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Andrea Weckerle first appeared in an FIR Interview a decade ago after she had founded CiviliNation, a non-profit that is “taking a stand against online harassment, character assassination, misinformation, and violence.” That’s a tall order given the state of civil discourse these days. In this FIR Interview, Andrea is joined by CiviliNation’s new president, veteran technology journalist Jolie O’Dell. The conversation covers the organization’s approach to addressing the issues that underlie outrage culture, doxxing, and other behaviors that undermine the potential of online conversation.

FIR co-hosts Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz spoke with Jolie and Andrea on Monday, March 8.

About our conversation partners

Jolie O’Dell is a journalist and nonprofit leader. As a news writer and editor, she contributed to tech-focused publications such as ReadWriteWeb, Mashable, and VentureBeat, with bylines appearing in national print outlets periodically. She also frequently appeared on local and national news and podcasts as a tech industry analyst. In addition to her media duties, she was also heavily involved in event planning and newsroom management. O’Dell is the author of four books with a fifth coming in 2023. She lives in Virginia with her dog, Lt. Barclay.

Andrea Weckerle is the founder of CiviliNation and the author of Civility in the Digital Age: How Companies and People Can Triumph over Haters, Trolls, Bullies, and Other Jerks. She earned her Juris Doctor at the University of Richmond School of Law, where she served on the Senior Staff of the Richmond Journal of Law & Technology. She also holds a Master of Arts (MAIS) degree with a focus on Public Relations/Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University. Prior to founding CiviliNation, she ran her own boutique communications consultancy and also worked with national agencies, where her experience included legal and corporate communications, online communications, and social media.

About Shel Holtz

Shel Holtz, ABC (Accredited Business Communicator), is director of Internal Communications at Webcor, a commercial general contractor headquartered in San Francisco. Before joining Webcor, Shel spent 21 years as principal of Holtz Communication + Technology. In addition to integrating technology into communications strategies, his expertise includes strategic communications planning, change management, organizational culture, business initiatives and communications research. Full bio

About Neville Hobson

Neville Hobson is a communicator, social strategist, consultant, digital change agent, writer, and podcaster. He is co-founder and co-host of the 'For Immediate Release' podcast. Since 2000, his career has focused on working with organisations globally to help them leverage his experiences, knowledge and subject-matter expertise of social networks, social media marketing, analytics and insights reporting, to create and build foundations for authentic engagement and to expand online reach and influence. Full bio