Open Government Through Participation

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Open Government throughParticipation: Designing

Successful Online ConsultationsTim BonnemannFounder and CEO, Intellitics, [email protected]

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

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Today’s Talk

1. Public participation and why it matters

2. Benets of online consultations

3. Examples

4. Design Tips

5. Tools

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1. Public participationand why it matters

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“Government should beparticipatory. Public engagement

enhances the Government’seffectiveness and improves thequality of its decisions.” Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government

January 20, 2009

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The Idea In A Nutshell...

• The goal is for government to makebetter, more sustainable decisions

• One strategy to help achieve that goal is toinvolve the public and let citizensinuence the decision making to somedegree

• This process is called public participation

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Public Participation Dened

• Any process that involves the public inproblem solving or decision making and

uses public input to make decisions• Involves interested or affected individuals,

organizations, and government entities

• Two-way communication and collaborativeproblem solving with the goal of achievingbetter and more acceptable decisions

Source: IAP2, Jim Creighton

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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.

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Decision Making CycleDeneproblem

Identify alternativesolutions

Evaluate andprioritize

Decide

Evaluate

Implement

Developevaluation criteria

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IAP2 Spectrum of Public

ParticipationDesigned to assist with the selection of thelevel of participation that denes the public's

role in any public participation process. Levelsof participation depend on the goals, timeframes, resources, and levels of concern in thedecision to be made.

http://www.iap2.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=5

http://www.ia p2.org/associations/4748/les/IAP2%20Spectrum_vertical.pdf

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Key Questions (Online and

Ofine)• What are the decisions to be made?

• Who are the decision makers?

• How will the public’s input inuence thedecision?

• Where in the decision making cycle?

• What level of impact?

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2. Benets of OnlineConsultations

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Typical Web Strong Points

• Participation wherever, whenever

• Broaden reach beyond traditional formats,demographics, geographies

• Scalability

• Cost

• Personalized participation experiences

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3. Examples

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

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http://seattlecitycouncil.ideascale.com

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http://www.youchoosebayarea.org

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

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http://expertnet.wikispaces.com

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http://www.weplan.parks.vic.gov.au

http://www.la ndscapemap2.org/pvppgis/map

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http://ParticipateDB.com@ParticipateDB

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4. Design Tips

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1. Set the Right

Expectations• When you invite the public to participateyou’re making a commitment that they will

have some level of impact, however minimal• Be very specic about how the public’sinput will inuence the decision

• Don’t over promise!

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1. Set the Right

Expectations• When you invite the public to participateyou’re making a commitment that they will

have some level of impact, however minimal• Be very specic about how the public’sinput will inuence the decision

• Don’t over promise!

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2. Do Outreach

• As with many things, build it and the won’tcome

• Important to get the right people to thetable

• Allow sufcient lead time to let people and

stakeholder groups know about your onlineconsultation

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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

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4. Provide Good Learning

• Participants need to understand the basicins and outs of an issue before they can

enjoy informed conversations• Provide complete and unbiased informationin accessible formats

• Harness participants’ expertise to help youimprove your materials

• Let them teach each other

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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

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6. Summarize Early And

Often• Share what you are hearing

• Allow participants to conrm you get what

they’re saying• Give participants a chance to catch up on

things they may have missed

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7. Keep People In The Loop

• Make it easy for participants to follow theconsultation

• Provide regular updates• Multiple channels

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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

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9. Offer Technical Support

• For the average participant, most tools aremore difcult to use than you think

• Assume a broad range of skill levels amongparticipants

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

line)

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10. Follow Up

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

• Let the participants know how their inputinuenced the decision or why it could notbe considered

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5. Tools

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So What About The Tools?

• Tools don’t matter (that much)

• Selection greatly depends on the task

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

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

the process wrong

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Thank [email protected]@planspark / @intellitics+1 (408) 627-0700

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