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There are 61 posts — by 49 authors — in this topic.
Latest post made by Fraser Henderson at 2007 Mar 21 05:25 UTC

From: Steven Clift Date: 2006 Jul 12 20:02 UTC Short link

Welcome everyone to the updated online community for online
consultation and e-participation practitioners.  We'll simply call it
"Consult" for short. We are launching with 126 members!

While folks should continue to login - http://groups.dowire.org - and
update their "who's who" member profile (top right). Let's do a round
of introduction via the online group.

For those using e-mail, simply reply to this message keeping the
subject line intact.  That will make our greetings it look pretty on
the web.  For thos posting via the web, simply add your introduction
at the bottom of this topic view.

Great. Please introduce yourself briefly and be sure to mention any
relevant projects you've been working on lately with web links we can
follow.

Sincerely,
Steven Clift
Democracies Online


^               ^               ^                ^
Steven L. Clift    -   -  -  W: http://publicus.net
Minneapolis    -   -   -  -   E: 
Minnesota  -   -   -   -   -   - T: +1.612.822.8667
USA    -   -   -   -     Skype/MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift

Join Democracies Online: http://dowire.org
Start an Issues Forum: http://e-democracy.org/if

From: Repyke To Update Date: 2006 Jul 12 23:37 UTC Short link

I am Bob Pyke Jr,
http://www.politicsonline.com/content/main/story/story_display.asp?id=318

Bob



Skype Name - repyke

Co administrator Telehealth List Serve and E-health List Serve and roving
editor at large.
http://www.telehealth.net/interviews/pykebio.html

http://bobsblogger.blogspot.com/
"The best journeys are the ones that answer questions that at the
outset you never even thought to ask."
Rick Ridgeway

"There are certain spots in the world where you can stand that will
change the way that you look at things forever."
Pete Whitaker

From: Daniel von Randow Date: 2006 Jul 12 23:55 UTC Short link

Hi All,

I have been working with Steve for a couple of years on various
projects, this DoWire Online Groups site being the latest of those. This
site is running on the latest version of GroupServer, the open source
collaboration platform that my colleagues and I have developed.

I am currently launching a new service at http://onlinegroups.net where
you can start your own online groups site now.

I also look after online collaboration projects in the elearning,
knowledge management and edemocracy areas. In Aotearoa  New Zealand, we
are fostering clusters of online groups in a bunch of areas that are
gradually linking up:

- community organisations
- public health
- local government
- environmental management/biodiversity, both scientific and community-based
- local participative edemocracy

Typical projects are virtual teams or communities of practice but my
expertise and interest is specifically in online groups, whatever the
context.

I am involved in a project to get a regional public issues forum going
in Canterbury (where I live).

I'm glad to be in this group, and delighted to see it here.

From: Niclas Ostlund Date: 2006 Jul 13 07:10 UTC Short link

Hi,

My name is Niclas Ostlund and I am a PhD-student at the dept. of
Landscape Planning at the Swedish University of Agricultural University.
I have been interested, since my undergraduate studies, in what the
online technology can do for landscape architects, architects and
planners in the planning process. Right now I am working with a
webGIS-application that I have been testing on focus groups consisting
of both citizens and civil servants. The interviewees are asked to mark
qualities in the landscape (connected to health and well-being) at a
local level. One other important part of my study is to hear their
attitude towards democracy and participation on- and offline when it
comes to physical planning of the environment. I will pass on a link to
my project further on.

I hope to catch a lot of good ideas in this group from practioners
worldwide.


Best regards,

Niclas Ãstlund



Steven Clift skrev:

> Welcome everyone to the updated online community for online
> consultation and e-participation practitioners.  We'll simply call it
> "Consult" for short. We are launching with 126 members!
>
> While folks should continue to login - http://groups.dowire.org - and
> update their "who's who" member profile (top right). Let's do a round
> of introduction via the online group.
>
> For those using e-mail, simply reply to this message keeping the
> subject line intact.  That will make our greetings it look pretty on
> the web.  For thos posting via the web, simply add your introduction
> at the bottom of this topic view.
>
> Great. Please introduce yourself briefly and be sure to mention any
> relevant projects you've been working on lately with web links we can
> follow.
>
> Sincerely,
> Steven Clift
> Democracies Online
>
>
> ^               ^               ^                ^
> Steven L. Clift    -   -  -  W: http://publicus.net
> Minneapolis    -   -   -  -   E: 
> Minnesota  -   -   -   -   -   - T: +1.612.822.8667
> USA    -   -   -   -     Skype/MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift
>
> Join Democracies Online: http://dowire.org
> Start an Issues Forum: http://e-democracy.org/if
>
>
> Member profile for Steven:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/stevenclift
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
> Group home for Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/consult
>
> Replies go to members of Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation
with all posts on this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/topic/120625
>
> For digest version or to leave Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
E-Participation,
> email 
> with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation is hosted by Democracies
Online - http://dowire.org.
>
>
>
>


--

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

*Niclas Ãstlund

MSc Landscape Architecture, PhD-student,
Chairman of the Alnarp PhD student Committee*

Dept. of Landscape Planning
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
P.O. Box 58
SE-230 53 Alnarp, Sweden

Phone: +46 40 41 55 38
Fax: +46 40 46 54 42
Cellphone: +46 70 791 30 01


http://www.lpal.slu.se/personal/niclaso.html

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

From: Janp To Update Date: 2006 Jul 13 07:57 UTC Short link

Hi,
I've been working for the past couple of years on an interactive public
engagement site called TalkEssex. Designed and developed in-house, we have
used a lot of the ideas developed by the national e democracy project. It
should be live at the end of August but with a phased launch over the next
year to the public as more content is up-loaded.
Jan.

Jan Plummer
Policy & Strategy Analyst
Strategic Policy Unit
INT: 20652
TEL: 01245 430652

From: Jonathannvery To Update Date: 2006 Jul 13 08:32 UTC Short link

Hi Jan

I would be interested to hear more

Best wishes
Jon Convery

Project Manager - North East Connects Local e-Democracy Project

-----Original Message-----
From: Jan Plummer PRP Strategic Policy Unit [mailto:]
Sent: 13 July 2006 08:58
To: ''
Subject: Re: [Consult] Introductions

Hi,
I've been working for the past couple of years on an interactive public
engagement site called TalkEssex. Designed and developed in-house, we have
used a lot of the ideas developed by the national e democracy project. It
should be live at the end of August but with a phased launch over the next
year to the public as more content is up-loaded.
Jan.

