Defining civic engagement, democracy, civic renewal, and related terms

defining civic engagement, democracy, civic renewal, and related terms « Peter Levine:

"My post entitled “What is the definition of civic engagement?” gets lots of traffic. It does not actually present my definition but a compendium of alternative versions. I have volunteered to draft some new definitions for a particular purpose. This is what I am thinking:"

Several civics definitions are presented.

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10 Ways to Collaborate with Government

10 Ways to Collaborate w/ Gov | Code for America:

• To help citizens get started in their community, we’ve put together the guide How To: Collaborate with Government. We wanted to share a list of 10 tips for reaching out and collaborating with government.

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Free tool monitors public procurement for corruption

Homepage - Transparency International-USA:

• TI-USA has recently completed the Civil Society Procurement Monitoring (CSPM) Tool, a web-based tool that is meant to support Civil Society Organizations and individuals who are engaged in monitoring public procurement.

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You don’t have to be a hero to be a helper

Idealist Blog » Blog Archive » You don’t have to be a hero to be a helper:

• Back in April, we posted about professor Adam Grant’s endless capacity for helping and his research on the positive effects of generosity. We also listed some ways to get ahead by giving from Grant’s new book “Give and Take.” One thing we haven’t talked about, though, is the underlying feeling that may keep many of us from boarding the give-and-gain train.

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How to protest against NSA surveillance on the Fourth of July

People's Blog for the Constitution » How to protest against NSA surveillance on Fourth of July:

This is a guide we put together about planning and executing successful protests.

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How to Mobilize Civic Engagement

How to Mobilize Civic Engagement | Case Foundation:

Enter iLegislate -- a new iPad app from Granicus -- to streamline engagement. Through powerful civic engagement dashboards and integration with Granicus’ Citizen Participation Suite, government leaders can now connect with regular citizens.

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PublicStuff is a program that aids citizens' requests with their city officials

Details: PublicStuff builds a civic network that connects government and citizens:

• We [PublicStuff] offer the most efficient, cost effective way for city officials to communicate with their citizens, and guarantee citizens’ requests go to the right city official. We pride ourselves on providing instant access to government with the ability to confirm you’ve been heard and to track the progress of your request.
• Our Citizen Engagement Management Tools enable city representatives to view issues and resolution data by geographic boundaries, date ranges, residents and department to improve their digital communications outreach to residents.

govfresh

Download the free Occupy Organizer Guide handbook

Details: InterOccupy | Organizer Guide:

• Occupy The Economy in collaboration with Occupy Love has put together a guide to help anyone organize and plan actions this spring. It is a nice summary of why we think it will be important to recommit to camping and raising public awareness about these issues. We hope many of you will check it out and join us in building a new economic paradigm that works for everyone.
• Download the handbook.

InterOccupy

PeopleCount gives you an issue profile to share with your state and federal representatives

PeopleCount | About:

• PeopleCount.org is a non-partisan organization that empowers the public to communicate constructively by taking stands on political issues influencing the country today and seeing the collective results. Through each political profile on PeopleCount.org, users are given a voice to provide relevant and timely solutions to government issues, including some that are not yet in the mainstream news.
• With PeopleCount.org, you can create your unique political profile on issues such as climate change and renewable energy. Each profile is a set of questions asking for your positions or beliefs about issues or legislation. A short while after a profile appears, the collective opinions will automatically be shared with you and your elected officials.
• PeopleCount.org is also open to state and federal representatives, allowing our leaders to be accountable and see where their constituents stand on issues.

PeopleCount.org

Thunderclap allows a single message to be mass-shared on the internet

Thunderclap

• Social media is an easy way to say something, but it’s a difficult way to be heard. Thunderclap is the first-ever crowdspeaking platform that helps people be heard by saying something together. It allows a single message to be mass-shared, flash mob-style, that rises above the noise of your social networks. By boosting the signal at the same time, Thunderclap helps a single person create action and change like never before.
• The beauty of Thunderclap is that it sets the goalposts—one message, one number, one date. It's a common threshold you and your supporters work toward together. It's a tangible way to measure awareness.

Thunderclap

"Activism II," a poem

Activism II
by David Weller


who dares is who cares
about his own interest
through activism of him
who moves the earth
through thick and thin
about government
what it's meant, intents
his heart speaks out
about issue mis-use
overturning doubt
with news, his views
coming together
to forge and renew
change for good
because what matters
has meaning, not feeling

Finding public records online

5 Great Online Tools for Mining Public Records:

• Thanks to our open records laws, you can find a treasure trove of information on the web—everything from details about publically traded companies to where stimulus funds are going. You can even submit Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests online.
• FOIA Online
• Recovery.gov
• The Consumer Complaint Database
• SEC's Electronic Data-Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval System (EDGAR)
• Ethics.gov

Project on Government Oversight

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How to get involved in the regulatory process

Regulatory Resource Center | Center for Effective Government:

The Regulatory Resource Center is designed to educate citizens on how they can become involved in the regulatory process and to inform the public about how the process works.

