Deborah, I am so pleased to hear about your thrilling experience with RealTalk. I wonder if you are aware of the work of AmericaSpeaks, which regularly brings the public together for large-scale "town hall" events that address important municipal, regional, or national issues? These forums are made possible through the smart application of wireless and network technology to facilitate deliberation.
You might enjoy the video clip (it takes a while to load) at: www.americaspeaks.org/america_speaks.mov or visit the "town hall tour" in the services section of the site. It would be great to track the growth of these forums across the US! Very best, Lars -- Lars Hasselblad Torres Researcher, AmericaSpeaks 1612 U Street, NW Suite 408 Washington, DC 20009 DC: 202-549-8346 VT: 802-223-4288 FX: 202-299-0128 On the web at: http://www.americaspeaks.org On 4/23/05 2:55 PM, "Deborah Elizabeth Finn" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > (A more detailed version of this item is available on my blog at > <http://blog.deborah.elizabeth.finn.com/blog/_archives/2005/4/22/607624.html>) > > > Dear Colleagues, > > On Thursday evening, I attending a RealTalk > <http://www.massinc.org/real_talk/index.html> forum in Boston on "New > Civic Leadership" that was jointly sponsored by Massachusetts > Institute for a New Commonwealth, United Leaders, and ONE in3. > > What I really love about these RealTalk events is the interactivity of > the discussion. Each participant was provided with a wireless device - > supplied by a firm called Machine Dreams <http://machine-dreams.com> - > that enabled him or her to give responses to survey questions that > were posed by John Schneider. These responses were instantly > tabulated and displayed on a large screen, and the same devices also > functioned as wireless microphones, so that participants could > interact with the panelists in the discussions that followed each > question > > Naturally, I was in geek heaven! I love cool new tools, but it's very > seldom that I can wholeheartedly recommend something transcendently > cool to a nonprofit or philanthropic organization. Transcendent > coolness is simply not a guarantee that a particular technology will > serve the organization's mission. > > However, in this case, the wireless devices really did serve the > mission. When we are encouraging a new generation of folks in > Massachusetts to become civic leaders, it make sense to do instant > surveys of their demographic characteristics and their opinions about > current and future opportunities for civic engagement. What an > opportunity to deepen everyone's knowledge in real time! > > Best regards from Deborah > > Deborah Elizabeth Finn > Boston, Massachusetts, USA > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://blog.deborah.elizabeth.finn.com/blog > http://public.xdi.org/=deborah.elizabeth.finn > > _______________________________________________ > DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list > [email protected] > http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide > To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with > the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
