- Our conventional way of doing public participation in this country tends to fall at one end of the freedom/constraint spectrum or the other. We either present people with a pre-determined, pre-endorsed plan (or a couple to make it look more like a choice), or we just throw open the microphone and say "what do you think?" I don't know why we're surprised when we get protest, or most likely apathy, in the first case, and crazy or irrelevant feedback in the second.
- We have to find the right balance of openness and structure, of inviting feedback and keeping people on track, of getting people as deeply and constructively involved as they can be instead of settling for a lousy experience on both sides of the table. If the only people who are benefiting from public involvement are the list-checker-offers and those who came to hear their own voice resound, then we are wasting our limited time and our more limited money. Period.
'via Blog this'
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