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Online Consultation Top Ten Tips
1. Political Support Required.
2. State Purpose, Share Context.
3. Build an Audience.
4. Choose Your Model and Elements Carefully.
5. Create Structure.
6. Provide Facilitation and Guidelines.
7. Disseminate Content and Results.
8. Access to Decision-Makers and Staff Required.
9. Promote Civic Education.
10. Not About Technology.
Access the final version of my full online consultation article from:
http://www.publicus.net/articles/consult.html
Below is the full text for tips 1-3.
Sincerely,
Steven Clift
Democracies Online
P.S. If you find this article particularly useful or it would like to
print this article or distribute it to others on paper, you can now
donate online for each copy to my "Steve, write a book fund."
Online Consultations and Events - Top Ten Tips for Government and
Civic Hosts V1.1
By Steven Clift
Online Strategist and Public Speaker
http://www.publicus.net
Copyright 2002 Steven Clift
Discuss this article with your government and civic peers on the
Democracies Online – Online Consultation and Civic Events e-mail list
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.
As the concept of "e-democracy" builds momentum, interest in the use
of online consultation in government and civil society circles is
growing significantly. Online consultations, online public hearings,
or online civic events can all be defined as the structured, often
time-limited, use of online tools to inform public policy processes
and encourage civic participation. By time-limited, I mean an online
event with beginning and an end.
This article provides online consultation tips geared toward
prospective online consultation organizers. Most of the tips assume
an asynchronous event (not real-time or live). Most lessons can be
generalized to different models and elements I share below. At the
very end of this article I share key links to resources related to
online consultation. Let's get started.
Online Consultation Top Ten Tips
In summary …
1. Political Support Required.
2. State Purpose, Share Context.
3. Build an Audience.
4. Choose Your Model and Elements Carefully.
5. Create Structure.
6. Provide Facilitation and Guidelines.
7. Disseminate Content and Results.
8. Access to Decision-Makers and Staff Required.
9. Promote Civic Education.
10. Not About Technology.
In full details ...
1. Political Support Required.
Online consultations with strong and sincere political support are
the only ones worth hosting. There must be a political desire for
input and a willingness to consider that input in the decision-making
process. Expecting that an online consultation will dramatically
change the outcome of decision-making process is not generally a
requirement. Political listening is a first and reasonable step. We
are talking about evolution, not revolution.
2. State Purpose, Share Context.
Citizens want to know the purpose of an online event. They will be
skeptical. Share concise and readable information that shares the
context of the event. Where in the policy process is this event
being the staged? The beginning? The end? Let people know in order
to establish reasonable citizen expectations. If it is an experiment
or "public awareness" exercise that you know will have limited
impact, simply be upfront and say so. You have to start somewhere.
3. Build an Audience.
Recruit your participatory audience before the online event starts.
Most online consultations fail due to the lack of citizen
participation. Why? The public relations engines are not revved up
until the event starts - bad move. The pragmatic approach is to
recruit participants one at a time. Don't be fooled by the Internet
myth that if you build it they will come - they won't. Create
specific audience goals from 50 to 1000 people or more. Encourage all
prospective participants to join an e-mail announcement list for the
event and future events. Carry your audience from one event to the
next whenever possible or appropriate. Recruit participants at in-
person events and through the traditional and online media for at
least two to three weeks before an online consultation starts.
Even with an audience, many discussion-oriented events fail in the
first three days because those attracted to the online event are
thinking the same thing - "No one has posted yet, this event must not
matter." Seeding the early hours of an event with “authentic” posts
encouraged behind the scenes combined with e-mail highlights and
encouragement to participants will make it a "happening" event.
For the full article, see:
http://www.publicus.net/articles/consult.html
^ ^ ^ ^
Steven L. Clift - W: http://www.publicus.net
Minneapolis - - - E: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Minnesota - - - - - T: +1.612.822.8667
USA - - - - - - - ICQ: 13789183
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