civic engagement – Page 2

Civic Diary 6/25/2016

June 25, 2016 by Steven Savage

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

Another crazy week. 2016 is filled with a lot of unpleasantness. This time the Brexit.

The Brexit is pretty much a great example of how people do not do well in being civicly engaged when you see how many people didn’t get what the Brexit vote was about. With the UK economy hit (and the world economy taking a blow) and people seeing surprised at the same time, it’s a grand example of BS politics, propaganda, and ill-informed voting producing real problems.

Needless to say I’m 1) keeping an eye on the economy, and 2) even more focused on staying civicly engaged. I certainly appreciate my newsfeed more.

Remember my attempts to hook up with a local political party? Well that kept getting changed due to rescheduled meetings – I think some of that was the group wanting to keep some control over attendees since in-person political meetings can at times attract some pronounced personalities. So I basically did two things:

I went to the first meeting I could find without being selective, informed people there of my goal of getting more civicly and politically involved, and got some ideas and flyers. Fortunately my pick was a group who’s interests aligned with my own, so I may have found the right organization through luck.
Dropped by the office of the local political group and got a card for the person running it. I’ll be writing them soon.

So the big lessons here is:

In-person contact seems effective.
Some – probably a lot – of political groups have issues with recruiting. In fact, one I had trouble getting in touch with asks people singing up for contact want to help with recruiting. It reminds me a lot of the issues conventions have had in recruiting.

I’m wondering if a lot of political organizations are bad at recruiter, only recruit among limited populations, etc. It might go a long-way to explaining lack of civic engagement . . . and points to something I may want to do.

So next up is checking out these groups, attending some meetings (that I don’t expect to be cancelled) and seeing how I can get involved. But I’m one step closer.

Here’s a big lesson for civic engagement – keep trying to find the right group or groups for you. At least in my case it was hard.

– Steve

Civic Diary 5/6/2016

May 6, 2016 by Steven Savage

(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr)

So what a week, huh? Donald Trump is almost inevitably the Republican Nominee, and . . . well, Jesus, that’s about all we can focus on right now. Well that and we won’t have Ted Cruz Zodiac Killer jokes until 2020.

As of last week I’d realized I A) Wanted to become more engaged in organized politics or organizations with goals, and B) I didn’t understand as much as I thought. Where am I now?

First, despite that urge to “go out and get involved with some organization” I am holding off. Why? Changing jobs, busy as all get out, and I tend to overcommit. I’m actually going to take time to think this over, though right now “Voter Registration” sounds good.
I confess I’ve wondered if my future career should take me into the arena of political organizations as an IT manager. THAT is what I mean by overcommitting – my skillset tends to mean my commitments are mild or “all in.”
I’m going to look more into what to do in June. Setting a time to strategically ask what more I can do helps.
I’ve come to realized that our civic engagement has two parts to it – strong links and weak links Strong links are where we do specific things in specific organizations for specific goal – helping out a political party or group, etc. Weak links are the weak links of networking – things we don’t do intensely or all the time or in one way, but that have a lot of effects – like helping people look for work or promoting a club. Weak links are weak but numerous, tiny threads of spider silk that hold us together as a civilization.
Civic engagement is really a mix of Strong And Weak Links. If you focus only on the Strong you’re narrowed (and perhaps almost cultishly involved or part of the System in the bad way). If you focus only on the Weak you miss chances to do big things.
Strong And Weak involvements play into each other, and neither is better than the other. Both are needed. I could probably go into this deeper.
I am pretty good at Weak links. I do networking instinctively. I actually think everyone should do that – look for opportunities to connect people to each other.
Keeping myself mindful of civic engagement helps me follow news better – and I thought I was a news junkie beforehand. Being more concious of it just helps me be more aware.
I still debate how much blogging and social media helps. I did chime in on issues of sexism in tech on my blog and promoted some good causes on Twitter that got some attention. I just don’t know if this can do more, or if I should do something else when I do it. I guess part of it is finding what it can do and do it, if that makes sense.
My current big focus of awareness, besides Trump, is how fast the Trans-people-stalking-bathrooms idiocy has spread. In very short time I got to see it go from dumb bills to weirdos trying to protect our bathrooms from innocent trans people in person. Paying attention to news helps you see how fast this dumb-but-evil crap spreads – and let’s face it, this is just a-holes finding a new population to to target to keep the hate motivating their followers.
I like the idea of Civic engagement being constant, regular, predictable. To be part of my life.
I think a big part of Civic engagement is how its part of your identity. Probably going to write more on that.

– Steve

Geek Catalog Update 10/11/2014

October 11, 2014 by Steven Savage

Big update this week for you Civic Geeks! As always you can find the full Geek Focus list here, and the Community Focus here.

Comics

Free Speech
- The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund – A non-profit organization focused on protecting the First Amendment rights of everyone in the comics/publishing/reading chain. Provies legal referrals, representation, advice, assistance and education.
General
- Critlcal Care Comics – Distributes comics to kids in hospitals to make their stay easier!
- Comics For Heroes – Gets comics to people who can’t normally get them, from troops overseas to kids in hospitals.

Computing

Education
- Coder Dojo – A network of volunteer community programming clubs for people 7-17 to help them learn how to code.
- Code 2040 – A nonprofit assisting communities of color by creating paths for education, professional, and entrepreneurial success in technology.

Fans-My Little Pony

Charitable Work
- Bronies For Good – A Brony organization that runs and allies with various worthy causes.

Steampunk

Creativity
- The Artifice Club – A Steampunk club that supports creatives as a nonprofit, especially with events. Has a strong media presence

Video Games

General
- Games For Change – Aids the creation and distribution of socially impactful games that act as tools in humanitarian and educational efforts.
Military Support
- Operation Supply Drop – A military gaming charity that delivers video game care packages for American and American allied soliders in both combat zones and military hospitals.

Writing

Accessibility
- Bookshare – An international charity to make book access easier for people with challenges via digital accessibility, publicity, and technology.
Literacy
- International Board On Books For Young People – A non-profit that brings books and children together, focusing on international understanding, access, quality, support, research, and human rights.
- Reading Is Fundamental – The largest children’s literacy nonprofit in the United States, working with kids, parents, and community to bring the benefits of reading to children.

– Steven Savage

Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at https://www.stevensavage.com/.