:
"Welcome to the 2012 North American IAP2 Conference! We are extremely excited to be working with our partner organization IAP2 USA to bring you this event and hope you can join us September 30-October 2, 2012 in beautiful Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

You’re Invited
This call for proposals is for interested individuals, groups or organizations to present and share their insights and expertise in the P2 field. Our team was inspired by the idea of P2 equally involving the head, heart and hands and through our conference themes hope to explore how each of these play an integral role in expansion and growth of public participation. We aim to involve researchers, stakeholders, academics, community members, decision-makers, practitioners and others to build together a diverse audience thereby truly getting a 360 perspective.

Conference session proposals must support or align with one of the sub-themes. The key focus questions are not meant to limit but rather used as a launch point and touchstone.

Theme Key Focus Questions

STIMULATE your mind

What have you learned, discovered, proven or identified from your research, study of the field or experience, which will advance the growth and practice of public participation.
This is all about the thinking…..

MOTIVATE your heart 

What is at the heart of public participation? We think it might lie in the values, ethics, and feelings associated with P2. What is it that motivates, influences or provokes involvement or lack thereof in public participation?
This is all about the feeling…..

PARTICIPATE in action

What tools, activities, techniques are defining the cutting edge of public participation? How do you find the balance between the “tried & tested” and the “innovative & creative?”

This is all about action…..

For more information please download the full Call for Proposals and proposal template. Proposals are DUE March 23, 2012 and questions should be directed to conference@iap2canada.ca"

Call for Conference Papers: Creating Public Value in a Multi-Sector, Shared-Power World

"The Center for Integrative Leadership and the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota seek paper proposals for a conference on what it means to create public value in a multi-sector, shared-power, no-one-wholly-in-charge world. Successfully addressing most major public challenges in today’s world requires contributions from governments, businesses, nonprofit organizations, communities and/or other sectors – yet the effort to find effective solutions is often stymied by lack of knowledge or highly fractious politics and rigid ideological divides. So how do we get the good that these sectors have to offer, while minimizing or overcoming their characteristic weaknesses in such a way that public value is created and the common good is advanced?

Paper proposals are sought in two areas:

1. Studies that highlight how public value is or is not created. Studies should illuminate how various sectors and instrument or tools are used to advance (or not) public values and the theory that accounts for the results. The studies will provide theoretical backing and concrete grounding for thinking about the achievement of public values.

2. Approaches to discerning, measuring, and assessing public values and the ways of creating them.

Submission process and due dates
Abstracts should be submitted by February 3, 2012. Authors will be notified by February 24, 2012 whether their proposals have been selected for development as full-blown papers. The due date for final submissions is August 15, 2012. Authors of paper abstracts selected for development into full papers will be invited to present their research at the conference scheduled for September 20 - 22, 2012 in Minneapolis, MN, USA. After the conference, papers will go through a standard blind review process as a requirement for publication in the special issue of Public Administration Review to appear in 2014. An edited book is a likely additional conference outcome.

Submissions should be sent electronically to CIL@umn.edu with the subject line: Creating Public Value Submission. Questions about appropriate topics and methodology should be directed to John Bryson (jmbryson@umn.edu or 612-625-5888).

Link to pdf of full call for papers:   http://www.leadership.umn.edu/documents/CreatingPublicValueCall-13Oct2011.pdf"

Apr 7 Keynote Address at Mobile Apps & Interactive Games Conf

Greenest City by 2020 Project: Bridging Digital and Traditional Participation in Vancouver, BC

Susanna Haas Lyons / Public Engagement Specialist, Engaging.ly and Researcher, University of British Columbia and Amanda Mitchell, Greenest City Planning Analyst at the City of Vancouver

Join us for an exciting and indepth exploration of how the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, is employing games, apps and other technologies as well traditional engagement approaches as part of changing how people respond to climate change and overall sustainability.  Susanna Haas Lyons and Amanda Mitchell will highlight their inspiring and insightful work with the City of Vancouver to engage citizens in their efforts to become the greenest city in the world by 2020.

