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involved value, at some level, shared conversations and insights gained from other group

participants whose involvement likely originates, to some extent, from a mutual public concern.

Ideally, Community Conversations and related group activities cultivate an ‘atmosphere of

equity’ in their engagement and voice among participants. Public dialogue and involvement in

civic environments offer conditions not present in gatherings that take place in other settings.

Individuals engaged in private conversation have no obligation to fulfill any of the precepts of

public and democratic dialogue. Distinctions between public and private spheres are historically

rooted in the development of capitalist societies in which the private spheres and domains

referenced the family, markets, and profit making (Thomassen, 2010). Equal access and the desire

for consensus-driven decision-making and representative solutions is neither the approach nor

intent of private gatherings as imagined in Oligarchic settings. Privacy emphasizes exclusion rather

than inclusion and associations that emphasize divisions rather than affiliations (Schudson, 1998).

Participatory engagement and civic discourse consist of communication (speaking and

listening) and relationships formed by groups of individuals who gather for the purpose of

dialogue-centered discourse; a container for public exchange. The container itself represents “a

vessel and a setting in which the intensities of human interaction and activity can safely emerge”

(Isaacs, 1999, p. 242). “Metasphere” is a term I came up with that is used frequently in this thesis

describes a certain element of the container setting synching the space, atmosphere and sense of

tension or feeling of the experience at hand. An example of this might be recalling a time where

someone walked into a room full of lively discussion and banter but as soon as they entered silence

ensued as eyes and attention were directed at this person. This occurrence represents a change in

Metasphere as sense impressions and subtleties affect and are affected by Metasphere dynamics.

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