Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
For the
Reflect
ICTs project, villagers needed ways of communicating their
own needs and values to the facilitators drawn from the local community
who were working with them to develop solutions to local problems. Indeed,
perhaps the only universal imperative to follow in seeking citizen engage-
ment is to begin at the point where potential participants are (Klein 1976).
It seems therefore that a 'toolkit' approach, which identifies candidate
tools for particular tasks and objectives, is one which can offer the kind of
flexibility which is needed to support engagement with diverse citizens in
diverse contexts. The aim of this chapter is not to provide an exhaustive
list of the tools which might be included in a toolkit - because there are
dozens, if not hundreds available - but to identify some of the criteria for
selecting them. The key functions to support citizen engagement in ICT
design will be outlined and the way in which some of the many available
tools and techniques might meet these requirements will be highlighted.
9.2 Resources to Support Citizen Engagement
There are numerous, easily available resources - many published on the
Internet - which provide compilations of relevant tools and techniques for
citizen engagement. The majority of these have been produced by public
sector organizations or NGOs for those working in these domains. Some
examples of these include the Handbook of Information, Consultation and
Public Participation in Policy Making (2001) published by the OECD, the
Participation Handbook, produced by the Scottish Parliament (2004), the
Citizen Science Toolbox produced by the Australian Coastal CRC (2004),
and the Guide to Effective Participation produced by David Wilcox. Table
9.1 lists the 63 tools and techniques included in the Australian Coastal
CRC toolbox. Most of the resources provide instructions for how to apply
the tools and techniques which they describe. Others provide an evaluation
of different tools in relation to their ease of use and impact for citizen en-
gagement, and several also provide case studies of their use in practice. In
addition to compilations such as these, there are numerous texts which
describe relevant tools and techniques in detail. For example, Merrelyn
Emery and Ronald Purser have written several topics about the Search
Conference method that they have developed (e.g. Emery & Purser
1996), providing extensive practical detail about one of the techniques
which is included in many toolkits.
The tools and toolkits mentioned above are not directed specifically at
the design and development of digital products or systems, although
some of them have been appropriated for such purposes to good effect.
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