Re: An IBM user group's final message: pwrdwnsys *immed

This book was published in 2000. That would mean the 500,000 interviews
would have been done last century - IBM was still selling the AS/400 back
then. The Democrats were still 'in power'... There was no facebook or
myspace. When you say "these days", surely you don't mean 2000?

Is there something you have that applies to the 21st century? Or, 2008?


On 10/25/08 5:45 PM, "jde iSeries" <jde.iseries@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Hey Trevor Perry, thanks for the links to the successful events on MP3

and

pillow fights. I agree that people will show up for some events

(thousands

of people are attending political events to see and listen to

Palin or Biden

or Obama or McCain)'

But sadly, people are more solitary

and isolated and disconnected these

days. Remember the book "Bowling Alone"?

http://www.bowlingalone.com/

BOWLING ALONE: THE COLLAPSE AND
REVIVAL OF

AMERICAN COMMUNITY

by Robert D. Putnam

(New York: Simon & Schuster,

2000).

In a groundbreaking book based on vast new data, Putnam shows how we

have

become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, and

our

democratic structures-- and how we may reconnect.
Putnam warns that our

stock of social capital - the very fabric of our

connections with each other,

has plummeted, impoverishing our lives and

communities.

Putnam draws on

evidence including nearly 500,000 interviews

over the last quarter century to

show that we sign fewer petitions, belong

to fewer organizations that meet,

know our neighbors less, meet with friends

less frequently, and even

socialize with our families less often. We're even

bowling alone. More

Americans are bowling than ever before, but they are not

bowling in leagues.

Putnam shows how changes in work, family structure, age,

suburban life,

television, computers, women's roles and other factors have

contributed to

this decline.

America has civicly reinvented itself before -- approximately

100 years ago

at the turn of the last century. And America can civicly

reinvent itself

again - find out how and help make it happen at our companion

site,

BetterTogether.org, an initiative of the Saguaro Seminar on Civic

Engagement

at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

Here's how

to:

? Order (or review) the book at Amazon.com. You might want to order for

your

reading group, book club, class you teach or for your organization
?

Read excerpt of the book

? Find information on Prof. Robert D. Putnam
? Learn

about efforts to help Americans reconnect, and how you can get

involved, at

BetterTogether.org, an initiative of the Saguaro Seminar on

Civic Engagement

at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

? Access the

bibliography for the book.

? Access the data used in Bowling Alone, along

with additional information

not found in the book
? Listen to Prof. Putnam's

interview on NPR's All Things Considered

? .
Please spread the word:
? E-mail

your friends and colleagues to let them know about the book.

? Mention the

book and this web site in Internet discussions, bulletin

boards, and

newsletters.

? Tell practitioners and professors, and teachers to use it in

their class

or review it in professional publications.
? Get the book

reviewed in your local newspape or community and

organizational

newsletters.

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