Engaging Citizens and Building Social Capital:
The Exceptional Civic Story of Portland Oregon
and
the Role of Information Technology.
Steve Johnson, Ph.D.
Portland State University
Portland, Oregon USA
Background
 Experiments
with online communications
early 1970s
 Social network project on Arpanet, 1978 First NGO computer technical assistance
network, late 1980s
Where is Portland Oregon?
Portland Oregon
Metropolitan
population: 1.5 million
State of Oregon: 3.5 million
98,000 square miles
Trends of Civic Engagement in
America
www.BowlingAlone.com
What is social capital?


If physical capital is wholly tangible, being embodied in
observable material form, and human capital is less
tangible, being embodied in the skills and knowledge
acquired by an individual, social capital is less tangible
yet, for it exists in the relations among persons.
Example, a park that is safe in a neighborhood vs.
having to secure it with police
Civic engagement and Trust

A society characterized by generalized
reciprocity is more efficient than a distrustful
society
 Frequent interaction among a diverse set of
people tends to produce a norm of generalized
reciprocity.
 Civic engagement and social capital entail
mutual obligation and responsibility for action.
AVERAGE MEMBERSHIP RATE IN 32 NATIONAL CHAPTER-BASED
VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS 1900-1997
World
War II
Mean
membership
rate for the
20th century
World
War I
Great
Depre ssion
1900
1910
1920
1930
1940
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
ATTENDANCE AT PUBLIC MEETINGS
ON LOCAL AFFAIRS COLLAPSES
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
FAMILY DINNERS BECOME
LESS COMMON 1977-1999
60%
“Our whole
family
usually eats
dinner
together.”
(married
respondents
only)
50%
Generally o r
mo derately
agree
40%
Defi nite ly
Ag ree
30%
Disa gree
20%
10%
0%
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
FOUR DECADES OF DWINDLING
TRUST-ADULTS AND TEENAGERS
1960-1999
Percent
60
Who say
“most people
can be trusted” 50
instead of you
can’t
40
be too careful
in dealing
with people.” 30
Adu lts
(mul tisurvey
averag e)
High
school
stu dents
20
10
0
196 0
196 5
197 0
197 5
198 0
198 5
199 0
199 5
200 0
Putnam’s Assessment of social capital and
civic engagement decline
Causes of Social capital and Civic Engagement
decline
5%
10%
10%
Tim e an d Mone y
25%
Electron ic ente rtain ment
Genera tion al
sub urban izatio n
oth er
50%
Character of Today’s Civic
Participation



The more that activities depend on the actions of others,
the greater the drop-off in participation.
Cooperative forms of behavior have declined more
rapidly than expressive forms of behavior (e.g. letter
writing)
More citizens participate through issue focused groups,
extreme views are overly represented
The Exceptional Civic Life of
Portland, Oregon
Photo courtesy of Portland Oregon Visitors Association
Depth of Citizen Participation in
Portland and Oregon
 3000
civic organizations
 1 out of 15 people significantly involved in
civic life
 Current neighborhood system, 60 paid
staff, 600+ volunteer positions with
neighborhood associations
Honors









Best Bicycling city (Bicycling magazine)
Best Walking City (Prevention magazine)
Most Sustainable Policies (SustainLane)
Most Vegan Friendly (Vegetarian magazine)
Most Enlightened (Utne Reader)
Best city for dogs (Dog Fancy magazine)
Most woman-owned businesses (SBA)
Second best city for disabled citizens
One of the most attractive for young creatives
(Rise of Creative Class)
The Health of a Civic Infrastructure
Elements of a Healthy Civic
Infrastructure







Opportunity
Effective actions
Civic Space
Global & Local
Facilitative leadership
Deliberative
Democratic dialogue
Sustainable civic
story

