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Participation Workshop

The following summary presents highlights from the workshop that was held on 7 December 2006 to launch the Participation Community of Practice.

Why was it held?

The State Services Commission held a workshop on online participation in Wellington to explore how new technologies can help New Zealanders engage with government.  

The workshop also served to launch a broad-based Participation Community of Practice which includes practitioners from central and local government, academia, business and civil society organisations. Their expertise and insights will be needed in building a State Services framework for online participation that reflects shared values, is adaptable and stands the test of time. Participants agreed that the workshop was timely given the growing interest in online tools to foster public participation in policy and service delivery.

Who was there?

The workshop brought together 28 people from central government (50%), business (25%), local government (20%) and community organisations (5%) together with a team of 6 from the State Services Commission. Their diverse perspectives and experience ensured lively debate which was further fostered by the use of the Chatham House rule.

What went on?

The workshop was designed as a futures forum to allow participants to explore the implications of online participation while keeping their sights on the year 2020. The first session provided participants with an introduction to the State Services Commission Participation Project and the results of background research on user engagement.  Three parallel workgroups explored a) context and the winds of change, b) people as the lifeblood of participation and c) the government role in fostering participation. All groups considered the barriers, enablers, opportunities and risks which would impact upon a framework for online participation both today and in the future.

The first workgroup on context raised several challenging questions, namely: How will we get a diverse population to participate? How do we engage with the dispossessed and voiceless? What is government's role? The second workgroup on people examined the experience of public participation today and tomorrow. Currently members saw consultation coming at the end of policy development, generic communication on issues and an emphasis on the quantity not the quality of participation. They believed that tomorrow we would see more engagement from the outset, targeted communication using online and offline channels and more attention to enhancing quality by involving people in problem definition. The third workgroup on government focused on how to lower the barriers to participation, make sense of high volumes of public input and ensure tighter feedback loops.

The group then reconvened to hear the results of the workgroups, learn more about emerging Web 2.0 tools  and discuss the principles, benefits and challenges of online participation. Among the principles identified were: respect, honesty, clarity, trust, relevance, meaningful, quality, deliberation and the need for participation to be embedded. Online participation was seen to offer many benefits through its ability to: undermine information asymmetries, allow personalisation of information and interaction, support communities of interest, and cater for oral cultures (through video and audio). Many challenges were underlined including: the loss of context and interpersonal contact, ensuring access for all, meeting raised expectations, the current lack of capacity, role models and mentors.

Presentations

What next?

The Participation Community of Practice launched at the event will continue to meet, collaborate and exchange knowledge online over the coming months. It will seek to provide a space for the lively exchange of ideas and visions of the future of online participation for the benefit of all New Zealanders.

 

If you are interested in getting involved and joining the Participation Community of Practice, do get in touch! For more information contact Laura Sommer at the State Services Commission (laura.sommer@ssc.govt.nz)