Headshift built a wiki based publishing platform for Involve to easily update their research, case studies and methodology in the area of public participation. The platform introduced interactive functionality to the findings and also implemented a collaborative approach to their research and case study gathering process. The platform leveraged the knowledge base of interested communities enabling them to collaboratively add to the resource, extending its relevance and allowing continual evolution of the content.
Building On A Successful Base
People & Participation is based on Involve's successful book by the same name, launched in 2005. The book provided a useful summary of participatory methods and practice but was impossible to stay accurate for long due its static nature. People & Participation is more dynamic with both site authors and site users adding their knowledge and experience to the resource. The effect if to create a collaborative experience which a book simply cannot achieve.
Comparing theory and practise
The online resource is split into different sections with a combination of Involve authored editorial content and community submitted content. The platform is modular and designed to be scalable for future development.
The interactive process planner helps you to choose which participatory methods are most suitable to your situation. You answer a series of questions that are compared to a database of methods to determine which methods best fit your needs.
The Methods sections is a rich resource for how to facilitate public participation, providing full run downs of methods, hints and tips. It is authored by Involve and editorial access is granted their specific authors.
The Case Studies section provides examples of how public participation has been used, and invites users to add there own experiences. This aims to develop the resource by learning from the experiences of others.
Other functionalities include News and Events (RSS and Calender functionality), Ask an Expert (Web to Email functionality) and Participation Library (Upload Files and Tag Navigation functionality). Each of the sections are easily updatable and editable with little or no technical knowledge.
Balancing editorial control and openness
People and Participation was developed with an appropriate permission system in mind. The site strikes a balance that allows Involve tight editorial control in certain areas, keeping quality high and enabling Involve to set the direction of the content, but also having spaces that invites users to submit content, allowing the knowledge base of the community to add to the resource.
Building On A Successful Base
People & Participation is based on Involve's successful book by the same name, launched in 2005. The book provided a useful summary of participatory methods and practice but was impossible to stay accurate for long due its static nature. People & Participation is more dynamic with both site authors and site users adding their knowledge and experience to the resource. The effect if to create a collaborative experience which a book simply cannot achieve.
Comparing theory and practise
The online resource is split into different sections with a combination of Involve authored editorial content and community submitted content. The platform is modular and designed to be scalable for future development.
The interactive process planner helps you to choose which participatory methods are most suitable to your situation. You answer a series of questions that are compared to a database of methods to determine which methods best fit your needs.
The Methods sections is a rich resource for how to facilitate public participation, providing full run downs of methods, hints and tips. It is authored by Involve and editorial access is granted their specific authors.
The Case Studies section provides examples of how public participation has been used, and invites users to add there own experiences. This aims to develop the resource by learning from the experiences of others.
Other functionalities include News and Events (RSS and Calender functionality), Ask an Expert (Web to Email functionality) and Participation Library (Upload Files and Tag Navigation functionality). Each of the sections are easily updatable and editable with little or no technical knowledge.
Balancing editorial control and openness
People and Participation was developed with an appropriate permission system in mind. The site strikes a balance that allows Involve tight editorial control in certain areas, keeping quality high and enabling Involve to set the direction of the content, but also having spaces that invites users to submit content, allowing the knowledge base of the community to add to the resource.
