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Policy Research, Education and Advocacy

Page history last edited by Robert Hackett 1 month, 3 weeks ago

 

Ideas

  • From Dr. William R. Nylen, Chair, Department of Political Science, Stetson University 

     

    I'm intrigued by the Social Media concept and its applications to service learning and community based research, and to other efforts to promote citizen engagement.  Anything we do along those lines would necessarily have to be localized, with links to regional or national organizations and networks. 

     

    For example, given concerns here in Central Florida with suburban sprawl and environmental protection (one of many localized issues), I have this idea of engaging Stetson University students in a process of gathering land use petitions for rezonings, annexations, and the like shortly after they are submitted to the local authorities, then superimposing each one onto a map of the county that would be posted on a public website, also maintained by students, alongside a listing of all subsequent steps in the process – dates, locations, etc. – as well as the respective authorities who have a hand in that decision-making process.  Local administrators and 'outsiders' all agree that by the time most opportunities arrive for the public to have a say in such matters, most decisions have essentially already been made at earlier steps in the process.  So the public voice is superfluous on one of the key issues of a community like the one we live in.  The web-map would be linked to, or actually set alongside, a blog-site that would serve as an information-sharing and a local networking tool.  People who want to be alerted to land use changes in their communities could elect to be notified via email or via some Social Media (e.g. facebook) whenever such an issue comes up.  Students from my university would operate and maintain the website.

     

    An overall home for this and other issue-specific sites would be a virtual institute: the Stetson Institute of Public Education.  This Institute would also contain spaces – separate websites as well as links to/from the issue sites – for local groups that may or may not have the time or resources to construct their own sites.  Again, students could assist in the process of teaching folks how to construct, then maintain, these websites.  The sites themselves could be housed in the Stetson University IT system. Or if they exist already, they could simply be linked to the Stetson-maintained website.  The Institute website could also be used to foster awareness of public lectures and other informational events both on our campus and within the community at large.

 

Examples

 

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