There is a crisis in the public consultation world.
Citizens have lost confidence in public consultations. They feel jaded. They no longer trust their decision makers, whether it be business leaders, politicians, or bureaucrats. They think that if—for example—there is a proposed real estate development, it will happen whether they have a say in it or not.
The current state of public consultations leaves a lot to be desired. Long community meetings where project opponents or supporters drone on in front of the microphone are not efficient in creating community understanding. Rather, public meetings have become a stage to vent frustrations and a crusade for causes that often have no bearing on the project or proposal under consideration.
As a result, people who don’t enjoy unpleasant, politically charged meetings do not attend, choosing to spend their evenings elsewhere. It is unlikely that the audience at public meetings accurately represents the sentiments of the broader community.
This is a shame. Engaging the public in a way that inspires trust, confidence and collaboration is crucial to the long-term success of our communities—and beyond. The long-term impacts of urban development and related initiatives effect not only a confined community, but can affect an entire region.
Thus is important to rebuild confidence in public consultations. They are a key aspect of our participatory democracy. Consultations are rooted in the idea of the knowledgeable persuasion of fellow residents; not the coercion or the sneaking behind the back of peers. Meaningful public consultations can enhance residents impact on public policy development and land use decision-making in their neighbourhoods, communities and municipalities. But this only works if engagement efforts represent the sentiments of the entire community.
The Promise of Online Consultations
The ability to bring public consultations online, making it easy for people to connect with issues, holds great promise. Online tools can encourage greater participation in public consultations. They offer proponents with other ways to hear the voice of community members and talk with them through a less formal dialogue. They also give another method to gauge public opinion to influence land based planning and neighbourhood developments. As a result public consultations can be more constructive and efficient.
1. Convenience, Expediency and Flexibility
Online consultation platforms can help engage people in more meaningful ways. Residents each have their own lives with multiple activities and responsibilities. They often don’t have the time or inclination to go to a public meeting that requires travel and a significant investment of time. Even a simple act such as sending a letter to a politician requires many micro-tasks like buying a stamp and going to a mailbox. Some people feel overwhelmed by the need to concurrently listen and respond to information at a public hearing. They prefer having more time to digest and understand the issues in question.
Online consultations are less limited by constraints such as place, time, mobility and other access restrictions. They offer the practical convenience of 24/7 access and location flexibility. Residents can research, reflect, engage, edit and respond to issues on their on time, at their own pace and in their own places. They can take the time to check a proposed development during their lunch break at work and comment on it from their kitchen once the kids are asleep.
From a proponent’s perspective, an online consultation platform allows a level of reciprocity and engagement that is difficult and costly to conduct off-line. It can reach many more people in more meaningful ways than traditional open houses and focus groups. Online consultations also give the ability to customize information for targeted neighbourhoods and offer a diverse roster of communication tools to meet the specific needs of proponents and residents alike.
2. Enhanced Deliberation
Online consultations also give opportunities for enhanced deliberation. The online environment eliminates several barriers and reduces the peer pressure and social cues that limit participation in face-to-face meetings. Allowing residents to join the discussion from the location of their choice helps some people overcome awkwardness and shyness that keep some people from speaking in larger group contexts.
It also helps to overcome stereotypical and prejudicial cues based on a resident’s age, gender, ethnicity and social-economic background. Eliminating these communication barriers facilitates the participation of people who otherwise may exclude themselves from public consultations.
The asynchronous nature of online consultation allows for large-scale, many-to-many discussions and deliberations. The discussion threads allow readers to contemplate what others have said. Even if they do not actively post, the ability to listen and see what others have said is an important part of the deliberative process. Indeed online consultations can be seen as deliberation without the pressures of time that often results in simple and heated real-time discussions.
Rather than condensing a conversation into an evening or even a day, online consultations allow for prolonged discussion lasting up to three weeks. This allows for diverse points of view to be more fully explored. This extra time also allows for a sense of trust to be established as rapport between participants grows over time.
3. Increased Civic Awareness
Online consultations also increase civic knowledge. They acknowledge that residents come to public consultations from different backgrounds and with different knowledge bases. The web-based nature of the consultation platform encourages residents to get access to more information through customized pages and external links. This allows people to gain information about the policy issues, proposals or topics being discussed.
The ability to get access to more information on-demand provides a level playing field for residents, enabling equal access to information and closes information gaps. This helps to increase resident awareness, enriches public debate and leads to more fruitful discussions and, ultimately, better outcomes.
4. Reach Different Demographics
For many people, online technologies are a convenient, efficient means of interaction. This is especially true for younger generations, who see the Internet as an part of their daily lives. Indeed if they cannot connect online, they may not connect at all. Thus, excluding online consultations means excluding a large—and growing—segment of the community.
However, although computer and Internet access is near ubiquitous in Canadian households, there still remains a significant part of the population without access to a computer or the Internet at home. Engaging online therefore, should be seen as an adjunct, not a replacement, to more traditional face-to-face meetings and forums.
5. Affordability
Engaging online also provides cost efficiencies when engaging with large numbers of widely dispersed people. Online tools can distribute information to a dispersed audience quickly and relatively cheaply. You do not need to rent a meeting room, prepare printed documents or offer refreshments.
The cost and speed of processing large volumes of feedback is also much reduced when using online community engagement methods. This makes acknowledgement, analysis and feedback more efficient, prompt and cost-effective.
The Unfulfilled Promise of Online Consultation
The Internet offers great potential, bringing people together to discuss common concerns and exploring issues from varying perspectives. Unfortunately, few platforms have been able to live up to this promise. Current online consultation tools attempt to connect with residents on a one-off basis for each community issue. Most web-based forums require little accountability and encourage “drive-by” postings, rather than the give and take of an in-person conversation. Their anonymity makes it difficult to track where commenters live and whether they have a stake in the neighbourhood or the broader community.
Anonymous commenting also encourages irrelevant comments and even cyber-bullying through hateful or hurtful comments. The comments act as a disincentive for observers to engage in the discussion and demean the legitimacy of the discussion.