Center for Effective Government

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New Book: "Citizenship: What Every American Needs to Know"

>> NCoC: Book Release: Citizenship: What Every American Needs to Know:
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"Book Release: Citizenship: What Every American Needs to Know"
by NCoC
June 29, 2012

• A new book compiled by Brenda Star of StarGroup International will be hitting the shelves this July. Citizenship: What Every American Needs to Know is a compact easy-to-read, concise educational book about America: its history, its government and how it works.

• Chapters in the book include two civics tests (with answers), an American history timeline, an overview of “how government works”, important historical documents, inspiring stories, information on volunteering, service-learning, the armed forces and much more. We also included resources, and names of organizations that are involved in civics education.

You can order your copy(s) from StarGroup Books.

How-to videos on getting a social change job

WHAT IS iOnPoverty?:
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"What is iOnPoverty.tv?"
iOnPoverty

• Interested in a social change career? Unemployed? Underemployed? Unhappy at a soul-less 9-5 job? 
• Our videos are the cure for the common career challenge. See what your peers say or >> check the videos out:
• Uncensored, no BS conversations with the info you need to get hired and make a difference.
• Content you can't get anywhere else, like how to survive an interview ("Scared Shitless") or what you should (and should not) put on your résumé ("The Résumé Scam").
• We call our guests Pathfinders. You can call them your mentors, role models, inspiration and friends. 
• Get the power to work at changing the world. You (and the world) can’t afford to wait.

How to break the banks that stole from America

>> 5 Ways to Break the Banks That Stole from America | Occupy.com:
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"5 Ways to break the banks that stole from America"
by Stephen Lerner
Occupy.com
August 9, 2012

• Two critical tools--the LIBOR fraud scandal and the potential to start exercising eminent domain to seize bank-owned properties--can supercharge the ongoing campaigns focused on Wall Street. For the first time we can align moral and legal arguments with real leverage to demand that banks renegotiate the debt that is bankrupting communities and drowning homeowners around the country. The single most important step we can take to address local budget deficits is to force banks to renegotiate toxic deals held by local government and to rewrite mortgages for underwater homeowners. Combined, this would pump hundreds of billions into local economies.

• It is time to REBEL against Wall Street and the big banks and to start fixing the economy and reclaim our democracy. There are five steps to this [details in article]:
• Renegotiate public and housing debt.
• Exercise eminent domain.
• Boycott big banks and move public money.
• Enact resolutions at local governments and pension funds.
• Litigate and legislate.

• It is our responsibility to REBEL. All of our futures depend on it!

198 methods of civil resistance, with today's technology

>> Civil Resistance 2.0 | 198 Nonviolent Methods Upgraded:
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"Civil Resistance 2.0 | 198 Nonviolent Methods Upgraded"
The Meta-Activism Project
Last edit 23 days ago

• The purpose of this research project is to revisit Gene Sharp's 198 methods of nonviolent protest within the context of new digital technologies and social media platforms.

Three Google Docs spreadsheets list his methods, upgraded "2.0" methods and remarks.  A summary sheet concludes the work.

Anyone may contribute to the web spreadsheets online.

A cover story by Meta-Activism's blog gives additional information about the project.

Quickly determine and join your favorite presidential candidate's campaign!

>> Project Vote Smart’s VoteEasy ™:
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"VoteEasy"
Project Vote Smart
2012


Using an easy, graphical webpage, compare your views on any or all of 13 national issues with those of the major party and top minor party presidential candidates.  Then, volunteer and support your preferred candidate's campaign!

Join a nonviolent protest or set up your own with the Protest4 app

>> How to organize and communicate a non-violent protest using the Protest4 App | Movements.org:
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"How to organize and communicate a non-violent protest using the Protest4 App"
posted by Rachel Silver
Movements.org
n.d.

• Protest4 is an application that helps you connect with other protesters around the world and in the next street. It empowers anyone to create a protest and then invite others to join using social media. After joining you can communicate exclusively with other people who are following that protest, sharing text and publishing images on the same protest wall in real time.

• Find developing protests near you
• Recruit new people to join your protest
• Amazing on-the-day crowd management tool with all protestors publishing comments and images on the same wall in real-time
• Connect one-to-one with anybody in your protest before, during and after a protest

• Protest4 is Multi Platform available on the iPhone, Android, and Facebook.

How to become a successful activist: Activist Kit from Common Cause

>> Activist Kit - Common Cause:
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Activist Kit: Common Cause's Guide to Citizen Action

Common Cause

• How to Lobby
• When to Lobby
• How to Contact Elected Officials
• How Laws are Passed in Congress
• 10 Things You Can Do

• Article's Readability.com format (read/ print/ share/ send to Kindle)
• Article's Google.com Cached Page (text only)
• WOT (MyWOT.com) Reputation Scorecard for commoncause.org
• WMTIPS.com Site Information Tool for commoncause.org
• Article's related Google.com sites

Work cited (Using MLA 7)
"Activist Kit." Common Cause. Common Cause, n.d. Web. 28 July 2012. <http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG>.