town hall" model adapted to Facebook Groups.
We are almost up to ten new cities and invite you to step up to volunteer
to start one with us for your area.
Interested? Please reply or email me: <email obscured> Or
http://E-Democracy.org/contact
The concept is pretty simple - create an open space for people to talk
local community issues and to share local news and events.
Strong civility with active facilitation is key to bringing local people
from different backgrounds and political views together on a sustained
basis.
Pulling the trigger on this idea was inspired by the great divide in
national politics we see and my frank assessment that nationally it will
get worse before it gets better.
But at the local level, on local issues we must band together to promote
active listening and respect for those with different views where our
common interest in our communities can overcome partisanship. If we don't
do something like this in every community, social media will simply be a
tool to divide us farther and farther apart as it by design puts us in a
filter bubble of content that affirms our views. We need a local-up
strategy.
While there are thousands of neighborhood Facebook Groups and city/region
buy/sell/trade groups, there are very few city-level groups about local
news and issues playing the online town hall and community events bulletin
board role.
Online groups only happen when someone technically creates a group and then
does some outreach. We are drafting an info and rules template and will
connect everyone starting a new group with each other for peer to peer
support.
Again, time to step up. The tech for Facebook Groups is easy and with your
peers you'll get the hang of facilitation that works.
Go Local Democracy!
Thanks,
Steven Clift
E-Democracy.org