The City: Good, Bad, Ugly

Perceiving Cities We all have ideas about the places we live. I have set up this blog to create a collection of images that tap into these various perceptions. As the images are submitted, I am mapping them at http://goo.gl/maps/Q8fzg. Why? Recent research has demonstrated that the belief a given place is in disrepair predicts future crime better than actual disrepair. In other words, the simple perception that an area is nasty or disorderly is correlated with higher rates of crime in that area in the future. I hope to gather and map images to (a) better understand what people believe to be nasty and disorderly and (b) locate these places so as to encourage investing resources in those areas. Ideally, this approach could help reduce crime. Instructions 1. Take pictures of order, disorder, beauty, and ugliness in your community or while you travel. I want images of the good, the bad, and the ugly from anywhere in the world. 2. Click on “Order and Disorder” below. 3. Submit an image with a brief description of where and why you took the picture. Please tag the photos! In your description you should provide an address or indicate the nearest intersection. Geocoded photos are welcome! Disclaimer These photos should focus on public space. Everything posted here is public information for public use so don’t take pictures of yourself or others doing illegal stuff! Anything inappropriate will not be posted. Send me your questions and concerns by clicking on “Ask me anything” below. Copyright When you submit an image to this site, you are giving the image to the commons. If you want to maintain ownership of the image, please add a note in the caption when you submit the image. Email me at [email protected] with any questions.

[daveosociologist]

Taking Action: Navigating Common Challenges

The following post first appeared under a different title on the Democracy Rising blog hosted by Resilience.org. We live in an increasingly polarized and partisan world. As you work to create deliberative dialogues, you will face many challenges. This post looks at two of those: getting people to show up, and ensuring that participation is productive. Although these challenges are different,…

[daveosociologist]

Taking Action: Harnessing The Power of Systems

The following post first appeared under a different title on the Democracy Rising blog hosted by Resilience.org. You can’t switch on your light if you don’t plug it in. Energy flows through networked systems, and if you aren’t connected you are limited in what you can do. Even if you are connected, a break or constraint in the broader network will affect how that energy reaches you. The same…

[daveosociologist]

Taking Action: Choosing The Right Tools

The following post first appeared on the Democracy Rising blog hosted by Resilience.org. “Less talk, more action!” This is a complaint I often hear from citizens. Yet talk is action, if it is the right kind of talk. The right kind of talk involves the actions of careful listening, thoughtful reflection, and non-argumentative sharing of information and ideas. This kind of talk is grounded in the…

[daveosociologist]

Planning For Civil Discourse About Gun Violence

As we noted in our last post, political parties and citizens alike remain deeply divided on what might be done to reduce gun violence. There is however growing support for reducing that violence. Doing so will require more  substantive and civil dialogue that is sustained over time. In February we were selected by the National Institute for Civil Discourse to write an essay on how to navigate…

[daveosociologist]

Navigating Cognitive Errors

In this series of posts we look at what you as a a facilitator can do to prevent “cognitive errors”  from derailing dialogues.  What is a “cognitive error”?  It’s a thinking pattern that distorts the processing of facts, emotions and other information.  Cognitive errors are often behind impasses or angry “flare-ups” in discussion. Cognitive errors we will be reviewing in future posts…

[daveosociologist]

More on Cognitive Errors

There are several other cognitive errors that regularly appear in our political discussions, including those related to gun violence. These include the following: Mind reading: Although there is little evidence that most of us can accurately read minds, many indulge in that exercise anyway.  Mind reading sounds like this: “I know what they’re thinking, they’re thinking X and that means we need to…

[daveosociologist]

Guns and Dialogue: Exploring Why Civil Discourse Is So Difficult

After the mass shooting in Newtown, communities around the nation began dialogues on what steps might be taken to reduce gun violence.  Some states have adopted new laws, and in others no resolution has been forthcoming.  As Congress returns next week to to take up the issue, political parties and citizens alike remain deeply divided on how to proceed.  Simple discussion of the issue can raise…

[daveosociologist]

Cognitive Errors – Polarized Thinking

Polarized Thinking is a cognitive error that is a close cousin to over-generalization and filtering.  This error is very common in our political culture.  “Polarized thinking”  involves forcing complex issues into “either/or” pairings.  This forced pairing then encourages debate between which of the paired options is better and discourages exploration of the information, experiences, or values…

[daveosociologist]

Cognitive Errors – Overgeneralization and Filtering

We continue our series on cognitive errors today with a discussion of over-generalization and filtering. Over-generalization involves using one piece of data, or just a few data points to form broad conclusions.   This thinking pattern is well represented in discussions on gun violence.  Here are a few examples: +Background checks are “useless” because “criminals will never submit to them.”…

[daveosociologist]

Cognitive Errors – Catastrophizing and Personalization

Continuing our series on cognitive errors, we review two in this post that often lead to flare-ups of incivility.  These are  catastrophizing and personalization. Catastrophizing is evidenced by a dramatic anticipation of disaster and corresponding defensive reaction. For example, +”They’re preparing for armed rebellion and ready to destroy our country” or +”The ultimate goal of the liberals is a…

[daveosociologist]

Celebrate ABA Mediation Week 2012

Welcome to ABA Mediation Week 2012!  You are invited to join us at a celebration of mediation and civil public discourse at the University Missouri law school on Friday October 19 at 5:30 p.m.  The ABA’s Mediation Week Tool-kit features several resources on civic engagement, including this blog. We have been busy over the past few months promoting civil public discourse.  Just last week Dave was…

[daveosociologist]

Taking Action: Getting Started

The following post first appeared under a different title on the Democracy Rising blog hosted by Resilience.org. Bloom where you are planted.[i] As explained in our last post, the deliberations of citizens are a kind of “ecological filter” that when applied at any level can improve our democracy. Simply beginning a discussion that moves beyond “likes” and sharing on social media, and beyond the…

[daveosociologist]

Taking Action: What Can One Citizen Do?

The following post first appeared under the Title “Getting Started with Dialogue & Deliberation” on the Democracy Rising blog hosted by Resilience.org. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”[1] Many citizens today doubt their ability to make a difference, and so retreat from the political arena in…

[daveosociologist]

I Am Thankful For Our Federal Workers

One form of disinformation is the “look over there, not over here” narrative, especially when used to scapegoat a person or a population. We are currently hearing a version of this narrative in the form of an attack on federal employees who are being portrayed as representative of government bloat or corruption.  Yet let’s look at why we have federal employees: Who works to ensure the safety …

[daveosociologist]

What Now?

As we noted back in 2017, you reap what you sow. The seeds of this week’s unrest and Capitol riot have been sown for many years throughout our political and popular culture. Conspiracy theories and other forms of misinformation propagated and were allowed to thrive. This week we witnessed the harvest of anger and resentment and their related narratives of hate. In a democracy that values…

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[daveosociologist]

Improving Our Information

For several weeks now I have been teaching a class called “Democracy Lab.” The class reflects the hypothesis that increasing both dialogue and critical thinking skills will improve our democracy. As we discussed the current state of our politics, two key themes emerged, both relating to the information available to voters.  The first theme related to information validation and transparency, and…

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[daveosociologist]

Thinking Together

We got to where we are politically today through millions of consumer driven decisions on what information to look at and where. How many of those decisions were driven by a desire to be comfortable, to have one’s worldview or worst fears confirmed?

To move forward, we need to build new ways of sifting through the waves of information pushed at us. One way to do that is to spend time thinking…

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