Tom will be presenting at the 25th edition of PechaKucha Chicago at Martyr’s on March 5 at 8:00pm. What is PechaKucha? “PechaKucha 20×20 is a simple presentation format where you show 20 images, each for 20 seconds. The images advance automatically and you talk along to the images. PechaKucha Nights are informal and fun gatherings where creative people get together and share their ideas, works, thoughts, holiday snaps — just about anything, really — in the PechaKucha 20×20 format.” Get tickets here.
Category Archives: Civic Life
Sound Off At TIF Town Meeting
I’ll be presenting at a community town meeting on TIFs on February 12 at the Chopin Theater! Find out the details and RSVP on Facebook.
Featured Speakers:
- Ben Joravsky – Award winning political reporter.
- Tom Tresser – Citizen activist and civic educator, CivicLab co-founder.
- Dr. Richard Dye – Professor at UIC Institute of Government + Public Affairs. (Research finding TIF districts hinder growth)
At the end of 2011 there was $1.39 billion left in TIF bank accounts, yet the City claimed a budget deficit of $636 million at the start of 2012. 30% of Chicago is a TIF district!
The Tax Integrity and Fairness Alliance is hosting a Town Meeting to spread knowledge and demand change on Tuesday, February 12th from 7-9pm, at the Chopin Theatre, 1543 West Division.
Featured Breakout Groups: Citizen Investigation, “Become a TIF Illuminator” with Tom Tresser. Participatory Budgeting, “Design Your Own Utopia” with Sharon Post of Chicago Political Economy Group. “Grassroots Organizing,” with Steven Serikaku, retired CTU teacher and PDA-IL activist. Speak up. Bring your questions!
Download a flier = TIF Town Meeting flyer / Download the press release = TIF Town Hall press release
Listen To Dave: Privatization Is No Panacea
Editor Emeritus Dave Zweifel has been with The Capital Times since he graduated from UW-Madison in 1962, serving as the paper’s editor in chief from 1983 to 2008. He was president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council for 15 years, served as a Pulitzer Prize judge in 2000 and 2001, and named to the Wisconsin Newspaper Hall of Fame in 2011.
The common perception among many Americans is that government simply can’t do anything right.
There are whole books of jokes that feature government as the punch line. See those three guys filling a pothole? One’s working and two are supervising. But, what the heck, that’s close enough for government work.
To be sure, there are lots of inefficiencies in some government programs and because of the sheer size of the federal government, often one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing.
We know about that because in our democracy, government is open. When a government official or a bureaucrat does something foolish or wastes valuable resources or unnecessarily spends taxpayers’ money, there are news stories about it. When defense contracts come in way over budget, it makes the news. When a government official holds a meeting at a lavish resort, it hits the press, as it should. With rare exceptions, they can’t hide their mistakes or misdeeds.
That’s not usually the case in private business. Although the mistakes are just as rampant, just as wasteful, just as irresponsible, it’s much easier to sweep the problem under the rug without anyone except the insiders knowing about it. There is no free press serving as a watchdog on private business, as is its function with government…
For every example of alleged ineptitude in government there’s an example of incompetence in the private sector. There are some things that government, working on behalf of all the people, can do better, just as there are some jobs that only private companies should do.
The challenge for us is to not yield to inaccurate perceptions, but to be able to tell the difference.
Talk On Tech & Social Change
I’ll be doing a talk and workshop on “Using Technology For Social Change & Community Organizing” at the Bronzeville Visitor Information Center, Friday, November 30, 2-4pm. 3401 South King Drive.RSVP to 773-819-2053.
- How are people using the Internet & social media to effect change and make their voice heard?
- How do you use Facebook & Twitter for social change?
- How might Chicago groups use these tools to affect change here?
“Welcome To The Gift Economy” @ Bioneers Chicago
I was at the Bioneers Chicago on Saturday, November 3 doing a workshop on “Welcome to the Gift Economy” – it was a critique of our current financial system and the institutions that teach it and about giftedness and P2P reciprocity. We CREATED our very own Gift Economy on the spot! Here is the deck:
Neighborland – New Tool For Civic Engagment
Check out CivicLab’s call for ideas and collaboration at Neighborland, a tool for sharing ideas and sparking civic collaboration.
Join Us @ Pumping Station One
CivicLab’s first hack meeting is being generously hosted by Pumping Station: One on Thursday Oct 18th, 7:00PM – 9:00PM.
Snacks, beer, and non-alcoholic beverages provided!
How can open source technology, design, and data accelerate social change and community improvement efforts? From Open 311′s city tracking system and the Grassroots Mapping of environmental impacts, to pedal powered electricity and LED banners at protests; design and technology have proven to be robust change agents.
CivicLab is entering the field with an initiative called “Hacks for Activists” (H4A). H4A seeks to build tools that solve common problems plaguing community organizers. We’re looking for activists, designers, coders, open hardware enthusiasts, and anyone with the slightest interest in technology for social change.
Here’s a few ideas we’re currently exploring but new projects are most welcome:
- Sign Me Up: An SMS/web based tool to replace paper sign-up sheets at community organizing meetings.
- Crowd Speaker: An application that would leverage participants’ cell phones as a collective public announcement system at rallies.
For more information and notifications about future meetings, you can contact bsugar [at] skilfullycurled.org, or visit our web site at http://www.civiclab.us.
Please sign up on our Eventbrite so we can get an idea of how many to expect: http://hacksforactivists.eventbrite.com
“Crowdsourcing Social Change” @ TEDxDePaul
Tom presented on “Crowdsourcing Social Change” at TEDxDePaul on October 13. You can watch the presentation deck and listen to the audio here (18 minutes). We did some crowdsourcing on the spot – asking attendees to reveal how much student debt they will have upon graduation and to share ideas for dealing with mounting and unmanageable student debt. Thanks to the folks at GoSoapBox for the use of their platform for this demonstration! Participate here.
College Makes a Difference – For Civic Engagement
According to a new report from CIRCLE, “That’s NOT Democracy – How Out-of-School Youth Engage in Civic Life and What Stands in Their Way,” 62% of young people with college experience voted in the 2008 Presidential election versus only 36% of young people with no college experience.
“Barber Shop Show” Strolls Down Olympics Memory Lane
The unique WBEZ public affairs interview program, The Barber Shop Show, interviewed Tom as part of a special show looking at the impacts and politics of the Olympics. Listen to the program:
bss87.mp3 on Vocalo.org 89.5