Friday, April 22, 2011
Equity & Opportunity on Citizens' Minds in King County
How do you feel about the state of equity and economic opportunity in King County? What do those terms mean to you? And what, if anything, should county government do to help address disparities -- along ethnic and economic lines, as well as between urban and rural areas? That's the topic of discussion in the latest round of Countywide Community Forums launched this week in King County, Washington.
Twice a year, this innovative citizen-engagement program invites the public to weigh in on a topic the King County government is wrestling with. At CCF's Zanby-powered website, anyone who lives or works in King County can register as a volunteer Citizen Councilor, watch a brief video overview of the current topic, discuss the topic in a face-to-face meeting or online forum, and take a survey to register your opinion. Survey results are then compiled and presented to county leaders to help them make better decisions about how to shape policy and use the county's scarce resources more effectively.
Labels: civic engagement, countywide community forums, dialogue, gov 2.0, open government, transparency
Posted by Leif Utne at 12:39 PM
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Monday, February 14, 2011
Happy Valentine's Day from Zanby
We ran across this cool NASA photo of a heart-shaped gas cloud today on Discover's Bad Astronomy blog:
This image is of a region called W5, part of a bigger complex of gas and dust shining 6000 light years away in the constellation of Cassiopeia. The resemblance to a Valentine is remarkable!
What you're actually seeing here is an enormous star-forming factory 150 light years across. Deep in its (haha) heart massive, hot, and bright stars are being born. When they switch on for the first time, they blast out a flood of ultraviolet light as well as a fierce wind of subatomic particles. These eat away at the cloud from the inside-out, forming an enormous cavity. It's the edges of this cavity that form the cosmic valentine.
We're especially fond of cosmic imagery like this because nothing illustrates nature's habit of forming groups (and groups of groups) better than galaxies -- which are groups of star systems, which are groups of planets and asteroids, which are groups of... you get the picture. We look forward to continuing to work with you building the infrastructure to support movements for a greener, kinder, more prosperous world.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Harvard-Smithsonian CfA
Labels: 350, center for courage and renewal, cotton network, countywide community forums, gov 2.0, rework the world, tax coalition, the uptake, valentine
Posted by Leif Utne at 8:16 PM
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