Beyond “The Crisis in Civics” – Notes from my 2013 DML talk:
If we want civic participation that is thick, impactful and scaleable:
- We need to get beyond distinctions between politics and activism and think about agency – our goal is to help people bring about the change they want to see in the world.
- We can’t just develop new digital tactics – we need to think about levers of change and understand who we’re hoping to impact and why we believe they can help us make change.
- We need to help people climb ladders of engagement while broadening their understanding of issues, so they can build their own ladders for others to climb.
- We need to understand that thick participation at scale means devolving control away from the center and trusting that the people we are inviting into our movements will shape them going forwards.