I have some feedback following the entries I posted on Participedia. With the feedback comes absolutely no obligations on your side, I just wanted to share my practical experience with my entries on Belgian minipublics, as it may help you to adjust some things that you may not have seen from the inside.
I don’t always know the specific day when a minipublic starts, but it is compulsory to write a complete date in the form. I thus always put the first Saturday of the month, if even that may not have been the case
It could be very interesting to create an additional category in the recruitment section where we could specify the different criteria used in a stratified random sampling. The present category ‘targeted demography’ only allows three recruited groups, but that doesn’t suit minipublics, which commonly rely on more criteria. I’m aware that Participedia’s focus goes beyond deliberative minipublics, but it could still be interesting for researchers who want to use Participedia to study them.
Regarding the IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation, I found it sometimes difficult to select only one option, because, as their commissioners often acknowledge, minipublics tend to be organized not only to consult the citizenry but also to inform them through the minipublic’s participants.
In the type of funder section, there was no option for public administration, but we have some minipublics in Belgium funded by public administrations.
Relatedly, it could be nice to give the possibility to enter several funders. Belgian minipublics often receive funds from different sources (public administration, government, philanthropy… at the same time) but I could not provide that information in the form.
Likewise, it could be interesting to create an additional section for secondary organizers. Belgian minipublics are at times the result of a cooperation between different institutions and it is difficult in such cases to pick one .
Regarding the Impact section, would it be possible to add an answer ‘I don’t know’, besides the Yes and No? It could also be interesting to develop a more gradual scale of impact, with low, moderate and high impact for instance. My research deals with that question, and I would be happy to have a chat about if that would interest you. I find the challenge of summarizing such as complex question fascinating.
It would help if broad categories are created to classify the specific topics as it is now quite time consuming to scroll-down the list to find the three topics.
jesicarson
commented
3 years ago
I have some feedback following the entries I posted on Participedia. With the feedback comes absolutely no obligations on your side, I just wanted to share my practical experience with my entries on Belgian minipublics, as it may help you to adjust some things that you may not have seen from the inside.
I don’t always know the specific day when a minipublic starts, but it is compulsory to write a complete date in the form. I thus always put the first Saturday of the month, if even that may not have been the case
It could be very interesting to create an additional category in the recruitment section where we could specify the different criteria used in a stratified random sampling. The present category ‘targeted demography’ only allows three recruited groups, but that doesn’t suit minipublics, which commonly rely on more criteria. I’m aware that Participedia’s focus goes beyond deliberative minipublics, but it could still be interesting for researchers who want to use Participedia to study them.
Regarding the IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation, I found it sometimes difficult to select only one option, because, as their commissioners often acknowledge, minipublics tend to be organized not only to consult the citizenry but also to inform them through the minipublic’s participants.
In the type of funder section, there was no option for public administration, but we have some minipublics in Belgium funded by public administrations.
Relatedly, it could be nice to give the possibility to enter several funders. Belgian minipublics often receive funds from different sources (public administration, government, philanthropy… at the same time) but I could not provide that information in the form.
Likewise, it could be interesting to create an additional section for secondary organizers. Belgian minipublics are at times the result of a cooperation between different institutions and it is difficult in such cases to pick one .
Regarding the Impact section, would it be possible to add an answer ‘I don’t know’, besides the Yes and No? It could also be interesting to develop a more gradual scale of impact, with low, moderate and high impact for instance. My research deals with that question, and I would be happy to have a chat about if that would interest you. I find the challenge of summarizing such as complex question fascinating.
It would help if broad categories are created to classify the specific topics as it is now quite time consuming to scroll-down the list to find the three topics.