Susanna Haas Lyons brings together citizens and decision-makers to create better policy on issues that matter most to the public. She has worked across North America, engaging dozens to thousands of participants in complex and productive conversations. Susanna offers workshops, speaks and researches about the use of digital media as a tool for public participation. She is a Senior Network Associate with AmericaSpeaks and served for three years as their Communications Manager and Program Associate. Currently, Susanna is advising the Alberta Climate Dialogue, a community-university research project to involve Albertans in developing climate solutions, and is taking a Masters Degree at the University of British Columbia's Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability.

 Amanda Mitchell works with communities to embed sustainability principles into their long-term planning decisions. Specializing in the creation of meaningful and transparent public consultation processes, she has worked on the innovative Smart Growth on the Ground program at both Smart Growth BC and the Design Centre for Sustainability. Currently Amanda works at the City of Vancouver where she manages the online consultation and social media accounts for the Greenest City planning initiative.  She’s a founding Director of the Vancouver Public Space Network, co-founder of re:place magazine-- an online publication devoted to public space and urbanism in Vancouver.  Amanda is a LEED Accredited Professional with a Bachelor of Environmental Science from the University of Guelph and a Master of Advanced Studies in Architecture from the University of British Columbia.

Learn more about the conference and join us for a great program on Thursday, April 7!  Visit www.publicdecisions.com/games for details.

Speakers and Sessions at April 7 Interactive Games and Mobile Apps for Engmt Online Conf

Thursday, April 7, 2011

11am-8pm Eastern

Register early to confirm your participation

Seats are limited

►Individuals $49 USD
Discounts available for multiple registrants from the same organization

►Groups
-Small group (up to 5 persons) $149 USD
-Medium group (6-10 persons) $199 USD
-Large group (11 or more persons) $249 USD

We accept government purchase orders

Register at http://www.publicdecisions.com/miniconf_games_2011mar03.html

about this conference
Today there is a proliferation of interactive games and mobile applications ("apps") that support public engagement.

Online interactive games (such as "Virtual Mine", Participatory Chinatown and others) educate people about issues or challenges in ways that can add value to public engagement. These experiences deepen and broaden how people understand and talk together about the issues that are important to them, and they also have the potential for changing how people interpret other perspectives.

Mobile "apps" provide a means for collecting information and for interacting with stakeholders on a 'real time' basis. From reporting problems (such as "SeeClickFix") to Twyford's new Facilitation First Aid app, texting to support stakeholder information gathering and other uses too, mobile technology is being used both in the developed and developing world to effectively engage people.

Yet there is little discussion about how we consider and choose among these two kinds of tools when creating an engagement strategy, and as well little discussion about how they are effectively being used by organizations today for engagement purposes.

o How are interactive games and mobile apps are being used today for engagement? What's on the horizon?

o What criteria do we use to review and evaluate interactive games and/or mobile apps?

o How have other organizations and communities used them for the best effect?

o How do we best integrate them with other engagement tools and approaches?

conference program
We're delighted to highlight the leading-edge practitioners who'll be speaking as part of our April 7 program.  

download the detailed program here

Sessions include:
Engaging Communities in the Planning Process Using New Technology
This session showcases two case studies that demonstrate how two communities have used interactive games and mobile apps in support of public engagement.

► “There's an App for That: Integrating Mobile Apps into a Food Systems Recovery Plan” by Jennifer Evans-Cowley / Ohio State University

►“Rewriting History - A Case Study of the Augmented Reality Engaging Community” by Matthew Slaats /  PAUSE

Keynote Address
Join us for an exciting and indepth exploration of how the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, is employing games, apps and other technologies as well traditional engagement approaches as part of changing how people respond to climate change and overall sustainability.

►“Greenest City by 2020 Project: Bridging Digital and Traditional Participation in Vancouver, BC” by Susanna Haas Lyons /  University of British Columbia

Interactive Games and Mobile Apps for Action
This session showcases interactive games and mobile apps that are being used for engaging people. We’ll explore what the tools are designed to do, who they serve and the benefits and drawbacks of using these technologies for engagement. A facilitated discussion following the speaker presentations will examine the key design factors and questions that organizations need to consider when creating their own games or apps.