Jan Plummer
Policy & Strategy Analyst
Strategic Policy Unit
INT: 20652
TEL: 01245 430652

-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Clift [mailto:]
Sent: 12 July 2006 21:02
To: 
Subject: [Consult] Introductions

Welcome everyone to the updated online community for online consultation and
e-participation practitioners.  We'll simply call it "Consult" for short. We
are launching with 126 members!

While folks should continue to login - http://groups.dowire.org - and update
their "who's who" member profile (top right). Let's do a round of
introduction via the online group.

For those using e-mail, simply reply to this message keeping the subject
line intact.  That will make our greetings it look pretty on the web.  For
thos posting via the web, simply add your introduction at the bottom of this
topic view.

Great. Please introduce yourself briefly and be sure to mention any relevant
projects you've been working on lately with web links we can follow.

Sincerely,
Steven Clift
Democracies Online

^               ^               ^                ^
Steven L. Clift    -   -  -  W: http://publicus.net
Minneapolis    -   -   -  -   E: 
Minnesota  -   -   -   -   -   - T: +1.612.822.8667
USA    -   -   -   -     Skype/MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift

Join Democracies Online: http://dowire.org Start an Issues Forum:
http://e-democracy.org/if

Member profile for Steven:
http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/stevenclift

-----------------------------------------

Group home for Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation:
http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/consult

Replies go to members of Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
E-Participation with all posts on this topic here:
http://groups.dowire.org/topic/120625

For digest version or to leave Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
E-Participation, email  with "digest on" or
"unsubscribe" in the *subject*.

Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation is hosted by
Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.

Member profile for Janp:
http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/janp

-----------------------------------------

Group home for Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation:
http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/consult

Replies go to members of Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
E-Participation with all posts on this topic here:
http://groups.dowire.org/topic/120779

For digest version or to leave Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
E-Participation, email  with "digest on" or
"unsubscribe" in the *subject*.

Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation is hosted by
Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.

=====================================================================
Sunderland City Council accept no liability for and shall not be
legally bound by the contents of this E-Mail. No assurances are given
as to the authority of the sender to act on its behalf.
Please note that the content of e-mail sent and received may have to
be disclosed by the Council in response to a request for access to
information.
=====================================================================
Find out more about e-Government within the City of Sunderland by visiting:
Our new citizen-centric web site with online payments : www.sunderland.gov.uk
For the City of Sunderland story so far : www.sunderland.gov.uk/pathfinder

From: Lizzy Tait Date: 2006 Jul 13 09:19 UTC Short link

Hi everyone,
My name is Lizzy Tait, I am a PhD student at the Robert Gordon
University in Aberdeen (Scotland) researching the use of online
consultations in Scottish Local Authorities. I am currently conducting
interviews with representatives from the 32 Scottish Local Authorities
to find out whether or not they are currently using online consultations
and how successful/unsuccessful they have found the initiatives. I am
also trying to find out reasons for not using online consultations
(whether it is technical limitations, organisational barriers, cultural
issues etc) to determine whether there are some circumstances that using
electronic consultation is not appropriate.

I am also interested in finding out about best practice examples from
around the world and so am hoping to find out about interesting
initiatives from this group. If anyone would like to know more about my
research please get in touch.

From: David Newman Date: 2006 Jul 13 10:18 UTC Short link

http://www.e-consultation.org/

The rest of my introduction will follow once I get better (I'm at
home with a chest infection).

From: Barry Griffiths Date: 2006 Jul 13 10:33 UTC Short link

Hello

I'm Ross Ferguson, Director of eDemocracy at the Hansard Society
(www.hansardsociety.org.uk/programmes/e-democracy).

Hansard Society is an independent, non-partisan educational charity working to
promote democracy and strengthen parliamentary engagement. We are based in the
UK.

All the Programmes here start with the belief that citizens should have more
opportunities to engage with politicians and political institutions between
elections. The novelty of the eDemocracy Programme is that we are exploring how
technology is being used to provide these more open, inclusive and meaningful
channels.

I am currently working on:

- 'Citizen Calling'... a pilot using mobile phones to help select committees
run public inquiries;
- 'Digital Dialogues'... a pilot to build central government's capacity to
conduct consultation online;
- 'Tell Parliament'... development of Parliament's capacity to use deliberative
online forums for public consultations;
- Joint research paper with NCVO on the influence of ICT on democracy and
activism from the perspective of the voluntary and charitable organisations;
- Joint research project with Dr Steve Ward on the influence of blogging  on
democratic engagement.

I'd be very interested to hear from anyone working in similar areas (which I
suppose everyone is); I'd also be happy to answer any queries about our work. I
am keen to strike up partnerships with those exploring issues around of why
participation in eDemocracy exercises remains a niche pursuit, and why
commitment from policy-makers to mainstreaming technology-led participation is
still piece-meal.

From: Marquesjamil Date: 2006 Jul 13 13:15 UTC Short link

Hi,

  My name is Francisco Paulo Jamil and I am a PhD student at Universidade
Federal da Bahia, Brazil (Department of Communication Â www.poscom.ufba.br).
We have a research group which counts on masterÂs and doctoral students under
supervision of doctor Wilson Gomes. WeÂve discussed mainly on democratic
theory and new media, examining different levels of participation that
democratic institutions offer to citizens employing the Internet (I just wrote
a paper named ÂLevels of Citizens' participation in Congressional
Representatives' WebsitesÂ, which compares how American and Brazilian senators
employ their websites to provide opportunities to citizens participate).
Currently, I am spending one year in the USA doing part of my thesis under
supervision of doctor James Bohman, in St. Louis.

  If anyone work on similar ideas, please, let me know.

  Best wishes,

  Francisco Paulo Jamil


Edemocracy Ferguson <> escreveu:
Hello

I'm Ross Ferguson, Director of eDemocracy at the Hansard Society
(www.hansardsociety.org.uk/programmes/e-democracy).

Hansard Society is an independent, non-partisan educational charity working to
promote democracy and strengthen parliamentary engagement. We are based in the
UK.

All the Programmes here start with the belief that citizens should have more
opportunities to engage with politicians and political institutions between
elections. The novelty of the eDemocracy Programme is that we are exploring how
technology is being used to provide these more open, inclusive and meaningful
channels.

I am currently working on:

- 'Citizen Calling'... a pilot using mobile phones to help select committees
run public inquiries;
- 'Digital Dialogues'... a pilot to build central government's capacity to
conduct consultation online;
- 'Tell Parliament'... development of Parliament's capacity to use deliberative
online forums for public consultations;
- Joint research paper with NCVO on the influence of ICT on democracy and
activism from the perspective of the voluntary and charitable organisations;
- Joint research project with Dr Steve Ward on the influence of blogging on
democratic engagement.

