We’re building tools to help improve discourse. Will you support the work we do?

13 April 2021

Hello, friends. Here are some updates from Street Epistemology International:

Tabling! Despite the shutdown, we virtually tabled at the American Atheists online convention AAcon21 earlier this month. I wasn’t quite sure how well this would go, but having spent a few hours myself at our “booth,” we had a wonderful time answering questions, playing video examples, practicing scenarios, and just hanging out to discuss SE. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped cover our “table,” the attendees who stopped by, and to American Atheists for a wonderful event. If you know of any online conferences that could benefit from having an SE booth, please let us know.

Workshops! A small team of volunteers is working on a handful of interactive workshops for people with varying degrees of expertise with SE. We’ll probably introduce these workshops publicly in the next few days with instructions on how to sign up and attend. Afterwards, we will see if we can make a few of the workshop materials available to the public so others can conduct their workshops without having to put too much effort in the initial design.

Video! We’re committed to commissioning a short (1-2 minute) animated video that can quickly explain what SE is and why it’s so needed for people new to the method. SE can be a little confusing for people unfamiliar with it, and we think a video like this on our various social media landing pages and website can help present a more cohesive introductory message.

Survey! People from the SE community have been working very hard to develop a short list of broad questions in the form of a survey that have profound implications for the exploration of a person’s claim. It’s an incredibly useful tool and perfect for people who are reluctant to explore a claim with someone but still want to respectfully review their thought-building process. You can find the SE survey here.

Course! Our team has completed one of approximately 20 modules that make up the basic track of the Street Epistemology Course. In the coming days, Module 7, Building and Maintaining Rapport will be made available to those wishing to beta-test the module and participate in a brief online focus group. These findings will be used to improve the module, which will serve as a reference for volunteers who join the team to help write the remaining course items. The completion of this very ambitious project is dependent on volunteers from the SE community. At the moment, we’re still looking for Lead Writers (people with experience writing instructional materials and the ability to manage a small team) to help (email [email protected] if interested). The SE Course has the potential to become one of the most important resources created to date to help teach others how to use the method.

Finally, we’re pleased to announce that we’ve added another member to the SEI Board, Ben Kotze from Pretoria, South Africa. Ben (from the Seeds of Thought YouTube channel) has been involved with Street Epistemology for several years, has strong technical skills, and we are very excited to have him aboard.

All of these tools that we’re building could benefit from being translated into other languages. Please head to one of the SE communities and volunteer if you’re able and willing. Please support SEI on AmazonSmile or schedule a recurring donation via Patreon or PayPal.

P.S. One link for anything related to SE? Yep! Great for sharing with friends: https://linktr.ee/StreetEpistemology

Best regards,

Anthony Magnabosco
Executive Director, Street Epistemology International

Street Epistemology Linktree

#SEIEDAM023