These slides provide a brief overview of a number of free or inexpensive tools that enable local and national public officials to gather input online and give citizens a greater voice in shaping policy. This presentation was given at the OBOE follow-up capacity building retreat in November 2010.

1. Everything You Wanted to Know
About Online Participation Tools
But Were Afraid to Ask*
Our Budget, Our Economy (OBOE)
Capacity Building Retreat
November 5, 2010
David Stern *OK, not quite everything
Director of Online Engagement
dstern@americaspeaks.org
@americaspeaks @davestern

2. 1. Blogging +
commenting
2. Email discussion list
3. Ideation
4. Webcast + Discussion
5. Survey (Choicebook)
6. Collaborative writing
7. Document
commenting
1. As
2. d
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1. Online Message
Board
2. Text messaging
3. Social networking
communities
4. Facebook & Twitter
5. Policy & budget
“games”
The Complete Tool List

3. 1) Blogging + Commenting
Definition:
News, ideas, opinions, questions, and
other information posted on a webpage in
reverse chronological order.
Comments are left by readers (and
sometimes the blogger) in response to the
original post and to others’ comments,
usually beneath the original post.

4. Blogging + Commenting – Example
The White House Office of Science &
Technology Policy Public Access Forum
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ostp/public-access-policy

5. Blogging + Commenting – Tools

6. Blogging + Commenting – Analysis
Pros
• Flexible
• Familiar
• Potential for ongoing
dialogue
• Free tools available
Cons
• Requires moderation
• Medium scalability
• Pull, not push
Bottom line: A good option for a wide range of
projects, but requires significant time for
posting, outreach, and moderation.

7. 2) Email Discussion List
Definition:
An open or moderated forum where
messages can be sent by anyone on the
list to every other person on the list.
Users generally opt in explicitly to join
the list.

8. Email Discussion List – Example 1
Minneapolis Seward Neighbors
Forum Home
http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/mpls-seward
http://forums.e-democracy.org/groups/mpls-seward/messages/topics.html

9. Email Discussion List – Example 2
National Coalition for Dialogue &
Deliberation (NCDD)
http://lists.thataway.org/SCRIPTS/WA-THATAWAY.EXE?A1=ind0905D&L=NCDD-
DISCUSSION

10. Email Discussion List – Tools

11. Email Discussion List – Analysis
Pros
• Flexible
• Familiar
• Potential for ongoing
dialogue
• Free tools available
• Push, not pull
Cons
• Not scalable
• Lack of concise output
• Vocal (but un-
representative)
individuals may
dominate
Bottom line: Perfect for getting things done with small,
action-oriented groups. Not great for large-scale input.

12. 3) Ideation
Definition:
A brainstorming process where the host
specifies a topic and then users:
• Submit related proposals, ideas or
questions
• Vote on others’ submissions to identify
popular issues
• [Often, not always:] Discuss others’
proposals

13. Ideation – Example 1
NAPA, AmericaSpeaks, and
Office of Management & Budget

16. Ideation – Example 2
Seattle City Council
Invites Budget Cutting Ideas
http://seattlecitycouncil.ideascale.com/

17. Ideation – Tools

18. Ideation – Analysis
Pros
• Clear, concise output
• Scalable
• Democratic
• Difficult to dominate
conversation
• Free tools available
Cons
• Organized minorities
can manipulate
• Bias toward early
submissions
• One-off
• Pull, not push
Bottom line: Great for brainstorming. Best
proposals need fleshing out afterward.

19. 4) Webcast + Discussion
Definition:
Live event observation and participation
through some combination of:
• Watching and listening to an event while
viewing the speaker and/or presentation
slides
• Discussion via conference call
• Discussion in an online forum (chat room,
Facebook, Twitter, blog comments, etc.)

20. Webcast + Discussion – Example
White House Live
http://apps.facebook.com/whitehouselive/

21. Webcast + Discussion – Tools

22. Webcast + Discussion – Analysis
Pros
• Video is engaging
• Conversation can be
compelling, enables
real deliberation
• Many tools available
Cons
• Input not concise
• Expensive to scale
• Requires availability at
specific time
Bottom line: Great for getting the message
out, not great at letting public input back in…
Yet.

23. 5) Surveys
Definition:
Invite citizens to complete an form
online.
May be combined with issue-based
education – the “Choicebook” model.

24. Surveys – Example
Speak Up for Change
http://apps.facebook.com/speakup-enparler/action/71

25. Surveys – Tools

26. Surveys – Analysis
Pros
• Multiple choice
answers scale well
• Simple to use
• Easily combined with
issue education
• Free tools available
Cons
• Qualitative answers
don’t scale well
• Users not exposed to
others’ ideas
• No collaboration
Bottom line: Great for taking quick pulse on an
issue and embedding education, but hard to scale.

27. 6) Collaborative Writing
Definition:
Groups of citizens collaborate to craft
specific language for a policy
document, such as a position paper,
draft legislation, rule, pro- and con-
arguments, etc.