I'd be very interested to hear from anyone working in similar areas (which I
suppose everyone is); I'd also be happy to answer any queries about our work. I
am keen to strike up partnerships with those exploring issues around of why
participation in eDemocracy exercises remains a niche pursuit, and why
commitment from policy-makers to mainstreaming technology-led participation is
still piece-meal.

Cheers,

Ross
Member profile for Edemocracy:
http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/edemocracy

From: Phil Rose Date: 2006 Jul 13 13:24 UTC Short link

Hello,

My name is Phil Rose, and I am a PhD student in Communication and Culture at
York University in Toronto, Canada. I am particularly interested in the
study of culture from the perspective of media ecology
(http://www.media-ecology.org/mecology/).

I am not a practitioner in your field but merely attend to this forum as
your student for the time being....

Kind regards to all,

Phil Rose


----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven Clift" <>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 4:02 PM
Subject: [Consult] Introductions


>
> Welcome everyone to the updated online community for online
> consultation and e-participation practitioners.  We'll simply call it
> "Consult" for short. We are launching with 126 members!
>
> While folks should continue to login - http://groups.dowire.org - and
> update their "who's who" member profile (top right). Let's do a round
> of introduction via the online group.
>
> For those using e-mail, simply reply to this message keeping the
> subject line intact.  That will make our greetings it look pretty on
> the web.  For thos posting via the web, simply add your introduction
> at the bottom of this topic view.
>
> Great. Please introduce yourself briefly and be sure to mention any
> relevant projects you've been working on lately with web links we can
> follow.
>
> Sincerely,
> Steven Clift
> Democracies Online
>
>
> ^               ^               ^                ^
> Steven L. Clift    -   -  -  W: http://publicus.net
> Minneapolis    -   -   -  -   E: 
> Minnesota  -   -   -   -   -   - T: +1.612.822.8667
> USA    -   -   -   -     Skype/MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift
>
> Join Democracies Online: http://dowire.org
> Start an Issues Forum: http://e-democracy.org/if
>
>
> Member profile for Steven:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/stevenclift
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
> Group home for Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/consult
>
> Replies go to members of Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
> E-Participation with all posts on this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/topic/120625
>
> For digest version or to leave Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
> E-Participation,
> email 
> with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation is hosted by
> Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.
>

From: Loretta Donovan Date: 2006 Jul 13 13:32 UTC Short link

I'm Loretta Donovan from the New York City area.  I am the founder and
president of worksmarts, a consulting practice that focuses on facilitating
change through collective processes.

I have interwoven a passion for exploring the human spirit with an
understanding of how organizations learn and create value.  Drawing from a
wealth of experience as an executive, consultant, and learner, I blend
participatory approaches aimed at dialogue, knowledge creation and critical
action with web-based technologies to increase the capacity of organizations to
plan and implement business processes, strategic initiatives, and enterprise
change.

While at Girls Scouts of the USA, as chief learning officer, I oversaw the
implementation of the GEMMA enterprise technology across the country,  and led
the integration of Appreciative Inquiry within GSUSA within the corporate
consulting team.  Previously, I held senior learning and consulting positions
at ClientSoft, Inc., Sungard/SCT, and the March of Dimes.  I designed AMA's
course in virtual teams and have lead online communities of practice dealing
with volunteer development and fund raising.

I am currently a faculty member at NYU-SCPS where I teach courses in
appreciative inquiry, business process management and assessment.  I have
taught Staff Development and Training and Leading and Sustaining Web-based
Learning online at Teachers College/Columbia University, and served on the
faculty of the 2002 Workplace Learning Institute.

At Teachers College/Columbia University, I am a doctoral candidate in Adult and
Organizational Learning and doing research on communities of practice in
emerging consulting collaborations. I am a member of the Society for
Organizational Learning, the Academy of Management, the Human Capital
Institute, and the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation.  I am a
co-owner in Appreciative Inquiry Consulting and have been an associate of MG
Taylor.

From: Alicia Schatteman Date: 2006 Jul 13 13:47 UTC Short link

I am a Doctoral Student in the School of Public Affairs and Administration
at Rutgers University.  I am presently interested in researching the use of
the Internet to increase citizen participation in government, and
dissemination of public performance measures to citizens using on-line
methods.

Alicia M. Schatteman
Communications Director/Doctoral Student
School of Public Affairs and Administration
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
350 M.L.King Blvd. Hill Hall 701
Newark, NJ 07102
973-353-5093 ext. 26

From: Jonathannvery To Update Date: 2006 Jul 13 14:32 UTC Short link

Hi all

Have a look at the website: http://www.neledem.co.uk - and then let me know
what you think.

My name's Jon Convery. I've been managing the North East Connects Local
e-Democracy Project over the past 12 months. The project was funded by the
ODPM (Office of the Deputy Prime Minister)- now DCLG (Department for
Communities and Local Government) in the UK.

The objective was to provide a suite of tools to support the 25 councils in
the North East of England to work in partnership to achieve the ODPM
priority outcomes associated with - and the underlying aims of - democratic
renewal (i.e. greater public involvement in decision making and enhancing
the representative role of councillors).

North East Connects is the North East Partnership for Local Government,
Sunderland City Council were the lead council for the project and RSe
Consulting (a UK based company with specialist experience in e-Democracy)
provided the consultancy to the project.

The suite is housed in a website at http://www.neledem.co.uk and provides
individual councils with a mix of information to help understand what
e-Democracy is about, showcase examples of best practice, template business
case calculators and other practical tools for helping councils to promote
and get up and running with projects.

RSe broke the project into four building blocks

	Debate and decisions
	Citizen engagement
	Councillor tasks
	Changing perceptions

These have proved a very practical way to slice up the project and certainly
works for me. Have a look at the website and let me have some constructive
thoughts on whether the approach seems intuitively right or not.

We are currently supporting the assets of the project for councils in the
North East with a decision due in September on long term sustainability.
Judging by the number of interesting intros I have seen already there
certainly seem to be plenty of interest.

Good luck to you all out there
Jon


Jon Convery (Project Manager - North East Connects Local e-Democracy
Project)

Sunderland City Council
Democratic Services
Room 3.38
Civic Centre
Sunderland
SR2 7DN

Tel:   0191 553 2464
Fax:  0191 553 1020
Mob: 07909 937 582

Email: 
www.sunderland.gov.uk
www.neledem.co.uk

Sunderland ... for a better future

-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Clift [mailto:]
Sent: 12 July 2006 21:02
To: 
Subject: [Consult] Introductions

Welcome everyone to the updated online community for online consultation and
e-participation practitioners.  We'll simply call it "Consult" for short. We
are launching with 126 members!

While folks should continue to login - http://groups.dowire.org - and update
their "who's who" member profile (top right). Let's do a round of
introduction via the online group.