These Audiences






Young
Elder
New comers
Disadvantaged
Challenging groups
Diverse population
Wisdom of Crowds
Wisdom of Crowds
 Difficult
choice facing American
democracy predicted by De Tocqueville
 Many social and environmental problems
can’t be solved without participation (chart)
 Government becomes facilitator of
community problem solving
 Citizens need new civic skills and
knowledge to be effective citizens
 The example of naming a candy bar
Hardware and Software Solutions
Problem
Hard solution
Defensive spending
Soft solution
Crime
Police
Security systems
Prisons
Sewer system
Collection/
incineration
Pentagon spending
Community policing
Water pollution
Waste
War
Child care
Commuting
Property loss/
Health care
Storm water disconnect
Recycling
Diplomacy
“welfare” spending
Private providers
extended family
Neighbors
More/better highways car pooling
Flex car
Mass transit
Insurance
Neighborliness
Barn raising
Preventative health
Social network support
care giving
Civic Engagement and the
Internet
Overview of Internet Use
Internet and Broadband 1996--2006
Internet Users
Demographics of Internet Users
February--April 2006 survey
Total Adults
Gender
Women
Men
Age
18-29
30-49
50-64
65+
Race
White
Black
English Speaking Hispanic
Type of Community
Urban
Suburban
Rural
Income
Less than $30,000/yr
$30,000-$49,999
$50,000-$74,999
$75,000Education
Less than high school
High school
Some college
73%
71%
74%
88%
84%
71%
32%
X
X
73%
61%
76%
75%
75%
63%
53%
80%
86%
91%
X
40%
64%
84%
X
Growth of use of Internet by
NGOs
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
yr. 2000
yr. 2002
yr. 2004
Access to Political Information and
Public Affairs
Americans Getting More News
Online
News: the double edged sword
 Internet
features such as
customization can narrow the
information obtained online.
 Latest surveys show that more people
now only access standard news
sources, just online now.
E Government
E Government--Use Profile

97 million or 77% of internet users have gone
online to search for government information and
to communicate with them.
 More Americans contact government by
telephone but the WWW is the second most
popular means
 Internet users accessing government
information online are more successful in
achieving their purpose (65% to 53% margin)
Digital Divides
Most Important Digital Divides--in terms
of civic engagement

Age. Highest along young, lowest among older Americans
Educational Attainment. High among college graduates, low
without high school diplomas
Income. Highest use with households with $75,000 or more

Disability Status—low with people with disabilities

Language Preference—low among people with language other than
English
Race and ethnicity—Highest among Whites and Asian-Americans,
lower among African Americans
Community type—Highest in urban and suburban areas, lowest in
rural areas




Digital Divide: Education
High
School
Incomplete
A. Look for information you
needed for your work?
B. Home finances or
banking?
C. Look for information
about a product that you
might want to buy?
D. Actually buy something?
E. Invest money in a stock or
mutual fund?
F. Tried to meet people
for social purpose
G. Look for information about
a health concern or medical
problem?
H. Make an airplane or
other travel reservation?
I. Locate someoneХs phone
number, email, or mailing
address?
J. Play a game with someone
on another computer
K. Look for a new job or
explore career
opportunities?
L Go to chat room, news
group to discuss public
affairs
M. Go to a Web site to find
info about political/policy
issues, current affairs, or
campaigns?
High
School
Graduate
Some
College
College
Graduate
Graduate
School
42%
45%
56%
74%
84%
34
39
58
59
63
74
50
71
42
80
56
88
70
86
71
6
9
14
22
21
27
16
15
15
11
57
55
61
66
69
24
25
42
55
55
49
50
51
55
66
32
24
22
17
12
37
37
49
50
48
32
20
19
20
22
18
23
75
39
50
X
X
Civic Engagement Gap
 Internet
does not appear to be increasing
youth involved in civic life
 The youngest and least educated remain
the least involved
 Older and well education the most
involved
Local Places and Non-Local Places
Putnam on Importance of Place
 “Technologies
like the Internet mean that
our connections with people around the
country and around the world are getting
closer, while our ties to our neighbors
across the street are weakening.”
(Putnam)
Loss of Local
 Citizens
access more national but not local
news online
 Some evidence suggests long distance
social networks strengthened at expense
of local social networks
 Blogs, likewise tend to be about general
news and information not local
Public Space and Deliberative
Democracy
Public or Civic Space