►“Citizen Connect Mobile App” by Nigel Jacob / City of Boston

►“Backseat Budgeter Simulation Game" by Brenda Morrison / Engaged Public

Effective Use of Interactive Games for Engagement

Join us to hear about Eric’s exciting work on place-based digital communities, media and urbanism, and games for civic engagement, highlighting the Participatory Chinatown and Community PlanIt games.

►“Games for Engagement” by Eric Gordon / Engagement Games Lab, Emerson College

Pecha Kucha Session

This session features Pecha Kucha presentations (Japanese for “chit chat”). It’s a quick round of talks on a key topic; each presentation is 6 minutes and 40 seconds and highlights a particular app or game for public engagement.  There's also time for networking and discussion too!

►“Crowdbrite: Website and Mobile App” by Darin Dinsmore / Crowdbrite

►"Facilitation First Aid Mobile App" by Stuart Waters / Twyfords

Call for Proposals: Virginia Tech Social Media for Planning Conference

Call for Proposals

Virginia Tech Social Media for Planning Conference

Sponsored by the Virginia Tech Urban Affairs and Planning Program

www.uap.vt.edu

Held simultaneously in two locations, Falls Church and Blacksburg, Virginia

Friday, April 22, 2011

8am-5pm

This program will be submitted for AICP CM credits

Social media tools, communications, databases and other technologies are increasingly being used by planners today in their day-to-day work.  Join us for this one-day conversation that will showcase best practices for how planners are using technology in support of visualization, stakeholder engagement and project management/implementation.

We’re seeking speakers to participate in the day’s program:

• Have a case study or innovation in using social media that you’d like to share with fellow planners across the Commonwealth?
• Or do you have some particular challenges with implementing social media that you’d like to talk about, as part of a conversation about overcoming obstacles to using social media?

Submit your Expressions of Interest by Thursday, March 3.  We’ll let you know by Tuesday, March 8 if your proposal has been accepted.

Click here to submit your Expression of Interest

Questions?  Email Beth Offenbacker

Riders on the Storm Virtual Summit from 28 Feb through 4 Mar

There's a great free virtual event coming up in a few weeks that might be of interest.  It's called The Riders on the Storm International Summit and it's "a free virtual event providing practical advice for facilitators, coaches and professionals."  The conference is "a week-long event taking place from 28 February to 4 March 2011. Each day will have a different topic introduced by an interview with a key note speaker that you can listen to using a computer at a time and place of your choice. The summit will be hosted by Simon Wilson and Carol Sherriff who will facilitate discussions before and after the interview using our dedicated LinkedIn group."

You can learn more at this link.

EPA Call for Proposals for 2011 Public Engmt Conf, due Feb 18

The US Environmental Protection Agency has announced its 2011 Community Involvement Training Conference from July 19-21 in Arlington, Va.

This year's conference theme is "Community Involvement in the 21st Century: Embracing Diversity, Expanding Engagement, Utilizing Technology."  According to the conference call for proposals,"Through this theme, we not only want to showcase community involvement as it is, but also how it is evolving, and what steps may be taken to expand its effectiveness through both existing and new technologies and techniques. We intend to accomplish this by focusing on three key areas—Embracing Diversity, Expanding Engagement and Utilizing Technology—to expand and improve EPA’s efforts to educate, communicate, engage, and partner, in an open and transparent manner, with those who are impacted by environmental issues and concerns."

Proposals are due on Friday, February 18th.  Click on this link to learn more about the conference and the call for proposals.

Call for Proposals: March 2011 Student Conference on Dialogue & Delib

This is a call for proposals for our second annual national student conference in Oxford, Ohio, March 16-19, 2011.
Proposals due Friday, February 4, 2011.

Please save the date and join us at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio for the second annual national student conference on: Dialogue and Deliberation Campus and Community Action Plans and Problem Solving and Practical Application of Skills

This year’s conference theme is “The Citizens’ Toolbox: What’s in Yours?” Continuing from last year’s successful Connect the Dots conference at Point Clear, Alabama, this conference already has a wonderful schedule planned with an exciting group of students, academics, and practitioners in attendance. Please consider hosting a workshop or learning exchange, or traveling with a poster to informally present your work!

For detailed information about the conference, please see our website at http://thecitizenstoolbox.org/ and please be sure to navigate the “call for proposals” section: http://thecitizenstoolbox.org/call-for-proposals/

For more information please contact our steering committee at: citizenstoolbox@gmail.com

We look forward to seeing you in Oxford in the Spring!

