10 Question to Ask Before Starting a Public Consultation
Recently Joseph Peters (Partner at Ascentum) and Joe Goldman (Vice President of Citizen Engagement at AmericaSpeaks) published an excellent two page article called: Open Policy Making 101: 10...
View ArticleClik here to view.
First Global Democratic Deliberation in History
On September 26, 2009 approximately 4,000 citizens in 38 countries discussed and recognized their collective opinions on the issue of climate change. The format was an incredible example of best...
View ArticleStarted a New Job with the City of Toronto
Strarting in February I am now one of a handful of Senior Public Consultation Coordinators with the City of Toronto. You can see a list of the typical projects we help manage here:...
View ArticleClik here to view.
New Dotmocracy Handbook is Now Published
I am proud to announce the publishing of a new version of my Dotmocracy Handbook. After three years in the making, version 2 is more than twice the length of my original handbook. It's filled with...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Ultimate Meeting Logistics Checklist
Meeting logistics are all the details that help a meeting go well, beyond who is invited, the agenda, facilitator and content. A good logistics plan describes information such as: room set-up,...
View ArticleOregon Citizens' Initiative Review
In the USA, many state elections include "initiatives", which are a means by which a petition signed by a certain minimum number of registered voters can force a public vote (plebiscite) on a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
BetterMeans.com: democratic governance model and web app
BetterMeans.com has recently released a web based "open and democratic project management tool", and it looks very promising. Along with basic tools like a wiki, discussion boards and document...
View ArticleMindMixer.com - Another idea rating system
MindMixer.com is a new web app + service designed to act as a "virtual town-hall" for municipal engagement. It includes idea rating, commenting, voting and a user score system designed to reward...
View ArticleExamples of Wise Democracy Using Random Citizens
Here is a great article by George Sranko that describes a variety of success stories using random citizens to give direction to government. "There are two key ingredients: direct involvement by a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Geraldton 2029: Amazing Example of Deliberative Democracy Documented
After watching the 7 minute video of Janette Hartz-Karp describing a sustainability initiative in Geraldton, Australia, I was curious to see what techniques they used to enage the public in long term...
View Article
