This post represents stream of thought as the conversation unfolded.  At some point, I may carefully recraft it.

The questions discussed were What IS policy, who are the policy makers, what do policy makers need to do their best work. What do folklorists offer in these contexts.

This morning's meeting revolves around public policy. The workshop is being moderated by Maria-Rosario Jackson of the Urban Institute who is engaged in comprehensive community planning and neighborhood revitalization.

Introductions had us talking about what issues we want to discuss by way of public policy. There about 26 of us here today.

About ten years ago the UI realised that there was no information on Cultural Vitality in communities. They have since engaged in fieldwork to fill in these pieces of information. They were trying to figure out what folks care about in communities regarding arts and culture. They found that people might not view arts and culture in the same way. The discovery of folklorists in the research came into place when they asked who were the stewards of these kinds of communities.

People don't see arts and culture as being central to quality of life. It is "gravy" or "desert" despite the contrary to being true. There was a need to explore the importance of ritual, the things that people do to improve quality of life.

There is a bias in the "Policy" world to numbers. The numbers tend to be seen as being more important than the qualitative evidence. It is hard to get anthropological research in these studies. It was foreign to get the humanities, arts, and culture in this research. However numbers alone don't tell the whole story. You need context for those numbers.

What is policy?--the activities of Government and Philanthropic entities. However, more broadly policy is a series of instances of decisions are made to the benefit of all. Sometimes it is within government, or philanthropic, sometimes outside those.

You can create policy, but if you don't have people to carry out the intention, it becomes meaningless. Maria-Rosario extends the idea of policy to include the people to carry out the intention and those who act as the watchdog.

Humanists vs Social Scientists. Is there enough of an exchange at the university level?

What skill sets do folklorists bring to the table? Folklorists know how to listen, inquire, able to cross cultures. Folklorists have penetration and access. Folklorists look below the surface. Folklorists are trying to look beyond a municipality, in the case of community, to look at a holistic view of the community. Folklorists can help capture how people organize their lives.

To influence policy, you can affect change while policy is being carried out if you can access the probationers. Folklorists don't want to be part of the power structure. That puts this group in a place where it is very difficult to influence the policy makers.

Folklorists can be effective by working with survey and research design to help the pollster ask the questions in the right way that makes sense to the community you are trying to reach.

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