Suspect most of us would agree that it's important to educate ourselves and each other, share resources, discuss, debate, clarify and define terms, and share opinions. Thus far, it seems that this blog has been an excellent forum for doing all those things. But if we stop there it will simply be an intellectual exercise - albeit an interesting one.

IMO, using all that information to create change should be the ultimate goal. I think your proposal would move us closer to that goal (and remind us that it is an important goal). I've also had a concern that valuable "nuggets" get lost in the mass of data and are sometimes difficult to find again.

Perhaps it would be possible, in addition to highlighting action items in a weekend post, to move them to a separate page (think dKosopedia) for easy access and editing. Definitions and links to posts, comments, and references (by topic) might also be added over time.

Re: action items. It might be useful to separate those requiring immediate, known action from "goals" which need concrete suggestions about ways to reach them.

The above would obviously require a lot of work. Please let us know if you think the above feasible and how we can assist.  

by Psyche on Tue Dec 13, 2005 at 01:04:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]

One of the great temptations is to think way too big and end up not being able, in the end, to do much of anything at all. Or if, by creating a "list," then its hard to discern which things are best to do.

As we proceed it is important to keep in mind that we do not have the traffic volume of The Daily Kos and "the big blogs," which is where one really wants to go to generate large numbers of letters and phone calls, for example. While those things are fine, is this really the best place for that?

The thing about the blogosphere is figuring out what it is actually good for in the "action" dept. From what I have observed over the past year, there are some very useful things, and some not very useful or highly overrated things.

One thing we do know that this media is very effective for, is discussion. One of the things I hope for is some serious discusssion of what works, what doesn't and why. What are the best ways of going about some things; what are pitfalls.
what in terms engaging the religious right are the best uses of our time, and why.

I also hope we will hear more stories from people's personal experiences, or things they can report on that happened in thier area, preferably with links to news stories and organizational web sites.

I think one of the reasons why the religioius right is as powerful as it is, is the atomization of the efforts of everyone else.

That's one reason why the discussion that is taking place here is very important. We are all getting to know each other. Very different people who share common concerns are learning to talk with one another. Many of us are learning to talk online. This is an aquired skill -- and one that is vital for the struggles to come. These are indeed, actually actions.  So is laying down a baseline of definitions and the history of how we got here. Coming up with the list of Recommended Books, and so on.

If Talk to Action becomes a bulletin board, noting an action here, an action there, we will have missed our opportunity. Learning to think and to talk in an evaluative fashion, is an important part of the goal here. It is a capacity that will serve us well in our political life offline.

Our scoop software has a calendar function, and at some point we will roll it out and be able to begin to use it to notify folks of important events. But our diary space is mostly for thinking, writing and getting very, very good at it.

In order for us to be effective in all of this, right now, we need to think about expanding our audience. How do we get more people reading and participating in Talk to Action? How do we make sure it will be useful, vibrant and full of great reporting and analysis, throughful commentary and smart evaluation of tactics, strategy, message, and so on?

To do a lot of this in any meaningful way, means greatly increasing our site traffic, AND sustaining a useful site culture. How do we incorporate new people in the most useful ways? Well, these are some of the things I am thinking about lately.

by Frederick Clarkson on Tue Dec 13, 2005 at 02:16:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]