www.e-consultation.org e-consultation it is the use of electronic computing and communication...

www.e-consultation.org

E-consultation• It is the use of electronic computing and

communication technologies in consultation. This complements existing consultation mechanisms.

• We aim to turn e-consultation from an experimental idea to a practical option for community, voluntary and public sector bodies in areas affected by conflict.


Queen’s University Belfast• June 2000: the deluge• E-consultation study group• June 2001: e-consultation workshop

– experts from Netherlands, Germany and East Belfast

– 80 attendees from across Ireland

• 2002: proposed e-consultation guide

National Institute for Regional and Spatial Analysis• Significant body of work on new governace,

development, democratication and conflict studies.

• 2002/2003 group members of TODOS – towards democracy and society

2004: research project on e-consultation

Letterkenny Institute of Technology

• Actively involved in Community development in border region for 30 years

• 2004 - Founding of TUATH to facilitate community development and promote peace and reconciliation.

History


HEA E-Consultation Project: QUB, NUI, LYIT

E-Consultation: evaluating appropriate technologies and processes for

citizens' participation in public policy

• Identify the social context and political implications of forms of consultation in Ireland, N & S

• Identify appropriate e-consultation technologies and processes

• Advise, help, study and evaluate at least two electronic consultation exercises

• Disseminate the results through an online e-consultation guide and training workshops


Research Partners• A multidisciplinary team comprising Political

theory, Sociology, Information Technology and Community Development

• Queens University Belfast• National University of Ireland, Maynooth• Letterkenny Institute of Technology


Research on Consultation

• Local Authorities, North and South• Central Government Departments, North and

South• NGO’s, North and South


Local authorities very positive on

consultations

11%

32%

89%

68%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Southern Northern

Yes

No


Benefits of consultation

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Greater citizenawareness

Encourage citizenparticipation in decision-

making

Communitydevelopment/awareness

Better decision-makingon specific points

Improvement in services

Northern

Southern

• ‘Consultation has enriched the process of decision-making and has led to services meeting the needs of citizens more effectively. It has also built a sense of ownership of policies, plans and strategies among citizens.’

• ‘Where used effectively consultation enables the Council to ensure that the policies and strategies developed have the support of the people we serve. In this way it also contributes to continuous service improvement and ensures that we are accurately providing what it is that people tell us they want.’


Reasons for initiating public

consultation• There would seem to be a tendency by govt to view

consultation as a way of gaining knowledge of citizen's views rather than encouraging active participation in decision-making. This, it could be argued, indicates that ‘participation’ by citizens in public consultation does not necessarily include ‘participation’ in actual decision-making but rather simply ‘participation’ in the decision-making process

• This distinction can be critical


–

0102030405060708090

100

To m

eet statutory

requ

iremen

ts

To im

prove

service

qua

lity

To develop

‘best

practice’

initia

tives

To gain

inform

ation on

citize

n’s v

iews

To in

crea

secitize

n’s

awaren

ess

Tode

velop/em

power

commun

ities

To encou

rage

citize

npa

rticip

ation in

decis

ion-making

Any importance

Not important

Essential

Why consult?• Some people in govt. to view consultation as:

– a way of gaining knowledge of citizen's views

– rather than encouraging active participation in decision-making..


Consultation Fatigue• Consultation fatigue is

NOT seen as a significant issue by authorities. While local authorities would acknowledge some issues related to it as ‘difficult’, the concept of ‘consultation fatigue’ is certainly not detrimental to the use of public consultation


Consultation Fatigue Table

Extremely difficult

Very difficult

Difficult

Not difficult at all

The public are asked to engaged in too many consultation processes

25.0 14.3 28.6 32.1

Current consultation techniques are too time-consuming

0.0 28.6 42.9 28.6

A public perception that consultation does not influence policy

25.0 21.4 39.3 14.3

The public are repeatedly asked the same questions

14.3 17.9 35.7 32.1


‘One way street?’Consultation both N/S would appear to be employed as a 'one way' street. The most widely used consultation technique is ‘consultation documents’ where views are elicited from citizens.


What consultation should be about

‘… giving people a voice, better decision making, more informed decision making. More I suppose… a sense of participation and control over their own lives and things that are important for them, you know? That’s the theory of why we need to do it…’


What consultation is about:‘We had very poor experiences of consultations

over the past years. Most agencies carrying out these overwhelm you with paper. The processes used exclude and further marginalize. It is a very disempowering experience all round…’ (Consultation fatigue)

‘The Government only ‘goes through the motions’, does not genuinely listen’


Consultation in local authorities• The most popularly used

techniques are traditional; consultation documents, public meetings, service satisfaction surveys and co-option/committee involvement.

• In comparison, the use of e-techniques is far less common, with documentary/ policy websites being the most popular.


Prevalence/Diversity of Techniques employed

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

Complaint suggestion scheme

Service satisfaction surveys

Other opinion polls

Referendums

Community plans/needs analysis

Citizen’s panels

Co-option/committee involvement

Q&A sessions

Consultation documents

Public Meetings

Citizen juries

Focus groups

Visioning exercises

Service user forums

Issue forums

Shared interest forums

Area/neighbourhood forums

User management of services

Documentary/policy comment website

Online conference

Communities of interest emailing list

Live chat events

Online polls & surveys

Online petitions

Online submissions for public hearings

Online focus groups

In whole of Ireland

In North

In South


Technologies and tasksICTs can be used to support a range of tasks within a consultation.

How important are these tasks within your consultations? Please rank them.

1. One-way information transfer2. Supporting dialogue3. Explore problems & plan solutions4. Measure needs and preferences5. Write documents6. Manage the process


1. One-way information transfer


2. Supporting dialogue


3. Explore problems/plan solutions


4. Measure needs and preferences


5. Write documents


Open question: how to integrate e-consultation tasks in a

consultation process?


What next?

• Better understanding of consultation and e-consultation

• What technologies and processes work best for participants?

• What is needed for organisational implementation of e-consultation?

• Dissemination

www.e-consultation.org e-consultation it is the use of electronic computing and communication...

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