Global Conf on Transparency Research: Proposals Due Nov 30th

From an email announcement sent by Suzanne J. Piotrowski:

 

The 1^st Global Conference on Transparency Research takes place at Rutgers University-Newark on May 19-20, 2011.  The deadline for proposals is November 30th, 2010.  Information on the conference and the Call for Papers is provided here:  http://tinyurl.com/2vr6uro.

Conference Program Announcements

Professor Christopher Hood, the Gladstone Professor of Government and Fellow of All Souls College Oxford, is the conference keynote speaker.  The keynote speech is sponsored by Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration and Institutions.

Marco Daglio, Head of the Public Service Delivery Unit, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development will present an overview of the OECD’s Open Government Project.

Martin Tisné, Program Manager of the Transparency and Accountability Initiative, will present an assessment of which areas of inquiry related to transparency and accountability deserve increased scholarly attention. The Transparency and Accountability Initiative is a donor collaborative that includes the Ford Foundation, Hivos, the International Budget Partnership, the Omidyar Network, the Open Society Institute, the Revenue Watch Institute, and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Travel assistance

Conference organizers will provide hotel accommodations and on-site meals for all individuals presenting papers.  A limited number of travel bursaries are available and supported by Canada's International Development Research Centre, the Open Society Institute’s Right To Information Fund, and the World Bank Institute.  Information on travel funding is available on the conference webpage.

For more details contact:

Professor Suzanne J. Piotrowski

Conference Chairperson

School of Public Affairs and Administration

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

spiotrow@andromeda.rutgers.edu

Jan 25 Conf on Museums, Researchers and Engmt:

From an announcement by NCCPE and the Beacons for Engagement:

"Museums, Researchers and Engagement: Working together to develop our skills 

25 January 2011, London

The NCCPE and the Beacons for Public Engagement have come together to host a workshop based around the excellent work already being done between universities, research institutes and museums. In partnership with the University Museums Group – this event aims to:

 

-          Develop mutual understanding between the research community and museums;

-          Showcase effective practice through a number of case studies highlighting the many ways universities and museums can work together;

-          Strengthen networking between museums and universities through exploring skills development and training;

-          Provide opportunities for people to explore potential projects.

We would like to encourage you bring a partner from a university/museum. However if you haven’t got a partner we would still encourage you to attend the event and we will allocate you a partner during the day.

Invitation to participate 

We are currently pulling together the program for this event, and inviting people to submit case studies for consideration. All submitted case studies will be included in our new website – due to launch in December 2010. In addition up to ten case studies will be included in a lunchtime exhibition, and up to three will be invited to share their work in the plenary session.

 

Case studies should be based on projects that have been mutually beneficial partnerships between museums and universities, who have worked together to share engagement skills and opportunities.  They might cover one or more of the following:

 

-          Public engagement in research;

-          Joint development of exhibitions;

-          Public events;

-          Student / Staff volunteering;

-          Curriculum-linked opportunities;

If you would like to contribute to this event by sharing a case study, please fill in and return the case study template. 

All  completed forms need to be returned to Lisa.adlington@uwe.ac.uk

 

Selection

The workshop organisers will select case studies for inclusion in the conference on the basis of:

 

-          Evidence of mutual benefit to all participants;

-          Evidence of effective skills sharing between university staff/ students and museum staff;

-          Innovative and effective public engagement activity;

-          Clearly articulated learning from the project – both challenges and successes;

-          Applicability of approach to other contexts;

-          Sustainability of initiative.

 

In addition we will seek to get a diversity of approaches and relationships including: Type of institutions (HEIs and museums); Participants in the project (students, researchers, museum staff, publics); Scale of project

 

The people involved in the selection process will be: Antonio Benitez, Ceri Black, Sophie Duncan and Sally Macdonald.

 

Deadline

Applications need to be in by 20 November, and we will let you know if you have been successful by 20 December 2010.

 

Booking

Booking for the event will open in November. We are very keen to encourage museum staff and university staff to come together to the event. The event is free, but there will be a charge to those who book but fail to attend.

