Citizen engagement has become increasingly important in the last ten years, but we have barely scraped the surface of what innovative public engagement can do for public services, communities and citizens. Part of what is holding us back is outdated myths about citizen engagement. “From Fairy Tale to Reality: Dispelling the Myths around Citizen Engagement” is a collaborative venture by Involve and the RSA. The pamphlet debunks common misconceptions of public engagement such as fears of spiralling costs and dwindling prospects of success, and provides ... (continue)

This June 2012 paper by Dr. Andy Williamson was published by Future Digital. The report, Evolving Digital Engagement: From Participation to Partnership,  reviews the background and context for digital engagement, with a focus on the shifting social and media landscape and the potential for more radical forms of policy development. (continue)

PEP-NET is a European network of all stakeholders active in the field of eParticipation, including public bodies, solution providers and citizen organizations as well as researchers and scientists. We are open to all organizations willing and actively trying to advance eParticipation in Europe. (continue)

Champions of Participation is a 50-page report summarizing an international learning event held in the U.K. from May 31 to June 4, 2007. Sponsored by the Citizenship DRC and Logolink, the event focused on  the role of champions of participation inside government, whether they be elected officials or government officers. Download here. (continue)

Deliberative public engagement is a distinctive approach to involving people in decision-making. It is different from other forms of engagement in that it is about giving participants time to consider and discuss an issue in depth before they come to a considered view. The aim of this 18-page background paper (2008) from Involve and the National Consumer Council is to encourage and support deliberative public engagement in public policy. (continue)

In this economic climate, the value of public engagement needs to be articulated in economic terms. Involve’s toolkit demonstrates that you don’t need specialist skills or knowledge to make the business case for engagement. Download the July 2011 toolkit from Involve and Consumer Focus, Making the Case for Public Engagement: How to demonstrate the value of consumer input. Toolkit authors are Edward Andersson, Emily Fennell and Thea Shahrokh. There is a substantial amount of anecdotal evidence in support of public engagement and some case study ... (continue)

This comprehensive guidebook is designed for those interested in establishing online “Local Issues Forums.” It is focused on the United Kingdom but evolved directly from the experience of E-Democracy.Org, which is based in Minnesota. Care has been taken to present this guidebook for a UK audience, it is general enough for a worldwide “local” audience. The main audiences for this guide are new local E-Democracy.Org Issues Forum steering committee members, individuals who work with local authorities, and citizens exploring the Issues Forums idea in detail. ... (continue)

Involve‘s 2010 report “Talking for a Change” provides new thinking for policy makers about how citizen engagement and dialogue can inform and strengthen more traditional forms of decision-making. In doing so it highlights how active engagement of citizens can revitalize our democracy and help tackle some of the biggest issues facing democracies in the 21st century. They suggest that the most obvious of these big issues are climate change and the aging society and set out a ‘typology of issues’ and make the case for why ... (continue)

The 50-page Understanding Participation: A Literature Review review brings together different bodies of literature on participation, including literature on community development, volunteering, public participation, social movements, everyday politics and ethical consumption. It looks at the historical and current drivers of participation, the activities and actors of participation and different theoretical approaches that contribute to a better understanding of participation. It closes with our emerging ‘participation framework’ that we aim to further develop and refine in the subsequent stages of the project. This literature review forms ... (continue)

People & Participation is based on the U.K.-based organization Involve’s successful 2005 book by the same name. The book provides a useful summary of participatory methods and practice but given the number of methods and speed of the development of new methods it is impossible for a printed publication to stay accurate for long. The reason for transferring People & Participation to the web is to allow us to maintain more, and more up-to-date information about participation. It also allows site users to add their ... (continue)