28. Collaborative Writing – Example
The Netroots Platform
http://mixedink.com/netrootsplatform/

29. Collaborative Writing – Tools

30. Collaborative Writing – Analysis
Pros
• Specific, actionable
output
• Free tools available
Cons
• Messy with a lot of
contributors (at best)
• Last editor wins
• Writing isn’t fun
Bottom line: Group writing won’t scale, particularly
with controversial subjects. Identify basic principles,
then have smaller group produce language together.

31. 7) Document Commenting
Definition:
Groups of citizens comment on an
existing policy document and discuss
potential changes.

32. Document Commenting – Example
OpenCongress
Bill Comment System
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h3590/text

33. Document Commenting – Tools

34. Document Commenting – Analysis
Pros
• Specific, targeted
input
• Free tools available
Cons
• Legislative language is
difficult to understand
• Messy with a lot of
contributors
Bottom line: Works with knowledgeable
stakeholders, more difficult with general public.

35. 8) Online Message Board
Definition:
A web forum where users create new
topics, post messages within topics and
reply to other people’s messages.

36. Online Message Board – Example
Listening to the City
http://dialogues.listeningtothecity.org/
http://dialogues.listeningtothecity.org/webx?50@847.RQFUaUfagMT.3@.ee7d7e7

37. Online Message Board – Tools

38. Online Message Board – Analysis
Pros
• Flexible
• Familiar
• Multiple parallel
topics
• Potential for ongoing
dialogue
• Free tools available
Cons
• Requires moderation
• Limited scalability
• Unattractive
Bottom line: Proven, but boring. Consider
more output-driven, scalable tools.

39. 9) Text Messaging
Definition:
Conduct surveys or measure support
using SMS.
(More mobile subscribers than
computer owners with Internet.)

40. Text Messaging – Examples

41. Text Messaging – Tools

42. Text Messaging – Analysis
Pros
• Phone is in your
pocket
• Multiple choice
answers scale well
• Free tools available
Cons
• Response length
limited to 160 chars
• Qualitative answers
don’t scale well
• Users don’t see
others’ ideas
Bottom line: Great for taking pulse on an issue
and getting to hard-to-reach demographics, but
engagement is pretty superficial.

43. 10) Social Networking Communities
Definition:
Allow users in a particular geographic or
thematic area to congregate online, with
the ability to:
• Create profiles
• Start discussions
• Manage blogs
• Upload photos

44. Social Networking Communities –
Examples
http://www.harringayonline.com/

45. Social Networking Communities –
Tools

46. Social Networking Communities –
Analysis
Pros
• Enables ongoing
interaction with
officials around local
challenges
• Builds social capital
online & offline
Cons
• Long-term, sustained
effort needed to build
a community
• Input isn’t concise
• Policy isn’t the point
Bottom line: Difficult to get to critical mass,
but can provide infrastructure for dialogue on
local policy.

47. 11) Facebook & Twitter
Definition:
Facebook and Twitter are popular
social networks where users post
‘status’ updates and share and discuss
news, photos, videos, events, and
more.

48. Facebook & Twitter – Examples
http://twitter.com/corybooker
http://www.backtype.com/user/twitter/corybooker

49. Facebook & Twitter – Tools

50. Facebook & Twitter – Analysis
Pros
• Familiar
• Huge membership
• Open & transparent
Cons
• Dialogue won’t scale
• Bias towards
superficial interaction
Bottom line: Great at finding people where they
already spend their time. Need more experimentation
with gathering public input, though.

51. 12) Policy & Budget Games
Definition:
Citizens develop policy within a
simulation that involves real-world
trade-offs and conditions. For
example, balance the budget by
identifying areas and dollar amounts to
cut/increase spending/taxes.

52. Policy & Budget Games – Examples
Concord Coalition’s
Federal Budget Challenge
http://www.federalbudgetchallenge.org/budget_challenge/sim/budget_master.html

53. Policy & Budget Games – Tools

54. Policy & Budget Games – Analysis
Pros
• Forces empathy with
policymakers’
position
Cons
• Difficult, wonky
choices aren’t
engaging
• Clunky, expensive
tools
Bottom line: It’s challenging to make
balancing competing priorities and tradeoffs
fun. More experimentation needed.

55. “A fool with a
tool is still a
fool.”

56. Keys to Success
• Emphasize the user experience
• Focus on outreach, partnerships, and
advertising to ensure large, diverse
participation
• Frame issues clearly, narrowly, objectively
• Invite input on specific, distinct issues in
separate areas
• Admin & community moderation

57. Keys to Success (II)
• Show citizens policymakers are listening
and join process as a user
• Communicate timing and results clearly
• Show how this influenced policy
• Build long-term two-way communication
infrastructure

58. Thank you!
David Stern
Director of Online Engagement
dstern@americaspeaks.org
@americaspeaks @davestern
Mr T. Image from flickr user draggin under CC by-SA-NC license