Open Government through Participation: Designing Successful Online ConsultationsTim BonnemannFounder and CEO, Intellitics, Inc.tim@intellitics.com

http://www.intellitics.com/intellitics#opengov #edem

Today’s Talk

1. Public participation and why it matters

2. Benefits of online consultations

3. Examples

4. Design Tips

5. Tools

1. Public participation and why it matters

“Government should be participatory. Public engagement enhances the Government’s effectiveness and improves the quality of its decisions.”Memorandum on Transparency and Open GovernmentJanuary 20, 2009

The Idea In A Nutshell...

• The goal is for government to make better, more sustainable decisions

• One strategy to help achieve that goal is to involve the public and let citizens influence the decision making to some degree

• This process is called public participation

Public Participation Defined

• Any process that involves the public in problem solving or decision making and uses public input to make decisions

• Involves interested or affected individuals, organizations, and government entities

• Two-way communication and collaborative problem solving with the goal of achieving better and more acceptable decisions

Source: IAP2, Jim Creighton

Public Participation ROI

• Identify better solutions

• Build buy-in

• Save time, money and energy

• Avoid project delays

• Reduce risk of litigation

• Build community / social capital

• Etc.

Decision Making CycleDefine problem

Identify alternative solutions

Evaluate and prioritize

Decide

Evaluate

Implement

Develop evaluation criteria

IAP2 Spectrum of Public ParticipationDesigned to assist with the selection of the level of participation that defines the public's role in any public participation process. Levels of participation depend on the goals, time frames, resources, and levels of concern in the decision to be made.

http://www.iap2.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=5http://www.iap2.org/associations/4748/files/IAP2%20Spectrum_vertical.pdf

Key Questions (Online and Offline)• What are the decisions to be made?

• Who are the decision makers?

• How will the public’s input influence the decision?

• Where in the decision making cycle?

• What level of impact?

2. Benefits of Online Consultations

Typical Web Strong Points

• Participation wherever, whenever

• Broaden reach beyond traditional formats, demographics, geographies

• Scalability

• Cost

• Personalized participation experiences

3. Examples

http://twitter.com/#!/Schwarzenegger/status/2095070677

http://seattlecitycouncil.ideascale.com

http://www.youchoosebayarea.org

http://www.governor.state.nc.us/budgetapp/

http://expertnet.wikispaces.com

http://www.weplan.parks.vic.gov.auhttp://www.landscapemap2.org/pvppgis/map

http://ParticipateDB.com@ParticipateDB

4. Design Tips

1. Set the Right Expectations• When you invite the public to participate

you’re making a commitment that they will have some level of impact, however minimal

• Be very specific about how the public’s input will influence the decision

• Don’t over promise!

1. Set the Right Expectations• When you invite the public to participate

you’re making a commitment that they will have some level of impact, however minimal

• Be very specific about how the public’s input will influence the decision

• Don’t over promise!

2. Do Outreach

• As with many things, build it and the won’t come

• Important to get the right people to the table

• Allow sufficient lead time to let people and stakeholder groups know about your online consultation

3. Assume People Are Busy

• People have lives!

• Make it convenient and manageable for them to contribute on their own terms

• You are responsible for taking care of both your highly-engaged power users as well as your drive-by participants

4. Provide Good Learning

• Participants need to understand the basic ins and outs of an issue before they can enjoy informed conversations

• Provide complete and unbiased information in accessible formats

• Harness participants’ expertise to help you improve your materials

• Let them teach each other

5. Set Ground Rules

• Online consultations require ground rules

• Be transparent

• Explain when you have to interfere (e.g. comment moderation)

• Stay open to feedback

6. Summarize Early And Often• Share what you are hearing

• Allow participants to confirm you get what they’re saying

• Give participants a chance to catch up on things they may have missed

7. Keep People In The Loop

• Make it easy for participants to follow the consultation

• Provide regular updates

• Multiple channels

8. Lead

• Consultations don’t run on auto pilot

• You know what you want out of a consultation, make sure you get it

• Good (daily) facilitation is key

9. Offer Technical Support

• For the average participant, most tools are more difficult to use than you think

• Assume a broad range of skill levels among participants

• Provide help (e.g. FAQ, video tutorial, help line)

10. Follow Up

• After a consultation is over, follow up in a timely manner

• Let the participants know how their input influenced the decision or why it could not be considered

5. Tools

So What About The Tools?

• Tools don’t matter (that much)

• Selection greatly depends on the task

• Some good ones, some crappy ones — you can make a lot of them work

• Even the best tool won’t save you if you get the process wrong

Thank You!tim@intellitics.com@planspark / @intellitics+1 (408) 627-0700

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