I am thrilled to share the news of the publication of my new book. It's called *Meaningful Inefficiencies: Civic Design in an Age of Digital Expediency *(Oxford, 2020). I hope it will be of interest to many on this list, as it looks at the challenge of building trust in legacy civic institutions. Set with the backdrop of smart technologies, the book focuses on practitioners who are actively adapting those tools away from the primary value of efficiency, and towards participation, care and trust. Here's a description: Public trust in the institutions that mediate civic life—from governing bodies to newsrooms—is low, and many organizations assume that greater efficiency will build trust. As a result, these organizations are quick to adopt new technologies to enhance what they do. However, efficiency, in the sense of charting a path to a goal with the least amount of friction, is not always built on a foundation of trust. Meaningful Inefficiencies is about the practices that challenge the normative applications of “smart technologies” in order to build or repair trust with publics. Based on over 60 interviews with change makers in public-serving organizations throughout the United States, as well as detailed case studies, co-authors Eric Gordon and Gabriel Mugar provide a practical and deeply philosophical picture of civic life in transition. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/meaningful-inefficiencies-9780190870... -- Eric Gordon, Ph.D. Professor of Media Art Director, Engagement Lab Emerson College http://elab.emerson.edu http://ericgordon.academia.edu