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The way in which the focus of an initiative or project is defined will
have implications for the appropriate scale of citizen engagement, but per-
haps more importantly it will have implications for the extent of impact
and influence which citizens can have over decision making, as described
in the following sections.
6.1.4 Scale
Another dimension we have identified for classifying participa-
tion/engagement is its scale. The proportions of citizens in a community
who are engaged and the kinds of citizens involved in participatory exer-
cises vary widely. Some initiatives, such as 'America Speaks' in the USA
seek wide engagement of large communities to be broadly representative.
(http://www.americaspeaks.org). 'America Speaks' therefore aims to involve
as many people as possible in 'town hall forums' to deliberate on issues
and make their views known to decision-makers. Fifty thousand people or
more may be involved in these exercises. At the other end of the contin-
uum, far narrower small scale engagement is sought for specific purposes.
For instance, as part of the drive for greater social inclusion in the UK,
there has been a focus of attention and investment of effort on reaching
those who would not normally participate. Examples described in Chapter
5 are Jamie's Big Voice, the voice of one man speaking on behalf of the
homeless in UK, or the young people who took part in the online surgeries
as part of a UK e-democracy pilot project (Being Heard 2005). Care must
however be taken in extrapolating from results gained from a small sample
to the population as a whole.
6.1.5 Impact
The striking variation in breadth of focus and scale of the various citizen
participation/engagement exercises analysed has already been discussed.
Projects also differ in terms of the significance of their impact on citizens,
some dealing with issues of central importance to citizens, and others with
more peripheral aspects. An example of peripheral impact, the German
Bundestag consultation reported in Chapter 4 was a participative exercise
launched specifically to improve the design of the Bundestag website
(Fühles-Ubach 2005).
Citizens with a particular interest in the operation of the parliament
were recruited to inform the exercise. While significant to the group con-
cerned, typically the impact of such specifically focussed projects on the
lives of most citizens is marginal and does little to enhance democracy or
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