Civic Intelligence Questions

The idea of intelligence (knowledge, cognition) being distributed in a group, or in artifacts, customs and situations, is in my view an interesting one not so much because of any questions that it might answer as because of the many it raises. -- Nickerson

This list is evolving. It's essential to note that people from a large number of disciplines and orientations are addressing these questions. In other words, just because a question is here doesn't mean it isn't being examined.

What is civic intelligence?

Does it exist? How can it be identified or measured?

How is it manifested?

What are the implications of adopting a normative (i.e. "civic") orientation?

How can civic intelligence be most usefully characterized?

How can it be examined?

How does its manifestation vary from community to community, culture to culture, historical period to historical period?

What cultural characteristics does it take on?

What factors are antagonistic and particularly effective against it?

Does civic intelligence "work" on research and/or social action levels? Does it resonate with people? Do aspects of the orientation help explain or motivate? Does it provide a meaningful frame for integrating projects?

How does it relate to the concept of social capital?

How does it relate to the concept of the public sphere?

What other concepts might it be seriously compared to?

What role do institutions play in influencing civic intelligence?

What role does technology play?

What can be done to improve it?

What type of models can most usefully be employed to help answer some of these questions?

How well does the internal model help perpetuate processes that lead to goals of the organization? How well-suited is it to obtaining resources, facilitating discussion internally, engaging with the environment? What contributes to its success or failure?

What is the process whereby civic intelligence emerges?

What is the "life-cycle" of an idea or campaign or civic issue -- but, much more importantly, what causes / influences its growth, diminution, rebirth, etc. ?

How does this approach differ from the dictates of the "realism" school in international relations?

How do we characterize problems that humankind faces? What types of mental models do inviduals, scientists, activists, employ?

What type of civic intelligence is needed for each?

How does civic intelligence evolve? (The Dutch, for example, evolved certain approaches to promote the handling of their collective security through dike building.)

What is the relation between describing and prescribing using civic intelligence?

What is the relationship between the civic intelligence of an organization and that of a network of organizations or, even, society as a whole.

Can a theory of civic intelligence be used to forecast evns? Can a theory of civic intelligence anticipate consequences of, say, increased collaboration?

How well does what we believe about human intelligence (or organizational, for that matter) work with the civic intelligence model?

Do some orientations result in different types of engagement, intelligence, etc.?

What types of projects would a new civic intelligence orientation suggest?