Networking Democracy - Asking Difficult Questions

Opening Statements

The rationale - Michael Wills and Anthony Barnett
The "National Conversation" Conversation - Tony Curzon Price
Values and Virtual Debates - Bill Thompson
Online Engagement in a National Debate - Steve Clift
Building Online Participation into a National Citizens Summit - Suw Charman

Discussion threads

Networking Democracy (43 responses)
Ensuring Security (5 responses)
Asking Difficult Questions (3 responses)
How do online and offline interact? (3 responses)
Building Participation (7 responses)
Final thoughts (7 responses)

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Asking Difficult Questions

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In this thread we want to consider if it is possible to use the
internet to ask certain types of question in a meaningful way, and if
so how it can be done. For example:

- Is it possible (and if so how) to get an answer to questions
like:
o Is "fairness" a British value?
o Is "X" a British value? (where X comes from the participants)
o Is there such a thing as a "British value"?
o What could we use a statement of British values for?
o Do we require a statement of British values?

The questions here are all for example purposes only and merely invite
consideration of methodology. They are the kind of things we think the
Ministry of Justice might want to ask in their "online" element - but
do not represent firm plans. If you think there are other "types" of
question we should be considering, please do raise them as well.

From: Ella
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 05:58:27 -0800 (PST)
Local: Wed, Feb 27 2008 1:58 pm
Subject: Re: Asking difficult questions

Hi,
Maybe we should also note that it is not the Government's role to ask
these questions!

OK, I'd better turn that into something more positive.
I don't think it is the government's role to ask these questions. I
think that these questions are asked by "culture" -e.g. the Arts. They
may not be explicit, but I think that the arts provide ways to explore
these ideas in various contexts. People think (in terms of learning
and making sense of the world) primarily in metaphors. A bold question
about values does not provide a sustainable answer in the same that
way that a series of thoughts or discussions based on, for example, a
film do.

So -something like David Newman's example of the Wheel's http://www.wheel.ie/
use of stories would be a better focus than a blunt Q and A.

Other formats I've really liked:
Delib's ideas tree: http://www.delib.co.uk/products_and_services/ideastree
Projects which use mobile phones cameras like picture walls.
Gallomanor's Lifeswap is also an interesting use of photos in this
context. http://gallomanor.typepad.com/photos/projects/lifeswap.html

As well as being good for dealing with complicated questions like
values, these more innovative projects are good for involving a wide
mix of people.

In fact, as soon as we start thinking about more innovative formats, I
think how useful it would be to have someone from one of these
companies here. (e.g. Shane McCracken from Gallomanor or Gez Smith
from Delib)

-Ella

David R. Newman
From: "David R. Newman"
Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:32:28 +0000
Local: Wed, Feb 27 2008 6:32 pm
Subject: Re: [Networking Democracy] Asking difficult questions

1. An opinion poll or on-line questionnaire.

There the respondents are guaranteed that the results will be analysed
anonymously, so that they can say what they like. What you get out of it
are statistical measures of popularity or agreement with different
statements: rather like the academic surveys on identity.

A variant that Peter Emerson is trying out, with trust funding, is to
get people to rank options (e.g. which of the following is most typical
of British attitudes?), then analyse them by a de Borda count.

2. As prompts to spark off an on-line asynchronous discussion.

These need not be neutral. In fact, you can use projective questions,
either outraging readers so much that they jump in, or striking a
personal, emotional chord, so that they bring in their experiences. But
they must not be too insulting (no worse than Northern Irish comedy club
material, not as bad as Bernard Manning's). The idea is to spark of
banter, not fights. (On-line examples: www.sluggerotoole.com and
www.thedailymash.co.uk).

3. As labels to attach to user-generated content.

If we want people to submit stories, drawings, photographs, videos or
other art, then we need to make clear what we are looking for. The web
forms, help pages and so on need to make clear what the subject and
issues are, providing a clear focus. They might be variations of: show
us what you like best about living in: your community; your region; in
the UK; or this point on the map. What are people like there?

(I could imagine an overlay on Google maps of selfishness in the UK,
with peaks in Virginia Water and London Docklands, and troughs in rural
Scottish and Cornish communities.)

4. As prompts at different points in a synchronous discussion.

If you can get people in an environment in which they can map out (or at
least list) ideas, then you could ask questions inviting people to come
up with examples and lists, such as a) What makes one country better
than another? followed by b) Which of the values you listed in (a) apply
to Britain.

--
Dr. David R. Newman, Queen's University Management
School, Belfast

From: "Suw Charman-Anderson"
Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2008 22:16:50 +0000
Local: Tues, Mar 4 2008 10:16 pm
Subject: Re: [Networking Democracy] Asking difficult questions

> In this thread we want to consider if it is possible to use the
> internet to ask certain types of question in a meaningful way, and if
> so how it can be done. For example:

> - Is it possible (and if so how) to get an answer to questions like:
> o Is "fairness" a British value?
> o Is "X" a British value? (where X comes from the participants)
> o Is there such a thing as a "British value"?
> o What could we use a statement of British values for?
> o Do we require a statement of British values?

Again, I think there has to be an interrogation of the questions -
some are less suitable than others for online answering. It's not a
cae of "is it possible to get an answer on a question about values",
but "how meaningful would those answers be?". Many online polls are
statistically meaningless, because they are answered by a
self-selected group, and are non-representative. These sorts of
questions need to be posed in a rigorous and meaningful manner, and
internet polls are not it. You can answer any question with a poll
online. Question is, does that answer mean anything?

Regarding the more creative questions, such as "What do we use X
for?", those sorts of questions are far better ones to ask of an
online community. People can be very imaginative, given the chance.

Selecting the right questions to ask is essential to getting a
successful outcome, and being aware of the limitations of online
polling (i'm not even going to the minefield that is internet voting)
is also key.

Suw