For those using e-mail, simply reply to this message keeping the subject
line intact.  That will make our greetings it look pretty on the web.  For
thos posting via the web, simply add your introduction at the bottom of this
topic view.

Great. Please introduce yourself briefly and be sure to mention any relevant
projects you've been working on lately with web links we can follow.

Sincerely,
Steven Clift
Democracies Online

^               ^               ^                ^
Steven L. Clift    -   -  -  W: http://publicus.net
Minneapolis    -   -   -  -   E: 
Minnesota  -   -   -   -   -   - T: +1.612.822.8667
USA    -   -   -   -     Skype/MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift

Join Democracies Online: http://dowire.org Start an Issues Forum:
http://e-democracy.org/if

Member profile for Steven:
http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/stevenclift

-----------------------------------------

Group home for Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation:
http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/consult

Replies go to members of Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
E-Participation with all posts on this topic here:
http://groups.dowire.org/topic/120625

For digest version or to leave Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
E-Participation, email  with "digest on" or
"unsubscribe" in the *subject*.

Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation is hosted by
Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.

=====================================================================
Sunderland City Council accept no liability for and shall not be
legally bound by the contents of this E-Mail. No assurances are given
as to the authority of the sender to act on its behalf.
Please note that the content of e-mail sent and received may have to
be disclosed by the Council in response to a request for access to
information.
=====================================================================
Find out more about e-Government within the City of Sunderland by visiting:
Our new citizen-centric web site with online payments : www.sunderland.gov.uk
For the City of Sunderland story so far : www.sunderland.gov.uk/pathfinder

From: Peter Shane Date: 2006 Jul 13 15:37 UTC Short link

Greetings.  I am Peter Shane, a law professor at The Ohio State University
(where I direct the Center for Interdisciplinary Law and Policy Studies)
and an adjunct faculty member at Carnegie Mellon's H. John Heinz III School
of Public Policy and Management.

I am especially interested in the incorporation of online consultation into
formal processes of government decision making.  From 2002-2006, I helped
lead an NSF-supported research team that focused on the comparative
dynamics of online and face-to-face deliberation and created user-friendly
open source software to permit real-time audio- and text-conferences.  My
current interest -- along with colleagues at Ohio State (we call ourselves
the OSU Cyberdemocracy Research Group) -- is to work with government
partners to design and assess online initiatives that link directly with
the formulation of policy.  We have projects currently under discussion
involving both a federal and regional agencies.

My more theoretical interest is in the potential impact of new ICTs on our
ideas of constitutionalism and democratic legitimacy.  I should add that I
also advise a new interdisciplinary journal, I/S:  A Journal of Law and
Policy for the Information Society (www.is-journal.org).  We would welcome
submissions related to e-democracy, including work by practitioners.

Best, Peter

From: John Miller Date: 2006 Jul 13 17:01 UTC Short link

Hello online consultation folk,

My name is John Miller and I am a consultant and trainer with ICA Associates
Inc. in Canada.  We are known for a couple of things. Building the
profession (through IAF for the most part), and having a methodological
approach to participatory group processes. To be a good facilitator takes
more than an overabundance of ego and a sturdy seat-of-the-pants.

The body of knowledge we have developed is called the "Technology of
ParticipationÂ".  It was created by and continues to be developed with our
colleagues around the world inside the Institute of Cultural Affairs (hence
the ICA in our name).  Our roots are in community development projects all
over the earth over the past 40+ years.

Our little company here in Toronto has a historic preference to work with
NGOs but we have become involved more and more with governments at all
levels and pretty much any topic (because we focus on process not content).
Recently I have worked on a couple of contentious public policy development
processes and enjoyed it.

One of my colleagues, Jo Nelson, has written a practical book called The
Focused Conversation Method For Schools.

My recently departed friend Brian Stanfield has contributed several books
you might be interested in from the perspective of methodologies that might
be applied to online deliberations (but not ABOUT online tools).
- The Art of Focused Conversation
- The Courage To Lead
- The Workshop Book.

Some of us have used online survey tools effectively and have helped clients
make sense of feedback too.

In the late 1990s we experimented with applying our understandings of group
processes to the online environment. The experiment was: how can we "impose"
the way people actually think onto the way technology works (instead of the
other way around). It kinda' worked. We produced ToPonline.ca and made it
work ...but I found it too hard to work WITH and, in the end, we are not a
software firm so it was not getting the polish it needed.

Lots of good tools have arisen since our early experiments but I find we do
not USE these tools enough among ourselves or with clients.  Online tools
still require a BIG STICK to make people participate, and a lot of picky
work falls into the lap of the convener (I hesitate to call myself a
"facilitator" in that case).

I look forward to seeing where this all leads.

Have a wonderful day.
...john

From: kerrie oakes Date: 2006 Jul 13 22:23 UTC Short link

Hi all,

I am Kerrie Oakes and I am currently employed in the Queensland
(Australia) Government's eDemocracy Policy team as a policy officer. I
have been working in government eDemocracy for approximately 5 years now
- initially with the youth website (www.generate.qld.gov.au) and
currently with the get involved site (www.getinvolved.qld.gov.au).

I am also currently undertaking a PhD through Griffith University where
my proposed research is focussing on the impact that online engagement
processes have on the policy-making role of the public sector. I am
proposing a case-study approach that compares experiences in Australia,
Canada and the UK. At the moment I am working towards finalising the
research proposal for presentation to the university later this year.

I look forward to hearing more from all the projects that everyone is
undertaking.

Kerrie

Kerrie Oakes
Principal Policy Officer
eDemocracy Policy
Department of Communities
Brisbane, Qld, Australia

P: +61 7 3224 5601
E: 
W: www.getinvolved.qld.gov.au

From: Subscriptionbox To Update Date: 2006 Jul 13 22:44 UTC Short link

Hi all,

Eric Miller from Portland, Oregon USA here.  We're an interactive
development house focused on public sector projects.

It may be of interest to the community (if you're not already aware of these
folks) to check out some of the research coming out of the digital
government academic community.  We went to the '06 NSF digital government
conference in May (diggov.org) to present a poster on public sector design
practices:
http://www.squishymedia.com/docs/diggov2006/

Several of the sessions were about e-participation, online rulemaking,
online community tools, and the impression I came away with was that the
research was showing that the tools worked well enough, but the human side
of things (participation rates, group dynamics, efficacy in target
demographics) was lagging.  That's also been my experience when working with
community organizations to build online community tools.  Would be
interested to hear more from this group about these 'meatware' issues...

