Invitation to a national public issue dialogue initiative

The National Dialogue Network (NDN) is an ambitious project inspired by a contest held by the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation (NCDD).  It aims to engage thousands, if not millions of Americans in focused dialogue and deliberation on a single public issue, using many diverse conversational methods.  It will also broadly engage the public in evaluating the results of that widespread public conversation, harvesting useful insights both about the issue and about the mass-participation process that was used to explore it.

The NDN is envisioned as an ongoing action research project which, as it succeeds and expands, will engage more and more people around more and more public issues in increasingly productive ways, while contributing to the development of the professional field of dialogue and deliberation.  This would catalyze a leap forward in participatory democracy.

NDN has just recently launched their initial effort and they have asked me to invite you to join in.

The first step involves helping choose the public issue that will be the focus of NDN’s citizen engagement program for the rest of this year.  The deadline for participating in this issue-choosing process is April 15th.  If you’d like to join in, go to
 (where you will encounter the text below) and answer their survey questions.

This should be interesting!

Coheartedly,
Tom

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https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1197537/2a47879eeb60?key=Co-Intelligence+Institute&Source=NCDD-1.1b-Campaign
Short link:  

This is the National Dialogue Network
Winner of the
2012 Catalyst Award for Civic Infrastructure from the
National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation

You are invited to help determine the inaugural issue for the 2013 National Dialogue Network.

We each deal with important issues every day, but very few issues are dealt with by all of us together.

Our goal is to engage thousands, then millions, of people in important national scale issues in as collaborative, sustainable, diverse, and cost effective manner as possible.

This is the first of five public cycles throughout 2013 that will culminate in a better understanding of the opinions and values of all participants at local, regional, and national scales. If you want to learn more about the five public cycles model, please review this 11 minute video: 

(Please note: this National Dialogue Network is independent of the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation. While we do collaborate we are unaffiliated.)

• (March/April) –
This first cycle will determine the general issue that all remaining cycles will focus on.

• (May/June/July/August) –
The second cycle will develop core materials on the selected issue for national distribution during cycle three.

• (September/October) –
The third cycle presents the core materials and national survey to all who wish to participate. Materials can be used independently or integrated into other method and products. The core national survey can also be extended privately for local needs and/or other issues.

• (October/November) –
Cycle four will ask the public to help analyze results in as transparent and open manner as practical — a final report will be created and publically distributed.

• (November/December/January) –
Finally, cycle five provides the time and opportunity for broad public reflection on the results and the process overall. How can we increase participation rates in 2014?