Meaningfully engaging young people in the civic process is one of the biggest challenges for us all today. The UK Times reports on an idea which one UK Health Authority tried out which some would say is innovative but others would say its a total waste of public money. What do you think?

"Dismayed by the poor turnout at a series of public meetings to discuss the future of primary healthcare in its area, a health authority in Lancashire resorted to a tried and tested method of luring bottoms on to seats: bribery........."

Gr8 idea. Giv us £££ and we sit thru ur boring meeting

This example brings something important home to me about Engagement which we do well to remember:

Presence is necessary but not sufficient for engagement - Bums on seats does not an audience make.

For some more sustainable approaches to civic engagement check-out Biological civic engagement proposed by think-tank.

Tags: engagement

Bioteams Books Reviews

Organisational teams: thin slice for responsiveness

January 22, 2007 | article by Ken Thompson in Book Reviews (37)

Humans and animals do not need complete information to act; they can operate on various clues provided there is a sufficient context. Organizational teams can also use this thin slicing technique in conjunction with short messaging to enhance their performance. Malcolm Gladwell’s introspective book Blink digs deep into the abyss of human cognition to illustrate the human ability to think at a subconscious level. The idea of thin slicing is used where one is introduced to only a few snippets of information which lead to a series of conclusions based on moments of rapid cognition – an ability claimed to be intrinsically dormant in most humans. By bioteams guest author Max Bhanabhai.

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