1. Government 2.0: New Strategies for
Engaging the Public
How are cities leveraging the web to engage the
public in local government decisions? Explore how
cities are strengthening democracy and promoting
more effective local government by using 2.0
technologies.
LMC conference innovation Labs
During these facilitated small group discussions
you’ll identify key issues, consider challenges and
how to overcome them, and offer ideas for how the
approach could be replicated by all types of cities.

2. Hat #1:
Griff Wigley, the citizen
LocallyGrownNorthfield.org

3. Hat #2:
Griff Wigley, the consultant
WigleyAndAssociates.com

4. Consulting project:
Edina Citizen Engagement
EdinaCitizenEngagement.org

5. Small group discussion
Tell your group a story about a recent
experience (good or bad) with online public
engagement
• Website
• Online survey
• Blog, web forum, webinar, live chat
• Twitter, Facebook
• Etc.

6. Citizen Engagement Resources
EdinaCitizenEngagement.org

7. The Connected Community:
Local Governments as Partners in Citizen
Engagement & Community Building
Overview: Citizen
Engagement, Why & How?
James Svara and Janet
Denhardt, Arizona State
University, in cooperation
with the Alliance for
Innovation (Link)

8. Why citizen engagement?
Right thing to do
• “Citizens can be defined as people who have a concern
for the larger community in addition to their own
interests and are willing to assume personal
responsibility for what goes on in their neighborhoods
and communities. So, building citizenship is about
inculcating a way of thinking and acting that is
characterized by openness to opposing ideas,
collaboration, and sense of responsibility to others.
• It is hard to have citizen engagement without a sense
of community, and it is hard to fashion a sense of
community without citizen engagement.”

9. Why citizen engagement?
Smart thing to do
“We should work to increase citizen involvement
because local governments cannot solve
community problems alone.
The complexity of the problems facing local
government demands citizen involvement and
acceptance, if not cooperation. Citizens often have
information that officials need in order to design a
sound program.
Further, citizens expect the opportunity to
participate and may resist the implementation of
plans they have not helped design.”

10. Citizen engagement is not:
• Selling the public on…
• Getting votes for…
• Convincing the public to…
• A meeting to complain/find fault with
• A process where staff controls the outcome
• Something that happens at council meetings
• An alternative to representative gov’t

11. IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation ‘07
IAP2.org

12. Public Involvement Spectrum in Local
Governance

13. Public Involvement Spectrum in Local
Governance
• Policy making: annual budget, economic
development, environment, housing, long
range planning
• Service delivery: potholes, mowing, plowing,
licenses & permits, park maintenance

14. Public Involvement Spectrum:
Policy Making

15. Public Involvement Spectrum:
Policy Making - Exchanges

16. Public Involvement Spectrum:
Policy Making – Exchanges to Inform
• Meeting minutes
“Provide the public
• Reports, fact sheets
with balanced and
• Open houses objective information
• Web pages to assist them in
• Blog posts, tweets understanding the
• Media interviews problem, alternatives,
• Presentations, panels opportunities, and/or
solutions.”
• Videos

17. Public Involvement Spectrum:
Policy Making – Exchanges to Consult
• Public hearings
• Focus groups “Receive and respond
• Meeting Q&A to resident comments,
requests, and
• Open mic complaints. Obtain
• Email & phone public feedback on
• Surveys/polls analysis, alternatives,
and/or decisions.”
• Comment forms

18. Public Involvement Spectrum:
Policy Making

19. Exchange of info vs Engagement
“These efforts require a great deal of creativity, energy
and commitment to succeed. But the effort appears to be
worth it: research has shown that effective citizen
engagement can foster a sense of community, engender
trust, enhance creative problem solving, and even
increase the likelihood that citizens will support financial
investments in community projects.
In any of their interactions with citizens, local
governments should look for the opportunity to
encourage engagement rather than simply seeking an
exchange of information.”

20. Public Involvement Spectrum:
Policy Making - Engagement

21. Public Involvement Spectrum:
Policy Making – Engagement to Include
• Workshops
“Work directly with
• Deliberative polling citizens throughout
• Blog comment threads the process to ensure
• Q&A - presentations that public concerns
and aspirations are
• Q&A – webinars
consistently
• Interaction captured understood and
• Interaction published considered by staff.”

22. Public Involvement Spectrum:
Policy Making – Engagement to Collaborate
• Citizen advisory group
“Partner with citizens
• Citizen task force in each aspect of the
• Consensus-building decision including the
• Participatory decisions identification of issues,
development of
• Interactive surveys
alternatives, choice of
• Interaction captured the preferred solution,
• Interaction published and implementation.”

23. Public Involvement Spectrum:
Policy Making – Engagement to Empower
• Citizen juries
• Ballots
“Place final decision-
• Delegated decisions making authority or
• Interaction captured problem-solving
responsibility in the
• Interaction published
hands of citizens.”

24. Edina Citizen Engagement:
Grandview District – Project blog
EdinaCitizensEngagement.org/Grandview

25. Edina Citizen Engagement:
Grandview District – Project blog
Photos of every meeting
posted to the blog

26. Edina Citizen Engagement:
Grandview District – Project blog
All Powerpoint
presentations,
PDFs, & printed
charts posted to
the blog

27. Edina Citizen Engagement:
Grandview District – Project blog
All promotional and
public information
activities (posters,
newspaper stories,
meeting notices, etc)
posted to the blog

28. Edina Citizen Engagement:
Grandview District – Project blog
The authentic voice of
the project leaders,
posting to the blog

29. Edina Citizen Engagement:
Grandview District – Project blog
Video archive of
all relevant City
Council and
Planning
Commission
meetings posted
to the blog

30. Edina Citizen Engagement:
Grandview District – Project blog
Live webinar, alternative
to public meeting.
Recorded & posted to the
blog.

31. Edina Citizen Engagement:
Grandview District – Project blog
Public comments
from face-to-face
meetings captured
and posted to the
blog

32. Edina Citizen Engagement:
Grandview District – Project blog
Time-limited blog
comment discussions,
with participation by
project leaders, &
moderated for civility

33. Edina Citizen Engagement:
Grandview District – Project blog
Audio of
contentious
neighborhood
meeting,
captured and
posted to the
blog

34. Edina Citizen Engagement:
Grandview District – Project blog
Every blog post
tweeted and posted
to Facebook; weekly
email subscription
option; RSS feed

35. Edina Citizen Engagement:
Grandview District – Project blog
Result: unanimous
approval by the
Planning Commission
and City Council

36. Small group discussion
• Pros and cons of this type of engagement
• Hurdles to replication
– Skills/knowledge
– Costs
• Questions

37. Griff Wigley
WigleyAndAssociates.com