Eric


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steven Clift [mailto:]
> Sent: Thursday, 13 July 2006 6:02 AM
> To: 
> Subject: [Consult] Introductions
>
>
> Welcome everyone to the updated online community for online
> consultation and e-participation practitioners.  We'll simply call it
> "Consult" for short. We are launching with 126 members!
>
> While folks should continue to login - http://groups.dowire.org - and
> update their "who's who" member profile (top right). Let's do a round
> of introduction via the online group.
>
> For those using e-mail, simply reply to this message keeping the
> subject line intact.  That will make our greetings it look pretty on
> the web.  For thos posting via the web, simply add your introduction
> at the bottom of this topic view.
>
> Great. Please introduce yourself briefly and be sure to mention any
> relevant projects you've been working on lately with web links we can
> follow.
>
> Sincerely,
> Steven Clift
> Democracies Online
>
>
> ^               ^               ^                ^
> Steven L. Clift    -   -  -  W: http://publicus.net
> Minneapolis    -   -   -  -   E: 
> Minnesota  -   -   -   -   -   - T: +1.612.822.8667
> USA    -   -   -   -     Skype/MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift
>
> Join Democracies Online: http://dowire.org
> Start an Issues Forum: http://e-democracy.org/if
>
>
> Member profile for Steven:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/stevenclift
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
> Group home for Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/consult
>
> Replies go to members of Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
> E-Participation with all posts on this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/topic/120625
>
> For digest version or to leave Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
> E-Participation,
> email 
> with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation is hosted by
> Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.
>
> Member profile for kerrie:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/kerrieoakes
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
> Group home for Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/consult
>
> Replies go to members of Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation
> with all posts on this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/topic/120837
>
> For digest version or to leave Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
> E-Participation,
> email 
> with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation is hosted by Democracies
> Online - http://dowire.org.
>

From: Ella Taylor-Smith Date: 2006 Jul 14 09:12 UTC Short link

Hi,
I've been working for the International Teledemocracy Centre (ITC,
Napier University, Edinburgh) for about 5 years. I'm interested in
e-participation -  especially through online discussions. The main focus
of my work is e-participation for young people. To this end I work with
a youth parliament for the Highland Region of Scotland, developing
e-democracy tools in partnership with them. Their website is here:
http://www.highlandyouthvoice.org/home.asp
and there's more about the project on the ITC website here:
http://itc.napier.ac.uk/ITC/ProjectInfo.asp?ID=9

I think a lot of the stuff I learn from the young people is applicable
to older people too. e.g. I think some sort of fun or social element is
essential.

My page on the ITC website:
http://itc.napier.ac.uk/ITC/People/Ella_Smith.asp

My Do-wire proflie
http://groups.dowire.org/contacts/smithella/

Ella Smith

International Teledemocracy Centre
Napier University
10 Colinton Road
Edinburgh, EH10 5DT

Telephone: +44 (0) 131 455 2392  Fax:  +44 (0) 131 455 2282
Email: 

http://itc.napier.ac.uk/
http://www.highlandyouthvoice.org/home.asp

-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Clift [mailto:]
Sent: 12 July 2006 21:02
To: 
Subject: [Consult] Introductions

Welcome everyone to the updated online community for online
consultation and e-participation practitioners.  We'll simply call it
"Consult" for short. We are launching with 126 members!

While folks should continue to login - http://groups.dowire.org - and
update their "who's who" member profile (top right). Let's do a round
of introduction via the online group.

For those using e-mail, simply reply to this message keeping the
subject line intact.  That will make our greetings it look pretty on
the web.  For thos posting via the web, simply add your introduction
at the bottom of this topic view.

Great. Please introduce yourself briefly and be sure to mention any
relevant projects you've been working on lately with web links we can
follow.

Sincerely,
Steven Clift
Democracies Online

^               ^               ^                ^
Steven L. Clift    -   -  -  W: http://publicus.net
Minneapolis    -   -   -  -   E: 
Minnesota  -   -   -   -   -   - T: +1.612.822.8667
USA    -   -   -   -     Skype/MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift

Join Democracies Online: http://dowire.org
Start an Issues Forum: http://e-democracy.org/if

Member profile for Steven:
http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/stevenclift

-----------------------------------------

Group home for Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation:
http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/consult

Replies go to members of Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
E-Participation with all posts on this topic here:
http://groups.dowire.org/topic/120625

For digest version or to leave Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
E-Participation,
email 
with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.

Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation is hosted by
Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.
This message is intended for the addressee(s) only and should not be read,
copied or disclosed to anyone else outwith the University without the
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It is your responsibility to ensure that this message and any attachments are
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University's system is subject to routine monitoring and filtering by the
University.

From: Pete Thomson Date: 2006 Jul 14 11:01 UTC Short link

Jon, and all,

Your site looks really interesting and useful, but some of the material
is password protected. Maybe this is a result of the way it's funded,
but I'm sure it would be of value at least to other UK councils outside
the North East, and probably to many others as well. Is there any chance
that access will be opened up?


My own intro: until April I was a board member for the UK National
Project on local e-Democracy (which has now transformed into ICELE,
http://www.e-democracy.gov.uk). As part of this project Wolverhampton
established an e-panel
(http://www.wton-partnership.org.uk/inovem/inovem.ti/group/epanel/grouph
ome) which is continuing to develop. This is a resource for a local
partnership which includes other local public sector agencies and the
private and voluntary/community sectors as well as the council. I
personally also worked on guidance about websites for local councillors,
see
http://www.readmyday.co.uk/pub/readmydayuk/phase_2_cllr_website_guidance
_v1.0.doc. Nothing new to tell you about at the moment, but maybe soon.

Regards to all, Peter.

