Online Participation 101In Five Minutes (Gasp!)Tim BonnemannFounder and CEOIntellitics, Inc.

Public Participation

• Public participation is the process by which an organization consults with interested or affected individuals, organizations, and government entities before making a decision.

• Public participation is two-way communication and collaborative problem solving with the goal of achieving better and more acceptable decisions.

Source: James L. Creighton

1. Identify the problem/issue

2. Generate possible options

3. Evaluate options using criteria

4. Select options (decide)

5. Evaluate outcome

6. Lather, rinse, repeat…

Decision Making Cycle

Spectrum of Public Participation• Inform: We will keep you informed.

• Consult: We will keep you informed, listen to and acknowledge concerns and aspirations, and provide feedback on how public input influenced the decision.

• Involve: We will work with you to ensure that your concerns and aspirations are directly reflected in the alternatives developed and provide feedback on how public input influenced the decision.

• Collaborate: We will look to you for advice and innovation in formulating solutions and incorporate your advice and recommendations into the decisions to the maximum extent possible.

• Empower: We will implement what you decide.

Source: International Association for Public Participation (IAP2)

Online Participation

• Same general rules apply

• Must follow sound process!

• With good process in place, a lot can get accomplished using limited (crappy) tools

• Conversely, fancy tools won’t save a broken process

• Online offers specific advantages but comes with certain challenges as well

• Ideally, you get to use the best of both worlds (but not always)

Web-Specific Challenges

• Accessibility

• Data security

• Identity

• Privacy & publicness

• Intellectual property

• Moderation

• Archiving

• Legal Aspects

• Mobile

• Tool support

• Etc.

Success Factors (1/2)

• Outline the intended process (scope, timeline, expected outcomes etc.)

• Commit to impact level, set realistic expectations

• Provide access to background information

• Explain the technology (incl. tech support)

• Be transparent about moderation rules

Success Factors (2/2)

• Engage (answer questions, clear up misconceptions, help keep things friendly)

• Provide regular summaries

• Think about creating an FAQ (both on the process as well as on the issue at hand)

• Make it easy for participants to stay in the loop (blog, email, RSS)

• Follow up in a timely manner

The Tool Landscape

• There are hundreds of tools (generic, specialized, custom)

• Often multi-purpose, broadly applicable. Not always easy to clearly match tools to processes or desired outcomes

• Online participation and the tools involved often require a broad skill set (technology, social media, community management, online facilitation, editing etc.)

Good Luck, Have Fun!

• This stuff is all still pretty new

• If you give it a try, please share your results (good and bad) so others can learn

• ParticipateDB is a site we run that collects tools and how they are being applied in practice (http://participatedb.com)

• We’re building Zilino (http://zilino.com), a cool new web app for online consultations. It’s in alpha, feel free to contact us if you want to play with it.

Thank You!Questions? tim@intellitics.comThere’s more on our blog: http://www.intellitics.comFollow us on Twitter at @intellitics

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Online 101 5/228 2011/02/16