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1999
What's preventing us from improving our communications environment? Can community and news organizations do a better job of communicating? Can new information technologies help shape a system that meets citizens' needs for good communication, thus building community and strengthening democracy? This study examines how three sectors - news media, nonprofit organizations, and high-technology - can exert leadership to improve civic communications in the Puget Sound region.
■ Throughout the history of the American republic, there has been a close relationship between the organization of communication and the form of civic life. From the newspapers and committees of correspondence of the colonial era to the strong relationship between newspaper reading and civic voluntarism, communication and civic life have formed an interlocking system of relationships (Brown 1991; Pasley 2003). Our democratic and civic institutions and the forms of communication that hold them together shape and constrain each other. This balance is strongly affected by two traditions that run through American history and are sometimes at odds. The first is government support for building communication infrastructure (starting with the roads and postal system of colonial America) and the widespread understanding that we need to regulate communication to ensure fair and equal access (Starr 2004). The second is civic voluntarism, the idea that democratic action best emerges from the community level, and that accomplishing community goals is (sometimes) better done through association than through government action (Putnam 2000; Tocque-ville 2004). While these traditions are often posed as being at odds with each other, they are in fact two poles of the same " ecosystem " of communication and civic life in the United States.
This chapter outlines a model for civic communication ecology in an urban environment and discusses the interaction between communication and urban governance environments in the development of local democratic communication.
This commissioned paper develops strategies to implement the vision of the Knight Commission on the Information Needs of Communities, namely: create a Civic Information Corps using the nation’s “service” infrastructure to generate knowledge; engage universities as community information hubs; invest in face-to-face public deliberation; generate public “relational” knowledge; and build an advocacy network that debates and defends public information and knowledge knowledge.
In order that American communities may thrive in a 21st century democratic context, both individuals and organizations across the private, public, and nonprofit sectors must intentionally dedicate themselves to promoting an inclusive flow of information designed to support collective problem-solving, the coordination of community activity, public accountability, and connectedness within the community. Our national commitment to democracy – to ideals of political liberty and equality – means not only that local communities need information adequate for these purposes, but that our practices of information creation, organization, analysis, and transmission be democratic in character. This creates a special community need for good journalism, for a for-profit media environment attentive to issues of access, diversity, relevance, and media power, and for nonprofit institutions that develop and organize information in the public interest that assist communities by actively facilitating democratic conversation for community agenda-setting, problem-solving and conflict resolution. Communities that pursue these aims should be considered “democratic information communities.” Keywords: information, media, journalism, communities, civic engagement, journalism
Communication Studies
Communication Infrastructure, Social Media, and Civic Participation across Geographically Diverse Communities in the United States2021 •
Despite a growing body of scholarship on Communication Infrastructure Theory (CIT), the applicability of CIT as an ecological approach in rural and suburban areas remains largely unexplored in comparison with its urban counterpart. The current study advances CIT across the geographically dispersed communities (i.e., urban, suburban, and rural) and explores how community storytelling networks, through social media and interpersonal discussion, interact with the diverse communities on civic participation. A nationwide online panel survey reveals that community-oriented social media (CSM) use was positively associated with civic participation. The results also indicate that the relationship between CSM and civic participation was stronger for those who reside in rural communities. Interpersonal discussion in this study played a similar role for residents living in suburban communities. This study’s theoretical contribution, policy implications, and practical applications are further di...
2016 •
Communication Research
Communication, Context, and Community: An Exploration of Print, Broadcast, and Internet Influences2001 •
1996 •
All democratic institutions--especially local, state and federal government--are facing a common opportunity and a common dilemma. That is, how to take advantage of computer networks, such as, the Internet, to increase citizen involvement in democratic processes without overloading the existing system with unmangageable input.
In a context of increasing distrust in institutions, including government, media and news, there is need to understand how civic innovators are using media and technology to counter these trends. Based on over 40 interviews with practitioners, this report identifies “civic media practice” as media and technology used to facilitate democratic process. It focuses specifically on those practitioners using media tools to form relationships and build trust - a practice that sometimes runs counter to the apparent needs of organizations to enhance efficiency through technology. This report identifies civic media practice as a direct response to the crisis of distrust and describes the negotiation of values that takes place as media is designed and deployed in organizations. The process of identification and evaluation of civic media practice is described in detail. The report presents a method of process evaluation that allows practitioners to measure their progress along two central axes: social infrastructure and objective. Civic media practice is always striving towards strong social infrastructure and longevity. As a means of measuring progress along these axes, we identify four activities that can be tracked. They include: Network Building, Holding Space for Discussion, Distributing Ownership, and Persistent Input. We present reflective questions that can be asked throughout a civic media project to track progress in these areas. Finally, we provide recommendations for practitioners and funders as they create and support civic media practice. The institution of civic media is nascent. This report is meant to solidify common principles and provide direction for those invested in transforming civic life through media practice.
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Éducation et francophonie
L’Université d’Ottawa à l’égard des défis de l’équité en emploi et en éducation2005 •
Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation
Distribution of α‐chains of type IV collagen in glomerular basement membranes with ultrastructural alterations suggestive of Alport syndrome2001 •
2024 •
IRA-International Journal of Management & Social Sciences
Influence of Gender Diversity on Organization Performance at Kenya Urban Roads Authority2021 •
2022 •
Seminars in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
Impact of Preoperative Atrial Fibrillation on In-Hospital Outcomes of Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting2023 •
4. Civil society and its role in achieving political reform: an analytical jurisprudential study
المجتمع المدني ودوره في تحقيق الإصلاح السياسي # (1)Ethiopian Journal of Biological Sciences
Long-term changes in phyto- and zooplankton communities of Lake Hawassa, Ethiopia2014 •