Habermas linked the birth of the modern liberal
democracy during the 18th century to the
emergence of public spaces, such as
coffeehouses, clubs, salons, societies, and
voluntary associations, and the press where the
public can organize itself as the bearer of public
opinion.
 He also noted the current trend to privatize
public space which undermines the role of civic
space.
Deliberative Democracy

The internet prompts more knee-jerk reactions
than deliberative responses (Stephen Bates, Annenberg)
 And when there is more interesting discourse,
you can tell it's people who just love to hear the
sound of their own voices. They're not really
listening to other people.
 It gives people a way to respond instantly and
often angrily and aggressively without taking the
time to mull something over.
The Blog World





30% (50 million) of all American Internet users visited a
Blog site in first quarter of 2005
8% (12 million) adult users of the Internet have a blog
54% of bloggers say that they have never published their
writing or media creations
More than half (54%) of bloggers are under the age of
30.
bloggers are less likely to be white than the general
internet population.
Conclusion
Social and Political Characteristics of
Online World--organizations





Organizational membership may be loose, drive
by, quick to form and quick to dissolve
Increase in intra-organizational communication
Local groups can have more national and global
ties and perspective
Social networks displacing traditional group
membership, “networked individuals”
Strengthening affinity groups at expense of
cross-differences
Social and Political characteristics-Individual
 May
increase expressive forms of citizen
participation
 Individual actions may have more power
 Fosters weak ties at a distance
 Citizens may retreat to comfort zones
 Community moves in doors may be hard
to detect
Broadband Growth
100%
88%
90%
80%
70%
84%
73%
71%
66%
60%
50%
2006
2005
42%
40%
32%
29%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Internet
users
broadband
18-29
30-49
50-64
over 65
Crowds of Wisdom Software






Wikipedia
RSS feeds
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Podcasts
Youtube

Bit Torrent
 Flickr
 Digg
 FlashofBrilliance.net
Traffic
It’s a “Long Tail” world –
Chris Anderson notion
20%-40% of traffic or sales
in the “long tail”
Content
NGOs and the Long Tail

The increasing willingness of individuals to make
online transactions plus the significantly lower
transaction costs of online giving has flipped this
longstanding rule on its head. As a result,
organizations and campaigns are experiencing
an increase in the number of smaller
contributions.
 For example, Dean for America raised more
money than any Democratic presidential primary
campaign in history, all with donations averaging
less than $100 each.
Civic Democracy--Innovations

Democracy Portal--Seattle
 Open Politics, Canada
 Moveon.com
 Popandpolitics.com and Rock the Vote
 Meetup.com

http://dowire.org/ Democracies online Blog

Advokit
ChangeEverything
 Sponsored
by large credit union/bank in
Canada
 People list their social and environmental
goals
 Others share theirs, support groups form
to help individuals meet their goals
Civic Engagement and Internet
Scorecard
Opportunity
Access to Information
Civic Innovation
Public and civic Space
Deliberative democracy
mobilization of resources
think global act local
Local knowledge and stories
Audiences
Young
New Comers
Elder
Disadvantaged
Diverse population
Increases
Increases
Increases
Critical Problem
Critical Problem
increases
Increases
Critical Problem
Mixed
uncertain
Critical Problem
Mixed
uncertain
EXTRA SLIDES
The Digital Natives
NPO Computing
 General
support,
http://www.501c3cast.com/#
 PACE, Philanthropy for new style of NPO
 E-Volve Foundation, support for online
civic engagement
 Craig’s List Bay Area Boot Camp
 Community Technology Center’s Network
http://www.ctcnet.org/
What to Do in the Civil Society
Sector

Design connective strategies
 Push power to the edges
 Meet them where they are
 Learn from and with the grassroots
 Membership alone is not enough
 Need for organizational flexibility (like Dell Computer)
 Develop New sets of civic skills
 Take advantage of spontaneous intelligent mobs
Civic Engagement: Definition
 Civic
engagement refers to activities by
which people participate in civic,
community and political life and by doing
so express their commitment to
community
 Such activities include volunteering,
voting, community organizing, political
advocacy
What Information Citizens Access
Got information from government WWW site
Conducted research
Tourist information
Health and safety information
Sent email to government employees
Government benefits
66%
41%
34%
28%
27%
23%