E-consultation Dr. D. R. Newman, Queen’s University Belfast Dr. Honor Fagan, NUI Maynooth Dr. Paul McCusker, Letterkenny IT and their team

Before we started Consultation increasing (fatigue?, best practice?) Mediation model of consultation ICT potential to improve citizen’s participation in public policy

Our research Surveys on consultation on this island  Central government All 12 NI, 25 RoI responded  Local authorities, 42 out of 60 N & S  Community and voluntary sector, 81 N & S Focus groups  7 of consultees (5 in Donegal, 2 in NI)  7 technology demonstrations (3 in Letterkenny, 4 in Belfast) 3 E-consultation trials (Waterways, NSEC, The Wheel) 2 small-scale tests on specific issues 1 Ph.D. on e-consultation and young people 5 theory-building workshops in 4 countries

Findings: what surprised us Conflict  Little between communities  More between consulters’ and consultees’ expectations  Even between values of research disciplines ICT + traditional consultation process doesn’t work. Needs co-design. Technology easier than we expected, people and processes harder.

Outputs and dissemination 1 practical workshop (70 came) 7 hands-on technology demonstrations (32) 6 working trial and test sites, supporting:  Story-telling, discussions, surveys and mapping On-line information resources  Bibliography, technology demonstration, guide to e- consultation, theory-building 15 publications, 10 presentations

What next? NSEC is implementing our e-consultation processes and technologies in its continuing consultation. It will transfer the software this week. An Oireachtas joint committee will run an e- consultation over the summer and autumn on forthcoming Broadcasting Bill. We have been asked to advise and evaluate it. Expand, test and then formally launch the e- consultation guide. Explore ways of helping smaller organisations run e- consultations (e.g. training, shared facilities). Write more journal articles and conference papers.

Questions?

Benefits of consultation ‘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.’

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’

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..

Surveys and Interviews – Consumers or Citizens? Investigates differences in attitudes to, and expectations of, consultation processes. Differences emerge between those held by government, both at local and central level, and those held by people in the community and voluntary sector. It identifies the perspective of government bodies on consultation initiatives and it narrates the experience of non- governmental organisations that have engaged with consultation processes and their evaluation of those processes. It lays the ground for examining where notions of consumption, transactional government, voluntarism, and citizenship have marked the discussions on the value and benefits of consultation processes.

Social Policy conclusions There is a dialectic between the dynamics of citizenship and consumerism. This shapes service provision as taken up by local and central government in terms of inclusion of citizens/consumers. Where collective participation has been managed well consultation processes have been significantly successful according to non-governmental organizations. Whether government has or hasn’t managed collective participation their personnel still see consultation processes as an unmitigated good. Running consultations where the evaluation of success is based on service provision only has specific implications for citizen participation in the future.

Stories of Active Citizenship  indirect consultation  early stage consultation  multiple communication pathways  a clear design

Putting new technology in old processes  add an e-consultation component to a traditional consultation  result: little participation  why? technology does not automatically find the participants the writing that works on-line is different to that in consultation documents.

Technology and process redesign AdviceNI   process designed around recruitment of participants  questions designed to make it easy to contribute (start with simple ones)  trust in consulter

Integrating technologies into new consultation processes Diversity consultation  our demonstration on how to integrate technologies into a better consultation process   start with collecting personal experience of young people, as an exhibition (problem definition)  then invite teachers, youth workers and others how to deal with issues (problem exploration)  could go on to vote between options

People, processes and outcomes Problems for consulters Problems for consultees E-consultation technology  can not resolve the wider political/social issues,  but is viewed by consulters and consultees as a way of improving consultation processes To improve consultation processes  need to take non-traditional routes  try to develop long-term trust