Month: November 2021

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How To Citizen with Baratunde - Fast, Fair, Fun (with Digital Minister Audrey Tang)

After a life of civic hacking outside the system through efforts like vTaiwan, Audrey Tang, now Digital Minister of Taiwan, speaks with Baratunde about how to use digital tools to include people in more direct, participatory, democratic practices and her design philosophy of “fast, fair, fun.” She shows how tech can help government be more responsive to and collaborative with its citizens. 


Guest: Audrey Tang

Bio: Digital Minister of Taiwan, open-source software contributor, poetician

Online: Taiwan’s Public Digital Innovation Space; On Twitter @audreyt and the hashtag #FastFairFun


Go to howtocitizen.com for transcripts, our email newsletter, and your citizen practice.


ACTIONS

 

- PERSONALLY REFLECT 

Flexing our personal power

When have you felt justified pushing against an authority in your life? How did you do it and did it achieve your goal? If not, why not? If so, were there other unintended consequences? If you could go back in time, would you change your actions in any way?

 

- BECOME INFORMED

What is Open Government?

Get informed about this idea of "open government." Learn more about Audrey’s work at digitalminister.tw. If you want to go deeper, read the book Open Democracy by Hélène Landemore. It's about centering ordinary citizens in the democratic process. Find it in our online bookstore bookshop.org/shop/howtocitizen. And search social media for the hashtag #OpenGovernment to discover other related thinkers and doers helping us govern ourselves.

 

- PUBLICLY PARTICIPATE

Public Forums

Practice sharing your voice on an issue you care about in a public forum (not just social media). For example, you can comment on upcoming federal regulations at regulations.gov. But the real action is local, so join a participatory budgeting initiative by searching online for “participatory budgeting near me”, or attend a virtual or live city or neighborhood council meeting and offer feedback during the public comment section. Use your voice to influence a public issue. Flex your power!

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NPR's Book of the Day - ‘Misfire’ takes an inside look at the corruption at the heart of the NRA

The National Rifle Association is being sued. The nonprofit at the heart of the gun lobby is accused of diverting money from its charitable mission. NPR investigative journalist Tim Mak has been following the paper trail, much of it tracing back to Wayne LaPierre, longtime leader of the NRA. NPR's Steve Inskeep talked with Mak about his new book, Misfire, detailing congressional investigations, and what the New York state attorney general has identified as tens of millions of dollars of corrupt spending on private jets and six figure suits.
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Short Wave - Bee Superfood: Exploring Honey’s Chemical Complexities

Honey bees know a lot about honey, and humans are starting to catch up. Scientists are now looking at how the chemicals in honey affect bee health. With the help of research scientist Bernarda Calla, Short Wave producer Berly McCoy explains the chemical complexities of honey, how it helps keep honey bees resilient, and what role it may play in saving the bees.

Read Berly's full story on honey in Knowable Magazine: https://bit.ly/3qIXRN3

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It Could Happen Here - The Efficiency Paradox

We're told that increasing energy efficiency will make a big impact on decreasing our carbon emissions, but what if that isn't really the case?

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Curious City - Chicago Movie Locations

Chicago has served as the backdrop for blockbuster films like “The Blues Brothers,” “The Dark Knight,” and “The Break-Up.” But just when did Chicago, sometimes referred to as the “Hollywood of the Midwest,” first become a go-to location for film and TV producers? The answer goes all the way back to the silent film era of the early 1900s when the Essanay Film Manufacturing Co. produced thousands of films from 1907 to 1917 and William Foster debuted “The Railroad Porter” in 1913. Productions shot on location in Chicago ebbed and flowed in the years that followed as Hollywood became a film and television hub. But as of September 2021, a record 15 TV shows were filming here. And with so many things being filmed here, we get asked a lot of questions about what makes certain locations popular for movie shoots? Matt Sigur tracks down some answers for us.
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Consider This from NPR - Half Of Afghanistan’s Population Faces Acute Food Insecurity. Here’s Why.

Afghanistan is facing its worst drought in decades, but that's not the only reason it is on the verge of a hunger crisis. After the Taliban took over, much of the country's international development aid was suspended, and the United States froze $9.5 billion in Afghan government assets. The economy has plummeted.

Richard Trenchard, country director for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Afghanistan, explains what he's heard from farmers and herders.

PBS NewsHour special correspondent Jane Ferguson recently returned from a reporting trip in the country, where she saw hospital wards filling up with malnourished babies and toddlers.

In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

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Honestly with Bari Weiss - The Media’s Verdict on Kyle Rittenhouse

Here is what I thought was true about Kyle Rittenhouse in the last days of August 2020: The 17-year-old was a racist vigilante. I thought he drove across state lines, to Kenosha, Wisc., with an illegally acquired semi-automatic rifle to a town to which he had no connection. I thought he went there because he knew there were Black Lives Matter protests and he wanted to start a fight. And I thought that by the end of the evening of August 25, 2020 he had done just that: killing two peaceful protestors and injuring a third.


It turns out, I was mostly wrong. And if you relied on the mainstream media when it came to Kyle Rittenhouse, you would have been too. Today, a conversation with Jesse Singal, one of the independent journalists who got this story right, and about why so many got it so wrong.


Follow Jesse’s work at jessesingal.substack.com


Read my full column on the Rittenhouse trial: https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/the-medias-verdict-on-kyle-rittenhouse

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