Civility and Civil Public Discourse: The Next Generation

The fifth and final video we have sponsored in support of the American Bar Association’s Mediation Week considers how the skills of citizenship are learned in each generation.  The video, “Talking About My Generation,” features an interview with two sophomores at the  University of Missouri,  one majoring in Philosophy and Economics and considering a future legal career,  and one majoring in Strategic Communication.  Both have been actively engaged in promoting civil discourse since high school, where as seniors they helped to run a student led forum known as the “Speak Your Mind” forum.    We invite you to show this video to others in your own community and invite further discussion.  Here are some questions you might ask the group to consider:   What are the skills citizens need now, and will need in the future to preserve our democracy? What are we doing to help our youth learn citizenship skills? What in the video reassured you or raised concerns about youth in the electorate?  How do we as very different generations, with different experiences, needs, and ways of accessing information, work to support each other and learn from each other? We invite you to share your comments and experiences by using the comment feature on this blog.

Interested in helping the next generation learn? Look at the educational resources in the ABA’s “Words Work” Curriculum, or those at FactCheckEd, iCivics, or American Values Are.  These can be used by schools, families and community groups.  Also, the generational research referenced in the video can be found at IOmeChallenge.

All videos were recorded using VTC Stream.  Find out more about this technology at vtcstream.com.  You can use the “embed and share” link to the right of the video to post this to your website or other location.

Civility and Civil Public Discourse: On-line Tools For Collaboration Rather Than Complaint

The fourth video we have sponsored in support of the American Bar Association’s Mediation Week looks at how on-line communication has affected our political discourse, and new platforms that foster more civil discourse.     The video, “On-line Tools For Collaboration Rather Than Complaint“  features a discussion between Sarah Read of The Communications Center, Inc. and Scott Christianson from Kaleidoscope Consulting and VTC Stream.  We invite you to look at several of the sites discussed in the video, including:

White House Open Initiative

Democratizing Data

Manor Labs

Albemarle, VA

Results Minneapolis

Two sites that publish useful studies about online platforms that government entities can use for collaboration include the IBM Business of Government site, and the Knight Commission site which focuses on the information needs of communities in a democracy.

Talk with others about promoting more civil discourse on-line and integrating on-line participation with your systems of government.  We also invite you to share your comments and experiences by using the comment feature on this blog.

All videos were recorded using VTC Stream.  Find out more about this technology at vtcstream.com.  You can use the “embed and share” link to the right of the video to post this to your website or other location.

Civility and Civil Public Discourse: What’s Faith Got To Do With It?

The third video we have sponsored in support of the American Bar Association’s Mediation Week looks at the role religion has played in our current partisan divides and could play in promoting and supporting civil discourse.  The video, “Civility and Civil Public Discourse: What’s Faith Got To Do With It?” features an interview with two retired ministers from The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Reverend Larry Veatch and Reverend John Yonker who discuss why and how people of faith care for, and learn from, each other even as they explore their differences.  We invite you to show this video in your own faith community and invite further discussion.  Here are some questions you might ask the group to consider: what are the traditions in your own faith regarding faith and politics? what texts support civil discourse? what in the video resonated or raised concerns?  how do we as people of faith share our values and also honor our country’s tradition of separation of church and state? We invite you to share your comments and experiences by using the comment feature on this blog.

All videos were recorded using VTC Stream.  Find out more about this technology at vtcstream.com.  You can use the “embed and share” link to the right of the video to post this to your website or other location.

Civility and the Rule of Law

Welcome to our video series sponsored in recognition of the American Bar Association’s Mediation Week which this year focuses on Civility and Civil Public Discourse.  That focus is related to the passage of Resolution 108, which encourages more civil political discourse by the ABA House of Delegates in August, 2011.  Our first video, “Civility and the Rule of Law” features an interview with Professor Richard Reuben, who is the James Lewis Parks Professor of Law at the University of Missouri Law School, and who also, in his role as chair of the ABA Dispute Resolution Committee on Public Policy, Consensus Building and Democracy, played a key role in the drafting of Resolution 108.  We invite you to show this video to groups you may be involved with and invite discussion.  Here are some questions you might ask the group to discuss:   How does civility help improve (or a lack of civility erode) our collective problem solving capacity? What is the rule of law? How does civility interact with the rule of law? What can we do to promote greater civility in our public discourse?  We invite you to share your comments and experiences by using the comment feature on this blog.

You can find additional resources for civil discourse through the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation and through the ABA’s Mediation Week Toolkit.

All videos were recorded using VTC Stream.  Find out more about this technology at vtcstream.com.  You can use the “embed and share” link to the right of the video to post this to your website or other location.