Participation Now
= course from the Open University + directory of initiatives: "Explore and engage with the field of public participation and find out how new forms of action are working to reshape contemporary life".
URL = http://www.open.edu/openlearn/society/politics-policy-people/participation-now
Description
"Participation Now is a regularly updated and searchable archive of contemporary public participation initiatives to keep you informed of what’s new and what’s changed.
In time, we’re hoping to add multimedia resources that support reflection and debate about the possibilities and difficulties of initiatives like these.
Looking even further ahead, we’d love to build an infrastructure to help people make connections; share experiences, knowledge and research; and develop practice within this fast-changing field." (http://www.open.edu/openlearn/society/politics-policy-people/participation-now/participation-now-experiments-public-action)
Typology
Nick Mahony:
"At the heart of Participation Now is a dynamic archive of public participation initiatives. You can use this archive to explore differences and similarities between different forms of contemporary practice. We have developed a typology and a set of tools that allow you to filter and compare initiatives that have one or more characteristics in common.
This typology is organised around four axes:
* What
Public participation initiatives form around a wide range of issues. These categories describe the different issues that initiatives are mobilising people around, allowing you to compare initiatives that have similar aims.
* Who
These categories describe who is behind these initiatives, whether these are people, organisations or groups.
* How
Contemporary experiments in public participation take many different forms. This set of categories describes different ways in which people mobilise.
* Scale
Public participation initiatives operate at different scales. This set of categories allows you to explore those ranging from the very local to the global." (http://www.open.edu/openlearn/society/politics-policy-people/participation-now/how-use-participation-now)
More Information
- the researchers involved in this project, Dr. Hilde Stephansen and Dr. Nick Mahony. You can also follow the project on Twitter: @nowparticipateExternal link .