IF conducts projects that result in reports containing contrasting policy possibilities so that others may have the benefit of “starting points” in their own discussions of policy areas. Presumably, a helpful report could assist other citizens in getting an initial...
In my previous installment on practical tips I looked at recruitment of citizen groups. The who, what, and where of that first step of gathering the bodies exerts considerable influence on how you might want to initiate discussion of policy possibilities. We will...
One of IF’s ongoing tasks is to find the most useful scale and tone for the possibilities in its reports. While we have learned a great deal about how to present possibilities and discuss them, we are still grappling with a number of questions about the relation of...
One of the benefits of ongoing citizen conversation is the ability to talk about issues that might impact individuals and communities long before they become controversial or partisan. This type of citizen re-imagining was once part of our approach to governance....
IF staff, associated faculty, and contracted facilitators have accumulated many useful insights about the art of facilitating public or "citizen discussions" of policy possibilities. Most of these individuals brought significant facilitation experience or other...
It almost goes without saying that many professionals could be more helpful to the cause of citizen discussion. Educators, lawyers, social workers, communicators, planners, and administrators throughout the profit, non-profit, and public sectors could all make...
The “ambush” of US Congressional representatives over the summer of 2009 by the foes of national health care reform did little to endear expanded citizen participation to those who bore the brunt of bullying and disruption at so-called “town hall” meetings on the...
If you were to ask a cross-section of elected officials and public sector administrators about the need for embedding deliberative process in government many might respond with indignation. “We already deliberate!”, legislators might protest. “We hold many public...
The Interactivity Foundation’s discussion process places much emphasis on producing contrasting possibilities as starting points and aids to citizen discussion. There are many practical reasons for supposing that consideration of a range of alternatives may improve...
The extended network that promotes citizen discussion places a high value on ways to make discussion ongoing and self-sustaining. This matter of the “stickiness” of citizen discussion is referred to as “embeddedness” in deliberative circles. It is a ten dollar word...