 

Engage

You or your colleagues may also wish to attend the NCCPE’s Engage 2010 conference on 7&8 December in London. For more information see www.publicengagement.ac.uk/news-and-events.  You would be most welcome!

 

Queries

For any queries, please call Lisa Adlington at NCCPE on 0117 9150192.

5th Annual Public Participation in Transmission Siting Conference

Here's news about an upcoming conference in Las Vegas that might be of interest.
Date: January 10 and 11, 2011

"New transmission is needed to accommodate growing load and new generation sources. The process for getting new transmission sited and built is costly and often controversial. A key tenet of transmission siting is a comprehensive public outreach process. By engaging all stakeholders early and often, transmission owners can balance the need for system improvements with landowner priorities, environmental considerations, and political pressure. However, this is a daunting challenge. Many utility infrastructure projects are modified, delayed, or stopped altogether due to public opposition. These changes are often expensive and can affect the capacity and reliability of the power system.

How can a utility make necessary infrastructure improvements while encouraging relationships with stakeholders and regulators? It is becoming clear that in successfully engaging the public, utilities are moving beyond traditional approaches and employing a wide range of participation techniques.

Resources are limited, and it's more important than ever to ensure that public involvement efforts are efficient and effective...."  Read more about this event at this link.

Nov 19-21: 5th Annual Intl Conference on Engaging the Other: The Power of Compassion

From an email sent by the Common Bond Institute:

5th Annual International Conference on
"ENGAGING THE OTHER:"
The Power of Compassion

November 19-21, 2010
San Francisco Bay Area (Rohnert Park), Calif.

At a time when polarization is the culprit,
a multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary conference addressing fear-based belief systems, negative stereotypes, polarization, enemy images, scapegoating, and artificial barriers of distrust that divide us.

Keynote by Huston Smith

Co-Sponsored by: 
Common Bond Institute,
International Humanistic Psychology Association
Sonoma State University

Endorsed by:
an international list of over 100 organizations and universities

An Official Partner and Event of
the Charter for Compassion
and Parliament of World Religions

Full Conference Details at:
www.cbiworld.org/Pages/Conferences_ETO.htm
(copy & paste address into your browser)

~ A Conference For Everyone ~
Registration is Open to All
Continuing Education Credits (CECs) available

We Invite You To:
an extraordinary conference examining concepts of "The OTHER" from a universal, cross-cultural perspective to promote a wider public dialogue about images of "Us and Them"
JOIN
over 55 presenters, facilitators, and visionaries - and hundreds of concerned individuals, to take part in 3 days of authentic dialogue bridging the divide and cultivating our capacity for appreciation of diversity, reconciliation, and respectful engagement.

PURPOSE OF THE CONFERENCE IS TO:
  > Raise the level, depth, and breadth of public dialogue and awareness on core issues. The conference examines dimensions and dynamics of "The OTHER" on individual and group levels, and considers how enemy identity is formed, perpetuated, and manipulated.
  > Identify and compile fundamental questions, dilemmas, and implications for further deep inquiry and examination in an expanding public dialogue, and to challenge embedded negative belief systems that promote adversarial perceptions of the "The Other."
  > Tap our shared wisdom, compassion, and responsibility as a community - from the local to the global - in developing practical applications to reduce divisiveness and polarization and promote a shared consciousness of peace.
  > Create Networking Opportunities for collaboration
  > Formulate findings and products to make available to all. 

FORMAT AND CONTENT:
AN OUTSTANDING POOL OF OVER 55 PRESENTERS and FACILITATORS addressing concepts of "The Other" from diverse perspectives - including social, cultural, political, psychological, economic, ecological, and spiritual, offering a 3 DAY program of:
- Keynote Speakers, - Interactive Plenary Panels, - Concurrent Break-out Sessions of Workshops and interactive Panels, - Daily Facilitated Dialogue breakout Groups to engage concepts and explore practical applications, - Open Space, - Interactive All-conference Experiences, - Video Addresses by Leading Visionaries, - Action Planning, - Morning Yoga Sessions, - Tibetan Buddhist Sand Mandala Ritual, - Evening Performances, Cultural programs, and Community activities, - Rich Networking and Action Planning - Cross-cultural Community.

