"All sorts of reasons have been advanced in recent years to explain the decline of community in America, including the way we design our neighborhoods, the increased mobility of the average American, and demographic shifts like the movement of women into the labor force. But the onslaught of television and other electronic technologies is usually cited as the main culprit. As Harvard sociologist Robert Putnam puts it, these technologies are increasingly "privatizing our leisure time" and "undermining our connections with one another and with our communities."

In his essay "The Strange Disappearance of Civic America," Putnam draws a direct parallel between the arrival of television and the decline of what he calls "social capital" — the social networks, trust, and norms of reciprocity that are the essence of healthy communities.

"An Alternative to Robert's Rules of Order for Groups, Organizations and Ad Hoc Assemblies that Want to Operate By Consensus.

Let's compare what this Short Guide has to say with what Robert's Rules of Order requires. Assume that a few dozen people have gotten together, on their own, at a community center because they are upset with a new policy or program recently announced by their local officials. After several impassioned speeches, someone suggests that the group appoint a moderator to "keep order" and ensure that the conversation proceeds effectively. Someone else wants to know how the group will decide what to recommend after they are done debating. "Will they vote?" this person wants to know. At this point, everyone turns to Joe, who has had experience as a moderator. Joe moves to the front of the room and explains that he will follow Robert's Rules of Order. From that moment on, the conversation takes on a very formal tone.

"Collaboration can be found almost anywhere. Some of the roots of collaboration are found in natural social skills developed by children through play. When these lessons are learned in childhood, we learn that together, we can accomplish more than we can usually accomplish alone."

"There has been increased emphasis on intentional innovation, on conscious efforts to develop a more systematic approach to innovation. Rather than wait idly by for social innovations to appear, practitioners and organizations around the world are working to understand and establish methodologies, frameworks, and processes that stimulate social innovation and aim to increase the chances of its success. This is an important development.

Yet, there is an intrinsic character to innovation that resists the linearity imposed by many traditional frameworks. And, while it is important to pursue these more structured methods, it is equally as important to pursue approaches that embrace the unique, magical quality of emergent innovation.

Much of the existing literature acknowledges the need to set the conditions for social innovation, but rarely does it discuss what those conditions should be.