I am looking for examples of “readiness” guides to help public employees thinking about engaging with the public online. Does anyone have any examples they can point me to? For example, what needs to be considered when beginning the process, resource needs, how to create an effective dialogue, barriers and challenges, widely recognized practices etc.
Lisa,
Please check out the Core Principles for Public Engagement. This document was developed last Spring by a broad coalition of organizations such as NCDD, IAP2 etc. (full disclosure: I am a member of both) and thought leaders in the field of public participation as a direct response to the Open Government Directive.
It takes into account numerous existing documents from around the world that list key values and success factors in this area:
Core Principles for Public Engagement
http://thataway.org/pep
These are high-level recommendations that apply to offline as well as online participation.
Let me know if you have any questions. I’d be happy to connect you with some of the people who were involved in this work.
Thanks,
Tim
Someone on the NCDD mailing list just reminded me of EPA’s great resource page here: http://www.epa.gov/publicinvolvement/