"An important, timely dialogue
                        ...everyone needs to be part of "

Program Overview at:
http://www.cbiworld.org/Pages/Conferences_ETO_ProgOverview.htm

LOCATION: Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, Calif. (north of San Francisco)

FOR DETAILS on Program, Registration, Fees, Accommodations, Displays, and Ads CONTACT:

Common Bond Institute
Details at Website: www.cbiworld.org
Steve Olweean, Director, Conference Coordinator
12170 S. Pine Ayr Drive, Climax, MI 49034 USA  
Ph/Fax: 269-665-9393     Email: SOlweean@aol.com
Facebook: http://tinyurl.com/CBIonFB

Invitation & Update on Oct 29 NCDD Northern CA event at De Anza College

We're glad to pass on this announcement from an email sent by Sandy Heierbacher of NCDD:

I hope all of you in Northern California are planning to join us for the NCDD regional event on Friday, October 29th at De Anza College in Cupertino! Please register for "Making Tough Decisions Together" soon at http://ncddsanfrancisco.eventbrite.com/ so we know you're coming.

This is quite the community effort, with numerous local organizations sponsoring (listed below) and the following regional leaders involved in guiding the planning process and leading learning sessions at the event:
- Dave Knapp, City Manager of Cupertino, CA
- Ed Everett, City Manager of Redwood City, CA
- Pete Petersen, Executive Director, Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership/Common Sense California
- Terry Amsler, Program Director, Collaborative Governance Initiative
- Daniel Homsey, Director, Neighborhood Empowerment Network

These leaders have been actively involved in making sure this event addresses the real-world issues you face in your communities. ;You'll be able to interact with them in a hands-on workshop environment to learn successful ways to engage and mobilize people around difficult issues.

Making Tough Decisions Together is co-hosted by The Institute for Community and Civic Engagement (ICCE) and the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation (NCDD).

This conference will bring together elected officials, local government managers and staff, community leaders, students and public engagement practitioners from across Northern California for a day-long conference and workshop to explore practical and innovative strategies for working together to make the tough choices communities face today.

The day is designed to be highly interactive, focusing on best practices in public engagement and community building taking place in various communities in Northern California, and it's a good value—registration is just $85 ($70 for NCDD members, $42 for students). Lunch is included.

Download the event flyer at http://www.ncdd.org/files/ncddnorcalflier.pdf, or visit www.ncdd.org/sanfrancisco2010;for more info on the event, our sponsors, and our amazing planning team.

Registration is live at http://ncddsanfrancisco.eventbrite.com/

Hope you can join us! Feel free to email me with questions. And please forward this invitation to your colleagues in Northern California to help us spread the word!

Sandy Heierbacher
Director, National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD)
e: sandy@thataway.org
w: www.ncdd.org

October 13th OpenGov Community Summit @ NASA (and online)

From an email announcement by Lucas Cioffi sent to the NCDD listserve:

RSVP: http://october-opengov-workshop.eventbrite.com/

What:  The Open Government Community Summit Series is an inter-agency collaborative event hosted by a different agency each month.  Several working groups have formed out of previous workshops, and the focus for the final two workshops of 2010 is to actually build-- not just talk about-- the essential "learning infrastructure" (i.e. collective knowledge resources and standard operating procedures) necessary to sustain the open government community over the long haul.

This month's summit is generously hosted by NASA and facilitated by the Open Forum Foundation.

Something New: Whether you can attend the summit or not, we need your help. Our community lacks some critical elements of this learning infrastructure and we're calling for the OpenGov Community Barn Raising of 2010 which is occurring online now through October 13th.

To participate in building this learning infrastructure prior to the summit, join one of the working groups (OpenGov Inspiration, OpenGov Community Knowledge Management, OpenGov Community Standards) and write a single sentence describing how you'll spend your 30 minutes working on any of the community infrastructure projects that are listed on those pages between now and Oct 13th. Full details for this collective effort are on the wiki.

Note #1: Everyone is highly encouraged to bring a laptop to this event so we can experiment with some new online and in-person collaborative techniques.

Note #2: Due to security restrictions at this location, participants must be US citizens.  Remote participation, however, will be robust and open to all.

