Difference between revisions of "Technology"

Revision as of 01:30, 6 July 2006

Internationally, many examples of e-enabled civic dialogue exist, ranging from government enabled programmes through to citizen initiated sounding boards for interest groups. A common thread amongst the research evident in the literature is the desire to develop accessible tools for use by organisations wishing to extend their consultation activities to the online environment. Presenting a definitive prescription for tools is problematic given that consultation processes are selected on an ad hoc basis. For the researcher attempting to classify technologies suitable for use in public consultation, a number of problems arise. Although there is evidence of increasing awareness and interest in e-enabled methods of participation internationally (Davis 2002, Clift 2003, Hague & Loader 1999, Saco 2002, Wilhelm 2000), there is a distinct lack of continuity evident in the practices adopted. One explanation for this is the experimental nature of the field. Much of the literature emphasises ‘lessons learned’ (Kearns, Bend & Stern 2002, Coleman 2002, Coleman, Hall & Howell 2002). However, it can be observed that discontinuity is a feature of consultation in general, as managers within public bodies adapt processes to suit the objective at hand within the increasingly demanding environment that consultation takes place. This discontinuity poses problems in any attempt to prescribe a classification of suitable technologies as systems are often developed on an ad-hoc basis to meet a specific consultation requirement, initial observations of the youth consultation environment indicate that it is no exception. Furthermore, a lack of continuity in the terminology used to describe activity is evident in the literature. Terms are used interchangeably and as a result, it becomes difficult to identify like with like for comparison. Consequently, the matching of technology to process required in this research adopts a task-oriented approach.

The logic of this approach is thus; consultation processes involve the combination of one or more tasks, these tasks form the basis of the consultation process. There are a wide range of ICTs that could potentially be used to support different parts of a consultation. The high degree of variation in the field of practice and the tendency for consulting bodies to develop methods on an ad-hoc basis to meet the needs of a specific consultation exercise, has ultimately led to a lack of continuity and the development of systems that are less transferable to more than one consultation. However, it is possible to identify tasks within that are common to consultation processes, tasks that combined together can form any given consultation process, these are;

1. One-way information transfer.

Often it is necessary to give the participants some information about an issue, or a proposed policy, before starting a consultation (as in a discussion document, or a web site). In addition, organisations may set up channels for one-to-one communications from the public (e.g. an e-mail address for complaints and compliments).

2. Dialogue support.

Includes any technology that facilitates a relay of responses or conversations. Dialogue can be public—in an open environment with multiple participants—or private—between two users. Many discussion forums include both, allowing participants to converse with each other outside the general discussion.

3. Exploring problems and planning solutions.

Where consultation participants work together to explore the ramifications of a problem, and plan alternative solutions (e.g. in a citizens' jury). Technologies supporting this task may facilitate brainstorming, a technique groups use to generate ideas on a particular subject. Whereby, each person in the team is asked to think creatively and write down as many ideas as possible. The ideas are not discussed or reviewed until after the brainstorming session. From the results of the brainstorming, options are formulated which are then ranked or rated.

4. Measuring needs and preferences.

Finding out how many citizens have which needs, and what their preferences are between alternative options (e.g. through surveys, opinion polls, preferenda).

5. Joint document authoring.

Consultees collaborating to write and edit documents.

6. Co-ordinating and managing the consultation process. Numbers 1-5 are communicative processes. It is possible to identify simple information and communication technologies (ICTs) that could serve each process. Any number of these technologies could be combined to support however many of these tasks are deemed necessary. This is illustrated in Table 1, This approach is not dependant on a fixed sequence of stages, but rather it allows for the design of a consultation process that is task specific, to meet the specific needs of the consultation topic, the consulting organisation and the participants, and if desirable provides a facility for the management of ongoing relationships between consulting organisations and those consulted. The order in which things are done is not prescribed in this model but rather it allows for selection at the process design stage.

The benefit of this model is that it allows those involved in designing consultation to choose technology based on their own frames of reference. They may not be familiar with the capabilities of technologies but they will be familiar with the tasks required in consultation activity.

1. What are the various technologies I could use to
   1. Publicise the e-consultation. (Email campaign)
   2. Stay in contact & update participants. (Mailling list, periodic newsletter)
   3. Get their views. (Online discussion forum, online line feedback forms)
   4. Collective writing. (Wiki pages, group report authoring tools)
   5. Conduct a survey. (Online questionnaire authoring tools)
   6. Organise meetings.
   7. Consult over long distnaces. (Online chat, audio/video conferencing)
2. What are the various technologies & what are they used for?

• Supporting one-way information transfer

  Convert consultation documents to PDF format, put them online and make them downloadable
  Convert consultation documents to web pages, make the content navigable
  Collect feedback from online form

• Supporting dialogues

  Realtime 'chat'
  - systems that allow people to converse with others at the same time, reacting immediately to each other, wherever they happen to be
  - e.g. chat rooms, text messaging, audio and video conferencing.

  Ongoing discussions
  - these allow people to take part in a longer discussion over several days or weeks, joining in whenever they have time
  - e.g. discussion forums, e-mail mailing lists, e-newsletter and virtual worlds.

• Exploring problems and planning solutions

  Use computer tools such as gropu support system to
  - organise an agenda-driven meeting
  - allow lots of people to brainstorm ideas at the same time, without having to wait their turn to speak
  - allow pseudo-anonymity, so people are less afraid of coming up with creative, but risky ideas
  - help map out the issues discussed and the options identified. 

• Measuring needs and preferences

  Use computer tools to publish online survey, collect and analyse results
  Use computer tools to conduct electronic voting

• Writing Documents

  A collaborative writing method   
  - with computer software running on a server
  - several people can work on the same document at the same time 
  - writing different parts of it, then editing each other's work

1. Where can I get information on the technology and technical knowledge that I will need in order to engage in E-consultation?

Technology selection process

• Define your needs (Why you need a consultation technology)
  • Define consultation case
    • Description: a short explanation of the consultation activity
    • Reasons: a description of the needs why this consultation activity should be taken
    • Assumptions: All the assumptions to make this consultation activity
    • Benefits: List of benefits for consulting organisation and participant
    • Cost: How much it cost to run this consultation activity
    • Investment: Can this consultation activity will be taken in future
• Define your selection criteria (Criteria for Technology selection)
  • Vendor stability and reputation (support)
  • Wide adoption in market
  • Does it require any possible changes to meet stack holders needs
  • Secure and mature/proven technology
  • Training and documentation
  • Actual implementation of the technology
  • Technology accessibility standards
• List of matching technologies
• Select the best suited for you
  • Good description of technology
  • Infrastructure required (network)
  • Platforms (operating systems, hardware)
  • Architectural Integrity (Interaction with other technology, Would it possible to integrate with other technology?)
  • Fitness for purpose (Is it meeting purpose envisaged?)
  • Expertise (What knowledge should be available in-house, Maintenance and support)
  • Maturity of Standard (Is the technology mature and well-proven)
  • User needs (Does the technology satisfy the user requirements and Matching stack holders requirements)
  • Preservation needs (Is technology is appropriate for long-term preservation)
  • Budget (time, money)