--
Peter Thomson
Policy Officer (e-government), Performance and Development,
Wolverhampton City Council, Civic Centre, Wolverhampton WV1 1SH, UK
Tel: (+44) 1902 554048   Fax: (+44) 1902 554030   Web:
http://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jonathan Convery [mailto:]
> Sent: 13 July 2006 15:32
> To: ''
> Subject: Re: [Consult] Introductions
>
>
> Hi all
>
> Have a look at the website: http://www.neledem.co.uk - and
> then let me know what you think.
>
> My name's Jon Convery. I've been managing the North East
> Connects Local e-Democracy Project over the past 12 months.
> The project was funded by the ODPM (Office of the Deputy
> Prime Minister)- now DCLG (Department for Communities and
> Local Government) in the UK.
>
> The objective was to provide a suite of tools to support the
> 25 councils in the North East of England to work in
> partnership to achieve the ODPM priority outcomes associated
> with - and the underlying aims of - democratic renewal (i.e.
> greater public involvement in decision making and enhancing
> the representative role of councillors).
>
> North East Connects is the North East Partnership for Local
> Government, Sunderland City Council were the lead council for
> the project and RSe Consulting (a UK based company with
> specialist experience in e-Democracy) provided the
> consultancy to the project.
>
> The suite is housed in a website at http://www.neledem.co.uk
> and provides individual councils with a mix of information to
> help understand what e-Democracy is about, showcase examples
> of best practice, template business case calculators and
> other practical tools for helping councils to promote and get
> up and running with projects.
>
> RSe broke the project into four building blocks
>
> 	Debate and decisions
> 	Citizen engagement
> 	Councillor tasks
> 	Changing perceptions
>
> These have proved a very practical way to slice up the
> project and certainly works for me. Have a look at the
> website and let me have some constructive thoughts on whether
> the approach seems intuitively right or not.
>
> We are currently supporting the assets of the project for
> councils in the North East with a decision due in September
> on long term sustainability.
> Judging by the number of interesting intros I have seen
> already there certainly seem to be plenty of interest.
>
> Good luck to you all out there
> Jon
>
>
> Jon Convery (Project Manager - North East Connects Local e-Democracy
> Project)
>
> Sunderland City Council
> Democratic Services
> Room 3.38
> Civic Centre
> Sunderland
> SR2 7DN
>
> Tel:   0191 553 2464
> Fax:  0191 553 1020
> Mob: 07909 937 582
>
> Email: 
> www.sunderland.gov.uk
> www.neledem.co.uk
>
> Sunderland ... for a better future
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steven Clift [mailto:]
> Sent: 12 July 2006 21:02
> To: 
> Subject: [Consult] Introductions
>
>
> Welcome everyone to the updated online community for online
> consultation and
> e-participation practitioners.  We'll simply call it
> "Consult" for short. We
> are launching with 126 members!
>
> While folks should continue to login -
> http://groups.dowire.org - and update
> their "who's who" member profile (top right). Let's do a round of
> introduction via the online group.
>
> For those using e-mail, simply reply to this message keeping
> the subject
> line intact.  That will make our greetings it look pretty on
> the web.  For
> thos posting via the web, simply add your introduction at the
> bottom of this
> topic view.
>
> Great. Please introduce yourself briefly and be sure to
> mention any relevant
> projects you've been working on lately with web links we can follow.
>
> Sincerely,
> Steven Clift
> Democracies Online
>
>
> ^               ^               ^                ^
> Steven L. Clift    -   -  -  W: http://publicus.net
> Minneapolis    -   -   -  -   E: 
> Minnesota  -   -   -   -   -   - T: +1.612.822.8667
> USA    -   -   -   -     Skype/MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift
>
> Join Democracies Online: http://dowire.org Start an Issues Forum:
> http://e-democracy.org/if
>
>
> Member profile for Steven:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/stevenclift
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
> Group home for Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/consult
>
> Replies go to members of Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
> E-Participation with all posts on this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/topic/120625
>
> For digest version or to leave Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
> E-Participation, email  with "digest on" or
> "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation is hosted by
> Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.
>
>
> ==================================> Sunderland City Council accept no
liability for and shall not be
> legally bound by the contents of this E-Mail. No assurances are given
> as to the authority of the sender to act on its behalf.
> Please note that the content of e-mail sent and received may have to
> be disclosed by the Council in response to a request for access to
> information.
> ==================================> Find out more about e-Government within
the City of
> Sunderland by visiting:
> Our new citizen-centric web site with online payments :
> www.sunderland.gov.uk
> For the City of Sunderland story so far :
> www.sunderland.gov.uk/pathfinder
>
> Member profile for Jonathannvery:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/jonathannvery
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
> Group home for Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/consult
>
> Replies go to members of Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
> E-Participation with all posts on this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/topic/120816
>
> For digest version or to leave Online Consultations,
> Dialogues, and E-Participation,
> email 
> with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation is
> hosted by Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.
>
>

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From: Carol Hayward Date: 2006 Jul 14 11:40 UTC Short link

Hi all,

I have been working at Bristol City Council for the last two and a bit years on
local e-democracy and online consultation.

We've been working with Pete on the Local eDemocracy National Project and also
specifically on e-panels.

Bristol started on the e-democracy path some years ago when an evaluation of
existing consultation activities around the council led to a decision to build
an online consultation database that would be public-facing and would allow
councillors, officers and local people to see what consultations were taking
place around the city.

This led to the introduction of consultation surveys and quickpolls initially,
followed by more deliberative online activities. Through the National Project
we established our own e-panel, Ask Bristol (www.askbristol.com), which now has
over 1500 members - a recent discussion on street art and a local anti-hero
Banksy helped boost our membership by over 300 people. We also established
e-petitions on the council's website (www.bristol-city.gov.uk/epetitions) which
has had over 10,000 signatures and 30 issues since it went live nearly two
years ago.

We continue to experiment with other e-participation activities, such as the
Hansard Society's Web chats (formerly known as online councillor surgeries) and
developed a campaign creator (www.campaigncreator.org) toolkit through central
government funding. There's more in the pipeline and we're still learning every
time we carry out a new exercise.  Part of our priority in the future is
empowering more community-led activities and making our existing activities
more mainstream and financially sustainable.

Carol

For more information see www.bristol-city.gov.uk/edemocracy or
www.bristol-city.gov.uk/consultation

From: Jonathannvery To Update Date: 2006 Jul 14 11:41 UTC Short link

Hi Pete

Thanks for the update. The reason it is protected is that we had quite tight
criteria for including suppliers on the list and by password protecting it
meant that we could control who had access and explain the basis for
inclusion properly. Suppliers were included because either they:

1. Had been included on the framework agreement that the project had
established for Notrh east Councils
2. Had been successful National Project Local e-Democracy products
3. Were examples that had arisen in the North East that were put forward as
examples of best practice within the region

I agree that it would be better to have a more accessible list that only has
to be password protected if there is a good reason and will give some
thought to changing the way this is done and providing a mechanism that
enables the list to be more dynamic and recognising changes as they happen.
I will need to include ICE-LE in these discussions of course and we have
been engaging with them - but I will raise it directly with Fraser
Henderson.

I will keep you in the loop and let you know once we've got a way forward.

Thanks
Jon

-----Original Message-----
From: Pete Thomson [mailto:]
Sent: 14 July 2006 12:01
To: 
Subject: Re: [Consult] Introductions

Jon, and all,

Your site looks really interesting and useful, but some of the material is
password protected. Maybe this is a result of the way it's funded, but I'm
sure it would be of value at least to other UK councils outside the North
East, and probably to many others as well. Is there any chance that access
will be opened up?


