Geraldton 2029: Amazing Example of Deliberative Democracy Documented

Geraldton 2029 logoAfter watching the 7 minute video of Janette Hartz-Karp describing a sustainability initiative in Geraldton, Australia, I was curious to see what techniques they used to enage the public in long term local planning. What I found is the 2029.civicevolution.org online system for sharing and rating of ideas and their specific talking points (note the Dotmocracy-like 5 point rating of acceptance per a talking point). 

I also see they turned all their notes from various in person events and surveys in to a searchable database, which provides accessible transparency. It would be nice to see some attempt at prioritization in the responses within the database, such as using a Dotmocracy process on the responses by a sample of the public.

A list of all their events and various reports are availabe too on their Past Events page.

Overall seems like a great example of a multi-modal approach to engaging citizens in long term planning and it sounds like a success story, according to Janette.  One important point she stressed is the importance of telling participants what will be done with their input and how it will impact decision-making, which is key for buy-in and commitment. 

 

Started a New Job with the City of Toronto

Strarting in February I am now one of a handful of Senior Public Consultation Coordinators with the City of Toronto.  You can see a list of the typical projects we help manage here: toronto.ca/involved/projects  Its a challenging and rewarding job that allows my to apply my experience and skills in stakeholder engagement on a daily basis.  Hopefully I have opporunities to user Dotmocracy as well.

Dotmocracy at BikeCamp

BikeCamp Toronto logoThis Saturday, October 17th, I will be assisting renowned facilitator Daniel Rose from Omakase Group to apply Dotmocracy at the first Toronto BikeCamp hosted by the Toronto Cyclists Union. This one day event is a series of simultaneous participant led/generated workshops – all
related to various aspects of cycling, and the politics of cycling
advocacy in Toronto. Following two Open Space sessions Dotmocracy will be used to collaboratively recognize which actions the union wishes to to take. Time will then be provided for breakout groups to plan next steps for each action. I anticipate this to be a very fun and prodoctive event.