Articles

The Relationship Between Government Funding for Cultural Activities and Public Engagement

admin — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 08:00:00 +0000

It is often through art and cultural activities that community members find an outlet for expression, preserve their past, and enrich their future. Recently, a link has been found between levels of direct government funding for culture and levels of public engagement in culture.

NCoC Research: Millenials Emerge as Top Users of the Internet to Participate in Everyday Civic Life

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0000

These days it seems that a continuous stream of initiatives are established to foster civic engagement across the country. But is the general sentiment toward participating in civic life one of apathy, or is the discussion of politics and the participation in organized community activities steadily rising?

Study Reports That Using Citizen-Run Community Websites Can Enhance Public Involvement

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:00:00 +0000

The results of a survey conducted by Networked Neigbourhoods in 2011 are revealing that local government leaders are paying more attention to neighborhood websites than ever before. The UK consultancy’s survey results shows that local council officers and elected members consider neighborhood websites to be the most useful online channels, above others such as Facebook or Twitter.

Labor Union Participation Helps Latino Immigrants Overcome Barriers to Civic Engagement

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 08:00:00 +0000

We recently came across a USC Dornsife Study that has revealed a connection between experience in labor unions and the tendency toward civic participation among Latino immigrants in the United States. The study suggests that labor union participation contributes to the political incorporation of Latino immigrant parents by helping them overcome barriers to civic participation that are related to their class and immigrant backgrounds.

Study Highlights Increased Smartphone Internet Use by Minorities

admin — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 07:00:00 +0000

A recent Pew Research Center study indicates a significant rise in smartphone use by minorities, reporting that 44 percent of African Americans and Hispanics say they own a smartphone, compared to just 30 percent of non-Hispanic whites. Of the smartphone operating platforms, Android seems to be the most prevalent type used these days, followed by iPhones and Blackberry devices. Demographically, Android phones are especially common among young adults and African-Americans, as opposed to iPhones and Blackberry devices most commonly used among college graduates and the financially well-off.

National Broadband Plan: A Framework for Building Digitally Inclusive Communities

admin — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 07:00:00 +0000

In a first step toward providing community leaders with tools for assessment and planning, the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS) recently released a preview of Building Digitally Inclusive Communities: A guide to the proposed framework.

Examining Geosocial Mobile App Usage Among American Adults

admin — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 07:00:00 +0000

A recent study released by Pew Research Center on the use of mobile and social location-based services, confirmed that almost six out of ten of smartphone owners use a geosocial or a location-based information service of some kind these days.

The Revival of Mental Maps

admin — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:01:52 +0000

Recently, a team of students from the School of Information at University of California in Berkley, working on their final master project, enlisted the help of San Fransisco residents to find out how people see vs. imagine their city. The purpose of this research? To discover whether an age old process in planning, such as Mental Mapping can be combined with today’s digital mapping tools tools (ie: GIS ) to create a balance of accuracy and precision, truth and objectivity using unconventional combinations of techniques and imagination that comes from access to “local' knowledge of any respective place.

Investigating Wireless Technology and Urban Design

admin — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 20:55:52 +0000

At EngagingCities, we are always interested in sharing industry findings that document how new technologies are continuously changing the social life of urban public spaces. So, when we stumbled upon this photo essay and research study, we just had to share it with our readers. The study focuses on the relationship between the use of wireless technologies and the tendency for people to minimize exposure to diversity.

Using Online Tools - and Building Civic Infrastructure

admin — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 16:00:00 +0000

In some ways, I was an unlikely choice to write a report on Using Online Tools to Engage –and be Engaged by – the Public. My work has centered mainly on face-to-face forms of public engagement. I had only just begun to use a Facebook page to distribute updates and resources to practitioners and researchers. I had to do most of the research on online tools from scratch. I was vaguely suspicious of Facebook status updates, RSS feeds, and (above all) Twitter.

Immersive Planning: Rethinking participation design with new technologies

admin — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Across the globe, urban planners and community decision-makers are embracing new technologies as a way of broadening and diversifying participation in local processes. But how do we design for success with these technologies -- and how do we measure that success? Far too often, indicators such as participant satisfaction surveys and rote number of participants are used to assess the impact of a project.

Online Engagement Tools Emerge as a Key Component for Public Involvement

admin — Tue, 10 May 2011 20:29:36 +0000

A recent study released by Pew Research Center on the Internet and Campaign 2010 shows some strong similarities between politics and planning when it comes to public involvement.

Promising Practices In Online Engagement

admin — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 08:54:39 +0000

The fact that the Internet is one of the most powerful organizing tools in history is both thrilling and vexing to public engagement practitioners working to create the conditions for more effective public involvement in public life. We know that the Internet supercharges political campaigning and we know that like-minded individuals are more able than ever to connect with one another because of the Internet. But what is still unclear is how the Internet might help build capacity and momentum for inclusive, collaborative and boundary-crossing problem-solving at all levels of public life (from the national level to the local level).

New Paper: New Communication Tools and Participation – Social Media in Urban Planning

admin — Thu, 06 May 2010 20:33:40 +0000

The Internet and new Web2.0 tools are changing the way we communicate in an unprecedented way. Weblogs, Microblogs (like Twitter), and social media in general enable worldwide, real-time, multimedia communication with low barriers to entry.