When:  Wednesday, October 13, 2010 from 9am-2pm, with an additional opportunity for inter-agency co-working in the workshop space from 2pm-4pm ("co-working" means using a shared workspace to do your normal everyday work in the presence of people doing similar work from other agencies). We highly recommend you allow plenty of time to clear security in the morning.

Who: Federal managers implementing open government programs across all federal agencies, transparency advocates, participation advocates, and collaboration experts.

Where: NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC.  The closest metro stations are L'Enfant Plaza (Blue/Orange/Green/Yellow Lines) and Federal Center SW (Blue/Orange Lines).  Enter the building at the intersection of 4th and E Street SW.

Remote participants will be able to contribute ideas and shape the in-person workshop as it takes place. Final details will be emailed to registered remote participants on October 11th.  We are committed to making this a highly engaging experience even for those that cannot be present in DC that day.  The first hour of presentations will be streamed live; several of the breakout sessions that follow will be in a discussion format and have a 2-way audio feed.  We'll also be using Google Docs for collaborative note-taking and brainstorming, so that remote participants are as connected to the event as possible.  Several of these techniques are experimental; it's open gov, so we're all learning as we go!

Call for Papers: 5th Intl Conf on Prev, Assessment, Rehab & Dev of Brownfields Sites

Wessex Institute of Technology invites papers to be presented at the Fifth International Conference on Prevention, Assessment, Rehabilitation and Development of Brownfields Sites. Conference topics include

• Rehabilitation of brownfields 
• Development issues 
• Remediation studies and technologies 
• Case studies 
• Risk assessment and management  
• Community and public involvement  
• Monitoring of contaminated sites 
• Legislation and regulations 

About the conference 
"Brownfields 2010 follows the success of the first four conferences in this series held in Cádiz (2002), Siena (2004), Tallinn (2006) and Cephalonia (2008). The meeting provides an international forum to discuss the problems facing the public and private sectors, the engineering and scientific communities in terms of the land available for development purposes.

The demand for development land has led to the reuse of properties that have been abandoned for a variety of reasons. Many of them are brownfield sites which have deteriorated in different ways, including by contamination. These sites are usually a burden in terms of economic losses and contribute to the deterioration of the quality of life of entire neighbourhoods. They create enormous social problems in addition to severe land, soil and habitat degradation. The rehabilitation and redevelopment of brownfields and derelict land in general is one of the first priorities of environmental and spatial planning. The main objective for these sites is to find appropriate new uses and activities, taking into account their economic and social acceptability."

Learn more here

Natl Inclusionary Housing Conf Set for Nov 3-5 in DC

Special thanks to Patrick Maeir from the Innovative Housing Institute for this notice:

Registration is now open for the next National Inclusionary Housing Conference, which will be held at the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, D.C. November 3-5, 2010.

According to the conference website, "The Conference serves as an educational and policy analysis forum for practitioners of inclusionary housing, representatives of localities that are considering the adoption of inclusionary programs, developers of inclusionary communities, attorneys, academics, and advocates. They discuss best practices and find answers to challenges that arise with any inclusionary housing program. The conference also seeks to build bridges between key constituencies who often disagree over policy options to address the affordable housing crisis."

To learn more about the conference or join the mailing list for news about this great program, visit www.inclusionary.org.

Democratizing Inequalities conference in NYC, Oct. 15-16, 2010

New York University's Institute for Public Knowledge is hosting a conference this October on the topic "Democratizing Inequities." Held October 15-16, the "conference investigates the consequences of the movement since the 1960s to expand participation across the political and economic landscape."

"In 2010, the sheer number of invitations to 'have your say' can seem overwhelming. The unexpected triumph of progressive values inherent in bottom-up engagement has been hailed by observers as a civic renaissance, a collaborative revolution, a new participation economy. It would appear that public participation is more widespread than ever. But, contrary to long-held assumptions about the relationship between democratization and social equality, this expansion of political equality has been accompanied by a corresponding decline in social and economic equality."

Conference organizers include Caroline Lee from Lafayette University (one of the speakers at the joint PublicDecisions/NCDD webinar in May), Michael McQuarrie from UC Davis and Edward Walker from University of Vermont/University of Michigan.

Learn more about the conference here.