MAIN > SPOTLIGHT ARCHIVE > Joseph Kahne (Nov 03)

Monday 3rd November 2008 8:00 am

Joseph Kahne: Puget Sound Off, A New Form of Civic Infrastructure

A civic engagement researcher reflects on the recent workshop held by the Civic Learning Online Project. He argues that sites like Puget Sound Off could provide an important new form of social capital.

Several weeks ago I attended a workshop at the University of Washington on the Civic Learning Online project. The project, led by Lance Bennett, is an ambitious and exciting endeavor that has just launched Puget Sound Off – a site that links civic engagement to social networking. The site developed through a partnership of folks from the University, the city of Seattle, and a range of youth serving groups. The more I listened, the clearer it became that this kind of site could provide an important new form of social capital – one with the potential to facilitate coordinated support for civic engagement among schools, civic organizations, youth groups, the private sector, and city agencies. It could lead to civic and political learning, expression, and action among youth. Indeed, a site like Puget Sound Off may well become a valued piece of civic infrastructure – a place where individual young people, as well as those who are part of religious groups, youth organizations, and schools, for example, can find out about issues, share perspectives, and learn about ways to get involved.

Will it work? There are, of course, a number of challenges. Much of our conversation was about possible goals for Puget Sound Off and about strategies for realizing success. For example,

  • Will youth visit the site?
  • How should Puget Sound Off engage youth in guiding the development of Puget Sound Off?
  • Will the site deepen youths’ understandings of issues?
  • Will the site foster engagement with institutions in ways that lead to change?
  • Will the site foster productive dialogs among those with differing perspectives?
  • What is a productive dialog among those with differing perspectives in an online context?

Thinking through these issues will take time. There’s no doubt, for example, that deepening teens’ (as well as adults) understanding of issues is important. But simply providing information via the web would likely prove unused or ineffective. Moreover, part of the promise of Puget Sound Off lies in finding new ways to engage young people as creators of civic knowledge and of strategies to address civic concerns. There are many options. How exactly to pursue this goal, however, is not clear.

Category: Civic-Engagement

Tags:

Like this post?

  • Email this page using tell-a-friend, or
  • Save it with one of these social bookmarking tools: , or
  • View author profile for Joseph Kahne.

Comments

Submit Thoughts

We would love to have you add in the discussion. Please submit your content to our editorial review board:

Name (public):

Email (required but private, only used if our editors need to contact you):

Upload your photo (recommended: this helps bridge online/offline worlds)

Affiliation (public):

URL of your website or institution (public):

Comments:
(We will automatically remove html codes.)

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Please enter the word you see in the image:

(Warning: You will NOT be warned if our spam filters delete your comment. Cutting and pasting tends to confuse our spam filters, so always keep a copy. If your comment passes the spam test, you will be shown a brief "Thank You" message after hitting the Submit button, otherwise you will be returned to this page with your comment gone and no warning. Only comments that pass the spam test will be emailed to our editors for approval and posting. Contact our editors using the link in the footer if you have a problem.)

Produced by Games for Change. | TOP