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Creating for each other, not democracy

It's not about creators, it's about building the sustainable collaborative infrastructure that makes civic life accessible, irresistible, and meaningful for everyone.

Creating for each other, not democracy

👋 Howdy Taylor, Timothy, Thomas, Adam, Jennifer, Zachary, Diane, Carine, Rebecca, Mo, Yael, Derek and Sofie! It's great to have you here at Future Community!

Let me know where you're from and what you're looking for here. How can I help? Or send along any questions. Reply here or schedule a chat.

Meanwhile, in Minneapolis today...

Crowds fill the streets of downtown Minneapolis during an "ICE Out" rally on Jan. 23. (Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
Crowds fill the streets of downtown Minneapolis during an "ICE Out" rally on Jan. 23. (Alex Kormann/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Are creators the future of democracy?

That Harvard Magazine headline may actually undersell a Kennedy School hosted conversation I listened in on yesterday - one that brought together some colleagues and heroes (and colleagues who are heroes).

Sure, creators have a role in shaping (and/or shaking down) the future of democracy. But the roles are multiple, varied, and there's much to be done by creators and civic orgs writ large.

I wanted to share a couple takeaways here because the future of democracy is being fought over right now in DC, state legislatures, and on American streets.

It's also being fought over in social media posts, videos of ICE officers filmed from sidewalks, and even in the emails we send asking people to take action and give money.

We have a lot of grand ideas but too little collaborative infrastructure to make civic engagement happen with or without creators.

We, the folks working in/around democracy issues and civic participation, need to do a far far far (far-cubed!) better job documenting and sharing our practices, tests, and experiences with communications, marketing and storytelling.

Overall, this conversation was an example of too much "big think" and not enough collaborative infrastructure building. Give me examples. Share case studies. Feed experiments and get the results out there.

Make the democracy landscape much more visible to far more people working in/around civic engagement projects (which is most every NPO/NGO anywhere).

Matt Fitzgerald spoke to this with something I paraphrased in notes as: "we haven't built out the social infrastructure for knitting our networks / voices together."

Yes! More infrastructure that makes work possible. Less policy wonkery.

We need to fight for people. Not democracy.

A lot of people working in and around big D democracy don't believe it's worth saving. A few panelists implied/said this. And it was a recurring theme in the zoom chat.

To put it another way: how many people want to fight to protect our current democratic institutions?

Aside from those paid to do it, I'm not sure many are that interested in the current setup.

Look at American history. Look at the current moment. Democracy works for some and that "some" keeps shrinking while getting more greedy and violent in its pursuit of protecting its "democracy."

We need clearer visions of future alternatives that big tents of people can and will work towards.

This is a challenge that can't be left to Congress (ha!) and not "democracy" experts. Creators, writers, journalists, and community organizers are the messengers of the future. It's incumbent on our organizations, community leaders, and communications folks to supply them with ideas, frameworks, and tools to share not just visions for the future but the work of turning ideas into plans.

I found this brief essay from December helpful here: Invitation to 21st-century Orators, Griots, Futurists. In it Malkia Devich Cyril and Jen Soriano invite us to "orient our communications toward connection, toward life." We are not fighting to save a concept here (e.g. democracy). We are building connections with each other so that we have the power to create and sustain something new that people will work for with love and care.

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Bright Ideas

This Digital Strategy and Content Creation training put together by AP looks brilliant. It's open to everyone. You don't need to be a journalist. Starts next week.

The New Digital Best Practices training run by Elana Levin and New Media Mentors starts Feb 5.

How storytelling can open the door to thriving futures via The People's Newsroom.

Solutions stories are a compass for readers by Yessenia Funes at Society for Environmental Journalists.

What Do We Want? To Stop Using Google Docs. When do we want it? TBH, it's complicated. Many progressive and social justice groups want to get away from big tech. Google, docs in particular, represent both dependency and a pain point if trying to move. This is a good case study by Dirk Slater in Internet Exchange.

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