When Lucille's Soul Food Kitchen Joined the Dialogue On May 21, 1998, the Minnesota Citizens' Forum conducted the fourth in a series of videoconference dialogues linking communities around the state to discuss key issues of the upcoming race for governor. Topics, selected by citizen polling, included education reform, poverty and taxes. On May 21, the topic was crime. As in all Citizens' Forum gatherings since their inception, participants were selected to be demographically representative of all Minnesotans, and they became 'informed citizens' by carefully studying the issues. In the course of the governor's election forums, these informed citizens had been gathering in St. Paul, in Duluth, and in smaller towns, linked by videoconference to each other and to experts who provide information and answer questions. The issue and the discussions had been reported by the project partners: the Star Tribune newspaper, Minnesota Public Radio and PBS station KTCA-TV's NewsNight Minnesota. But the May 21 discussion differed, in a significant way, from all earlier Citizens' Forum meetings. Linked into the discussion was a new group gathered at a public location -- Lucille's Kitchen in North Minneapolis. Meeting for dinner and dialogue were a self-selected group of neighbors and colleagues, members of a tightly-knit community within this rough minority neighborhood. This community, nearly invisible in Minnesota, is overwhelmingly represented as both victims and perpetrators of crimes. The spirited discussion at Lucille's that night provided two vital components missing from previous Citizens' Forums. One was the carefully considered view of a rarely consulted minority community. A weakness of previous Citizens' gatherings was that they usually reflected the demographic makeup of the State, and could not adequately encompass or reflect minority viewpoints which may be more accurate, or at least more informative, than the generally shared view of the larger community. These alternate viewpoints are essential for the majority to reach a well-informed opinion. The setting itself provided the other milestone. The inclusion of Lucille's Kitchen in this dialogue was perhaps the first example of incorporating a vibrant public gathering place, rather than a sterile environment, into the process of using videoconferencing to extend community dialogue. Visually, the difference between Lucille's and the classrooms or conference rooms that comprise the other venues, was striking. The restaurant setting, and the cheerfulness of a shared community meal, made for a much more relaxed and group-oriented event than at the other locations, where people sat at conference tables or classroom desks. At Lucille's, the speaker approached a podium and joined the dialogue, one speaker at a time, which enhanced the sense of intimacy and eliminated the need for distracting camerawork. At the other venues, people spoke from where they sat and were often lost in a sea of faces, or at the mercy of less-than-professional camera operators. The inclusion of the public sphere in political and social dialogue fulfills the sense among Americans that ordinary citizens have a right as well as an interest in being heard. Efforts to expand citizen involvement in community affairs through electronic media have been underway since the first "Town Meetings" in the late 1970's. The Internet's tremendous potential to give computer users a voice in public dialogue began to emerge in the late 80's. In the 1990's, the "Civic Journalism" movement gave citizen involvement a further boost, as journalists began to include their audiences in the editorial process. The event at Lucille's Kitchen marked the next step in citizen dialogue.