Model Solutions and Pragmatism in Developing ICT for Public Consultations

Abstract

The focus of this article is on the process of developing the inDialogue software within the loop of communication between researchers and the clerks who organize public consultations in local governments. The software was created in response to problems diagnosed during studies on the quality of public consultations in Poland. The design supports transparent, thoughtful, and collaborative planning for public consultations in town or city halls, to create an environment conducive to informed and inclusive opinion formation among citizens. Within the project, a pragmatic approach means some degree of openness among researchers and designers in negotiating the features of the software with institutional users. Testing inDialogue in nine municipalities, we asked the following questions: (1) How do the clerks respond to the model of public consultations that inDialogue implements? and (2) How do they build a relationship with a project that intervenes in their routines? Analysis of the data from the evaluation questionnaires shows that although, overall, the clerks gave the highest rating for the software’s ability to introduce order into the process of public consultations, they often complained that the features behind the structuration effect were time consuming. Depending on the city or town hall, more weight was given to one or another aspect of the tradeoff. No less important for the institutionalization of deliberative public consultations is the controversy over registration and verification, and consequently, the recruitment of participants. In the article, this is discussed in the context of the ambiguities in the law, and the different values that the various local governments attribute to participation. Moreover, the study demonstrated that prior experience in public consultations combined with an openness to experimenting, a repertoire of skills in communication and data analysis, a motivation to join the project, the length and depth of collaboration with researchers, and the direct involvement of a decision maker all affected clerks’ comprehension and acceptance of the use of inDialogue.