View source for E-consultation design

===The E-Consultation Design===
=====Consultation Themes=====
The Wheel wanted to use four themes in their report to the Task Force on Active Citizenship (see Figure 8.3.2).  The site, therefore, was also [http://wheel.e-consultation.org/wiki/index.php/Consultation structured along the four themes]:
# [http://wheel.e-consultation.org/wiki/index.php/Who_is_an_Active_Citizen%3F Who is an active citizen?]
# [http://wheel.e-consultation.org/wiki/index.php/What_should_the_role_of_the_State_be_in_Active_Citizenship%3F  What should the role of the state be in active citizenship?]
# [http://wheel.e-consultation.org/wiki/index.php/How_can_The_Wheel_facilitate_Active_Citizenship%3F How can The Wheel facilitate active citizenship?]
# [http://wheel.e-consultation.org/wiki/index.php/Reflect_on_the_Terms_of_Reference Reflect on the terms of reference.]

=====No Registration=====
Earlier experience from the [[Waterways Ireland]] consultation showed that registration can
confuse some participants, so no registration was required. The cost of that is deleting spam
every day or two from the site. This was later confirmed by usability tests run on the site in the offices of The Wheel.

=====The collective 'blog'=====
The active citizenship site, [http://wheel.e-consultation.org/wiki/index.php/Consultation http://wheel.e-consultation.org/wiki/index.php/Consultation], was built as a collective blog.  This was because it was agreed to to collect, but not discuss, stories. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog Weblogs ('blogs' for short)] are usually used as public on-line diaries.

=====The e-consultation process=====
Individuals add entries to their blog, that others can read, be it the work of a local councillor, [http://www.readmyday.co.uk/maryreid Mary Reid], or the sexual adventures of a Washington D.C. intern (Cutler, 2005). But if you let anyone post to a blog, they can also be used to collect entries from many people. 

Blog entries were not all typed and submitted.  There were various means of submitting a blog entry, in various formats.  


===The Technology===
=====Blogging Software=====
The [http://www.e-consultation.org research team] used [http://wordpress.org/ Wordpress], [http://www.opensource.org/ open source] blogging software, to run the [http://wheel.e-consultation.org/wiki/index.php/Consultation site].

=====Other submission technology=====
To make it easier for anyone to submit a story, [http://is.mgt.qub.ac.uk/tiki-index.php?page=Mr+Ashish+Italiya Ashish Italiya] modified the [http://wordpress.org/ Wordpress software] to accept various forms of submissions: by an online form, e-mail, SMS text messages from a mobile ‘phone, and through voice mail. 

Two mobile ‘phones were connected to USB ports on a PC at [http://www.qub.ac.uk Queen’s University Belfast].  One phone had a Northern Ireland number and the other with an Republic of Ireland phone - both countries have different telecommunications systems.  Software on the [http://www.qub.ac.uk QUB] PC picks up text messages sent to the mobile phones and loads them on to the blog.

People could also telephone a number and leave a message on voice mail.  The [http://www.qub.ac.uk Queen’s University Belfast] voice mail system stored the message as a .wav file and then e-mailed the file to the research team.  Upon reception the .wav file was then automatically converted to an .MP3 file and uploaded to the blog.  This allowed people to click on a link and listen to the message. So even illiterate people could tell their stories.  

You can see the different ways participants could share their views:

EXAMPLE VIEWS GO HERE



===Web site Design===
=====Refining the web site=====
The research team spent some time developing draft pages for this site.  Their aim was make it easy for people to understand the point of the e-consultation.  It was about active citizenship adn they were to submit their stories or experiences of active citizenship. 

Also, the research team spent a lot of time getting the words and images right for the explanations on the site. There were many iterations of writing, first within the team, between Letterkenny and Belfast, and then making corrections (To the spelling, grammar and sense) noted by staff at the Wheel. 

The end result of all that work was a site that reads much better than the Waterways Ireland web site. You don’t need to be an experienced consultation respondent to follow it.