WorkshopProgramme

E-consultation workshop programme

Date: 25 June 2001 Place: Peter Froggatt Centre, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Time	Topic
09:00	Registration (Room 209)
09:20	Opening address (Room 209) by Mr. Dennis Haughey, MLA, Minister in the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, Northern Ireland Executive.
09:30	Current issues in consultation (Room 209) What are the issues you are facing in making public consultation work? Dairmuid Moore and Elaine Campbell have extensive experience of consultation processes in Northern Ireland, and contributed to the the consultation manual which was launched by the Rural Community Network on 11 June 2001. In this session they will help you identify you own needs, and what you need to resolve to make your own consultations both efficient and effective, irrespective of technology.
10:05	Introduction to electronic consultation technologies (Room 209) Dr. David Newman will introduce you to the range of technologies that you can see in the following demonstrations.
10:15 - 11:30	Demonstrations of technologies and applications We will be splitting into smaller groups to see demonstrations of different electronic consultation technologies, and how they have been used. In each of the three 25-minute slots you can pick from the following:
	Getting citizens involved in discussions (Room 312)	Citizen participation in developing plans (Room 311)	Inclusive decision-making (Room 301)	Coffee breaks (Room 209)
10:15	Matt Milliken and his young moderators have run online chats, to consult young people on issues that concern them, in the only neutral venue in East Belfast: the Internet. Check the poster at the event for details of each 25-min. session.	Dr. Tom Gordon< has done extensive research into computer systems that support mediation between different parties, in issues like town planning. He will talk about his work and demonstrate Zeno.	Peter Emerson has been working for some years on deliberation processes and voting systems to help people reach tolerable consensus decisions. Now that we have computers to do the mathematics for us, we can now use better voting systems than simple majorities. He will show us how. Each session is the same.	Relax for 25 min. chatting with other participants.
10:40		Overview and discussion by Tom Gordon and Margaret Ward of their experiences using group support systems in the public sphere.		Relax for 25 min. chatting with other participants.
11:05		You can try the GroupSystems group decision support software for yourself, demonstrated by Margaret Ward who has used it with community groups, not just private companies.		Relax for 25 min. chatting with other participants.
11:30	E-consultation in the Netherlands (Room 209) Guido Enthoven will describe the Netherlands experience of practical e-consultation in public sector over several years, and the lessons he has learned from running them.
11:55	E-consultation in Northern Ireland (Room 209) What should we do next? This session, moderated by Robin Wilson will be run in two parts: Small groups of 10 get together to discuss how to apply what they have learned to a consultation problem that one of the group members is facing. (Rooms 209, 301, 311, 312) Then in a final plenary we will put together a list of things we can try out in NI. (Room 209)
12:50	End of formal workshop. The cafeteria will be open for lunch in the building. Participants can arrange to meet each other or the speakers after lunch.