DFE Proposal: Issue book on Information; database project

I have two possible ideas for a DFE proposal at the Charles F. Kettering Foundation in Dayton OH. One is definitely doable from a distance, and the other would at the very least require several trips to Dayton. These ideas are different than from what I presented in class for Texas Forums. I think working with Taylor Willingham on wikis and online deliberation would be wonderful, but I know I am not in a position to do so with my current skill set. I am interested in talking to the Illinois students about their work with Taylor. I worked at Kettering for five years, and I admit these are projects I always wanted to do while I was there but didn’t know where to begin. Skills learned at SI might make these projects a reality. I've also realized I actually care about deliberative democracy, which wasn't always apparent while working at KF. I do not think it is necessarily the best way to think of democracy, but it is compelling to me and I'd like to explore it now that I no longer work there full-time. And, I'm interested in exploring these issues from the community information perspective. 1. After hearing comments in class, I thought it might be an interesting project to write a National Issues Forums book on an information issue, such as the digital divide, libraries in the information age, or general issues over the information age and how citizens are coping with it. This issue book would not have to be national in scope; in fact, I feel it would be more valuable if written for a local community such as Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Detroit, or a Detroit suburb. Grand Rapids is also a potential location, as I believe they already have an active NIF community. Issue books take one issue and after a general overview, identify three major approaches to understanding and fixing a problem. For example, there are books on social security, America’s role in the world, the environment, and so on. I discovered that California Issues Forums has an issue book called "Internet Choices in Public Libraries." Thus, I feel like this could be a very achievable book, and could contribute to public deliberation. The more local a project, the more impact I think it could have. The project relates to SI as I (or someone else though it helps to understand the KF/NIF culture) could draw upon readings from courses to help with initial research into the project. It would be necessary to have focus groups, or naming and framing sessions, with people in the community to help generate the approaches in the issue book. If I were to actually do this project, I would get a chance to write an issue book and try to fix what I see as some of the limitations to them, or at the very least learn to appreciate why these limitations exist, as well as explore a significant information problem in depth. Another possibility is to focus the issue book on the University of Michigan community possibly by focusing on student information needs. This actually might relate to another project I participated in last summer concerning student civic engagement, or lack of it. A key part of this project would involve participating in a workshop on moderator training. These workshops are held across the United States and there may be one in Lansing; if not I know there is one in Columbus OH. Then, it would be necessary to actually lead forums based on the issue books with community members and report on the outcome of the forums to Kettering. Ideally, the forums would be valuable for the community and to contribute knowledge on how people feel about a specific information issue. There are several possibilities for mentors, including program officers at the Kettering Foundation and writers of issues books. This will be the trickiest part of the internship proposal. However, KF hosts about 6 international students a year in internship type opportunities, and they usually produce an issue book during their time at KF, so mentoring is available. Debi Witte, Alice Diebel, and one of the authors of an issue book are all potential mentors. This project probably would take 20 hours a week for a summer to complete. The biggest obstacle to completing it in a summer is actually holding the forums and reporting on them. It might be necessary to write the book over the summer and hold the forums in the fall, either as another internship or on my own time. There is also the possibility of attending workshops and meeting at Kettering to learn from colleagues across the country doing similar work. 2. Another idea is an analysis of the Abstract Database. The Abstract database includes abstracts written by researchers over the last ten years, if not more, on books and articles dealing with some element of deliberative democracy, public work, and community building. These abstracts are a valuable but under utilized resource. The database is in need of major restructuring. As it turns out, I am under contract for Kettering and may end up taking on this project as one of my responsibilities. It is possible I could receive DFE credit for it, so I am including it here as a possibility. I think this project could relate to SI skill sets by using database design skills, information architecture skills, and non-profit management skills. This abstract database is available at the KF website, and is searchable by keywords, author, title, and several other fields. It’s not an easy search system and doesn’t always work as promised. Not only could the interface and database be redesigned, but the resource could use better publicity as well. The mentor for this would likely be program officer Debi Witte, who manages the information resources at KF, but while she can help with this project, probably does not have the time to be a mentor. My guess is while it would be nice to get credit for this project, it is more likely to be a project I work on in my spare time. But I don’t want to rule it out, as there is a slight possibility KF is hiring a new person or company to help with their database that might be willing to work as a mentor. --Anne Thomason