*** Democracies Online Newswire - http://e-democracy.org/do *** *** *** *** Up to seven posts a week. To join over 2500 subscribers, *** *** e-mail <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, in message: sub do-wire ***
Online small group techniques and youth ... I found this digging into the links at the Dialogue to Action Initiative web site: http://www.thataway.org/dialogue/ Specifically: http://www.thataway.org/dialogue/res/res_intro.htm You might also find this U.S. conference of interest: National Conference on Dialogue & Deliberation, October 4-6, 2002 http://thataway.org/conference/ Steven Clift Democracies Online See: http://globalkids.org/ea911/ http://www.globalkids.org/index.shtml From: http://130.94.20.119/cgi- bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=9&t=000001 bjoseph Junior Member Member # 161 Rate Member posted May 08, 2002 12:44 PM ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- I think a project we just completed here at Global Kids is a good model of how some of what you asked can be achieved. The web is not always an effective place to fight racism, but when done properly it can be a remarkable tool. We just completed a project called Everything After: a 9.11 Youth Circle (E.A.9.11). E.A.9.11 <http://www.ea911.org>, lauded by the New York Times as "the antithesis of stereotypical teen chat in its tenor and structure," was the first youth-only application of the small group dialogue technique (SGD). SGD is a technique I developed a few years ago (patent pending) for coordinating a large number of groups composed of a small number of people into short-term discussions on hot button issues. Previous SGDs focused on racism and the presidential impeachment. E.A.9.11 coincided with the six-month anniversary of September 11th. This two-month long project gave 350 young people aged 14 - 19 an opportunity for sustained discussion of the ongoing emotional, social, and political impacts of the terrorist attacks. E.A.9.11 participants came from urban, rural, and suburban areas in 48 U.S. states, plus 19 other countries. Each youth circle was monitored by specially trained Global Kids Leaders, who consulted on the management and development of the project. Unlike the "drive by" postings made by anonymous users of other chat rooms or message boards, E.A.9.11 fostered in-depth conversations among small groups, who, despite their diversity, came to know and trust each other over a three-week period. Groups set their own agendas, with over 200 discussion topics (and 1800 messages) ranging from U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East to airport security. Questions groups posed included: What should we do with Ground Zero? What would you say to the terrorists? Should Hollywood tackle 9/11? Predictably, conversations also branched out, touching on stem cell research, capital punishment, the separation of church and state, gay rights, education reform, and more. So what can we in this discussion learn from E.A.9.11. The site (funded through a generous grant from the Surdna Foundation) was developed in partnership with PBS.org and YouthNOISE - two competing youth sites - and supported by over two dozen other youth and education web sites. By keeping the project short term, and directing their youth to a "neutral" party that would be fazed out of existence, an opportunity was created for those used to competing for eyeballs to work together and share their resources. As a result, it was a great success. I hope this can be a model others can learn from. Barry Joseph [EMAIL PROTECTED] Global Kids www.ea911.org ^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. Clift - W: http://www.publicus.net Minneapolis - - - E: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Minnesota - - - - - T: +1.612.822.8667 USA - - - - - - - ICQ: 13789183 *** Past Messages, Discussion http://e-democracy.org/do *** *** To subscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** Message body: SUB DO-WIRE *** *** To UNSUBSCRIBE instead, write: UNSUB DO-WIRE *** *** Please forward this post to others and encourage *** *** them to subscribe to the free DO-WIRE service. *** *** Please send submissions to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