My own intro: until April I was a board member for the UK National Project
on local e-Democracy (which has now transformed into ICELE,
http://www.e-democracy.gov.uk). As part of this project Wolverhampton
established an e-panel
(http://www.wton-partnership.org.uk/inovem/inovem.ti/group/epanel/grouph
ome) which is continuing to develop. This is a resource for a local
partnership which includes other local public sector agencies and the
private and voluntary/community sectors as well as the council. I personally
also worked on guidance about websites for local councillors, see
http://www.readmyday.co.uk/pub/readmydayuk/phase_2_cllr_website_guidance
_v1.0.doc. Nothing new to tell you about at the moment, but maybe soon.

Regards to all, Peter.

--
Peter Thomson
Policy Officer (e-government), Performance and Development, Wolverhampton
City Council, Civic Centre, Wolverhampton WV1 1SH, UK
Tel: (+44) 1902 554048   Fax: (+44) 1902 554030   Web:
http://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jonathan Convery [mailto:]
> Sent: 13 July 2006 15:32
> To: ''
> Subject: Re: [Consult] Introductions
>
>
> Hi all
>
> Have a look at the website: http://www.neledem.co.uk - and
> then let me know what you think.
>
> My name's Jon Convery. I've been managing the North East
> Connects Local e-Democracy Project over the past 12 months.
> The project was funded by the ODPM (Office of the Deputy
> Prime Minister)- now DCLG (Department for Communities and
> Local Government) in the UK.
>
> The objective was to provide a suite of tools to support the
> 25 councils in the North East of England to work in
> partnership to achieve the ODPM priority outcomes associated
> with - and the underlying aims of - democratic renewal (i.e.
> greater public involvement in decision making and enhancing
> the representative role of councillors).
>
> North East Connects is the North East Partnership for Local
> Government, Sunderland City Council were the lead council for
> the project and RSe Consulting (a UK based company with
> specialist experience in e-Democracy) provided the
> consultancy to the project.
>
> The suite is housed in a website at http://www.neledem.co.uk
> and provides individual councils with a mix of information to
> help understand what e-Democracy is about, showcase examples
> of best practice, template business case calculators and
> other practical tools for helping councils to promote and get
> up and running with projects.
>
> RSe broke the project into four building blocks
>
> 	Debate and decisions
> 	Citizen engagement
> 	Councillor tasks
> 	Changing perceptions
>
> These have proved a very practical way to slice up the
> project and certainly works for me. Have a look at the
> website and let me have some constructive thoughts on whether
> the approach seems intuitively right or not.
>
> We are currently supporting the assets of the project for
> councils in the North East with a decision due in September
> on long term sustainability.
> Judging by the number of interesting intros I have seen
> already there certainly seem to be plenty of interest.
>
> Good luck to you all out there
> Jon
>
>
> Jon Convery (Project Manager - North East Connects Local e-Democracy
> Project)
>
> Sunderland City Council
> Democratic Services
> Room 3.38
> Civic Centre
> Sunderland
> SR2 7DN
>
> Tel:   0191 553 2464
> Fax:  0191 553 1020
> Mob: 07909 937 582
>
> Email: 
> www.sunderland.gov.uk
> www.neledem.co.uk
>
> Sunderland ... for a better future
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steven Clift [mailto:]
> Sent: 12 July 2006 21:02
> To: 
> Subject: [Consult] Introductions
>
>
> Welcome everyone to the updated online community for online
> consultation and
> e-participation practitioners.  We'll simply call it
> "Consult" for short. We
> are launching with 126 members!
>
> While folks should continue to login -
> http://groups.dowire.org - and update
> their "who's who" member profile (top right). Let's do a round of
> introduction via the online group.
>
> For those using e-mail, simply reply to this message keeping
> the subject
> line intact.  That will make our greetings it look pretty on
> the web.  For
> thos posting via the web, simply add your introduction at the
> bottom of this
> topic view.
>
> Great. Please introduce yourself briefly and be sure to
> mention any relevant
> projects you've been working on lately with web links we can follow.
>
> Sincerely,
> Steven Clift
> Democracies Online
>
>
> ^               ^               ^                ^
> Steven L. Clift    -   -  -  W: http://publicus.net
> Minneapolis    -   -   -  -   E: 
> Minnesota  -   -   -   -   -   - T: +1.612.822.8667
> USA    -   -   -   -     Skype/MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift
>
> Join Democracies Online: http://dowire.org Start an Issues Forum:
> http://e-democracy.org/if
>
>
> Member profile for Steven:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/stevenclift
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
> Group home for Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/consult
>
> Replies go to members of Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
> E-Participation with all posts on this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/topic/120625
>
> For digest version or to leave Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
> E-Participation, email  with "digest on" or
> "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation is hosted by
> Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.
>
>
> =====================================================================
> Sunderland City Council accept no liability for and shall not be
> legally bound by the contents of this E-Mail. No assurances are given
> as to the authority of the sender to act on its behalf.
> Please note that the content of e-mail sent and received may have to
> be disclosed by the Council in response to a request for access to
> information.
> =====================================================================
> Find out more about e-Government within the City of
> Sunderland by visiting:
> Our new citizen-centric web site with online payments :
> www.sunderland.gov.uk
> For the City of Sunderland story so far :
> www.sunderland.gov.uk/pathfinder
>
> Member profile for Jonathannvery:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/jonathannvery
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
> Group home for Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/consult
>
> Replies go to members of Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
> E-Participation with all posts on this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/topic/120816
>
> For digest version or to leave Online Consultations,
> Dialogues, and E-Participation,
> email 
> with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation is
> hosted by Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.
>
>

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
DISCLAIMER: This email and files transmitted are confidential and are
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Member profile for Pete:
http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/petethomson


-----------------------------------------

Group home for Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation:
http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/consult

Replies go to members of Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
E-Participation with all posts on this topic here:
http://groups.dowire.org/topic/120940

For digest version or to leave Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
E-Participation,
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with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.

Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation is hosted by
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From: Catherine Howe Date: 2006 Jul 14 14:23 UTC Short link

Hi there folks,

I'm Operations Director at Public-i - we specialise in using webcasting to
make the democratic process a bit more transparent and accessible - and work
with over 30 local authorities in the UK and overseas now.

We're currently involved in a project called "eParticpate" - funded by the
EU this project has been testing what we've been doing in the UK for the
last 5 years and checking its applicability in the rest of Europe.  Happily
the results are excellent and we are now looking at further EU countries to
work with.

Best wishes

----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven Clift" <>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 9:02 PM
Subject: [Consult] Introductions


>
> Welcome everyone to the updated online community for online
> consultation and e-participation practitioners.  We'll simply call it
> "Consult" for short. We are launching with 126 members!
>
> While folks should continue to login - http://groups.dowire.org - and
> update their "who's who" member profile (top right). Let's do a round
> of introduction via the online group.
>
> For those using e-mail, simply reply to this message keeping the
> subject line intact.  That will make our greetings it look pretty on
> the web.  For thos posting via the web, simply add your introduction
> at the bottom of this topic view.
>
> Great. Please introduce yourself briefly and be sure to mention any
> relevant projects you've been working on lately with web links we can
> follow.
>
> Sincerely,
> Steven Clift
> Democracies Online
>
>
> ^               ^               ^                ^
> Steven L. Clift    -   -  -  W: http://publicus.net
> Minneapolis    -   -   -  -   E: 
> Minnesota  -   -   -   -   -   - T: +1.612.822.8667
> USA    -   -   -   -     Skype/MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift
>
> Join Democracies Online: http://dowire.org
> Start an Issues Forum: http://e-democracy.org/if
>
>
> Member profile for Steven:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/stevenclift
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
> Group home for Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/consult
>
> Replies go to members of Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
> E-Participation with all posts on this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/topic/120625
>
> For digest version or to leave Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
> E-Participation,
> email 
> with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation is hosted by
> Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.
>

From: Steven Clift Date: 2006 Jul 14 15:09 UTC Short link

It is great to hear from all of you. Keep them coming.

If you want to catch up on the intros see:

  http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/120948

You'll note that for the most part "excess quoting" is automatically
hidden. However, when you do reply to a post, it is always best to
delete the text from previous posts and only keep text you are
quoting.

The Consult forum's web view is public, so you don't need to login to
read posts.  If logged on you can post via the web.

Finally, if you see "To Update" in your name that means you have not
updated you member profile on the site.  When I moved over Newswire e-
mail addresses I put To Update in where I didn't have your name.
Login here: http://groups.dowire.org/login
Select "Update Profile" under the list of "Welcome" options.

Steven Clift
http://dowire.org


^               ^               ^                ^
Steven L. Clift    -   -  -  W: http://publicus.net
Minneapolis    -   -   -  -   E: 
Minnesota  -   -   -   -   -   - T: +1.612.822.8667
USA    -   -   -   -     Skype/MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift

Join Democracies Online: http://dowire.org
Start an Issues Forum: http://e-democracy.org/if

From: Heather Tischbein Date: 2006 Jul 14 15:17 UTC Short link

I'm a community activist in Vancouver, Washington (across the Columbia River
from Portland, Oregon).  For the last two years I've been focusing on
creating face-to-face civic dialogue events whenever an opportunity presents
itself, mostly in the context of our public library's Make Democracy Work
project.  I have no expertise in "e-democracy" and the last two days of
"Consult" emails have overwhelmed me with a sense of ignorance, curiosity
and possibility.

I was glad to see Eric Miller's intro...to discover there is someone in my
"neighborhood" doing this work and with whom I hope to connect.

Vancouver, Washington is a community of about 300,000 people.  Until the
last five years, it has perceived itself  as a suburb of Portland, Oregon.
Now there is an effort being made by "civic" (business and political)
leaders to create a separate identity.  Urban growth issues are driving the
formal public debates, and the historical political and economic power
structures are controlling the agenda.  The voice of  "We the People" is
nowhere to be heard.  The howling of entrenched interests groups is
deafening.

I'm really curious to understand how e-democracy practices can serve to give
voice to interests that haven't been able to effectively access the
traditional "public hearing" venues.

If someone in this network can help me understand where to get started in
learning about e-democracy, I would appreciate it.

I am also on the board of the Co-Intelligence Institute
(http://www.co-intelligence.org/).  Perhaps some of you are familiar with
Tom Atlee's work.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Steven Clift" <>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 1:02 PM
Subject: [Consult] Introductions


>
> Welcome everyone to the updated online community for online
> consultation and e-participation practitioners.  We'll simply call it
> "Consult" for short. We are launching with 126 members!
>
> While folks should continue to login - http://groups.dowire.org - and
> update their "who's who" member profile (top right). Let's do a round
> of introduction via the online group.
>
> For those using e-mail, simply reply to this message keeping the
> subject line intact.  That will make our greetings it look pretty on
> the web.  For thos posting via the web, simply add your introduction
> at the bottom of this topic view.
>
> Great. Please introduce yourself briefly and be sure to mention any
> relevant projects you've been working on lately with web links we can
> follow.
>
> Sincerely,
> Steven Clift
> Democracies Online
>
>
> ^               ^               ^                ^
> Steven L. Clift    -   -  -  W: http://publicus.net
> Minneapolis    -   -   -  -   E: 
> Minnesota  -   -   -   -   -   - T: +1.612.822.8667
> USA    -   -   -   -     Skype/MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift
>
> Join Democracies Online: http://dowire.org
> Start an Issues Forum: http://e-democracy.org/if
>
>
> Member profile for Steven:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/contacts/stevenclift
>
>
> -----------------------------------------
>
> Group home for Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation:
> http://groups.dowire.org/main/groups/consult
>
> Replies go to members of Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
> E-Participation with all posts on this topic here:
> http://groups.dowire.org/topic/120625
>
> For digest version or to leave Online Consultations, Dialogues, and
> E-Participation,
> email 
> with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.
>
> Online Consultations, Dialogues, and E-Participation is hosted by
> Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.
>

From: stu hc Date: 2006 Jul 14 19:32 UTC Short link

Hi

I'm Stuart HARDWICKE CARRUTHERS. Have been working on these sorts of
issues for about 20 years..

Am currently working with an interesting community based group
http://www.ombudsmanwatch.org - this is looking to secure systems
based changes in the administration of local government.. and its
regulation. The members are probably amongst the most critical and
informed consumers of local government services in Europe. It seems
to have developed from realisation that when there is crime in
society.. there is no justice.. [an old idea of Plato's] and is using
networks to establish user groups that have previously been
geographically fragmented due to way in which geographic monopolys'
are awarded to local government... since it discovered pencils
attached to pieces of string. It appears to be enjoying some success
in securing changes to Local gov in the UK.. without the normal
consultation process organised by the client (i.e. gov - local and
national).

The group has become quite large (as there appear to be a large
number - growing) of highly disatisfied consumers of local government
services... (in particular) and appears to be a response to failures
in the market (is there room for local gov -geographic monopoly's] in
an web enabled society.. with highly variable cost and quality
standards..

From: Pedro Prieto-Martin Date: 2006 Jul 14 19:40 UTC Short link

Hi all,

I'm a PhD student at the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute of the Open
University of Catalonia.

I've come to believe that, even if most of the tools we could possibly
require to foster e-participation are already out there in the Internet, we
haven't still been able to integrate them to create intuitive and attractive
participation environments that are adapted to the characteristics of
real-world citizens, governments and third sector organizations.

Thus, my project (