Welcome to Participedia

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Participedia is a tool for strengthening democracy. Based on a wiki platform, its main content consists of user-generated articles which describe and assess participatory governance throughout the world. For instance, there will be articles on the British Columbia Citizens’ Assembly of 2004, consensus conferences in Denmark, participatory budgeting in Porto Alegre and other cities, local school council governance in Chicago, municipal evaluation meetings in China, and the People’s Campaign for Democratic Decentralization (under the Panchayati Raj reforms) in Kerala, India. In addition, there will be articles on participatory methods, such as deliberative polling, citizens' assemblies, and participatory budgeting, as well as articles about the organizations that sponsor, implement, and study participatory governance. Over time, we hope Participedia will garner hundreds and perhaps thousands of such articles.

There are three main kinds of articles in Participedia:

Please contribute articles! It's easy -- see "How to Create an Article" below.

Participedia's wiki-based platform is enhanced with a Semantic Wiki extension. This extension enables the organization of articles into databases, thus enhancing the value of Participedia for practitioners and researchers. Articles are associated with properties through simple form-based templates. Properties include, for example, geocoded location, dates of operation, cost, number of participants, sponsoring organization or government, policy area or social issue, purposes and goals of sponsors and participants, methods of selection, participation, and deliberation, cost, decisions, implementation, and outcomes. The properties identify the key contextual, design, and outcome variables in order to:

  • Provide comparability among cases and methods,
  • Support research into the strengths and limitations of particular kinds of methods, and
  • Enable users to find the processes that fit their problems and interests.

Participedia is a work in progress. We will be adding and refining form-based properties for cases and methods, which will enhance the value of Participedia as a data base. We will also add an expert survey module to allow informed observers to rate cases and methods according to dimensions such as the characteristics of the issue and the performance of processes, including their inclusiveness, representativeness, deliberative quality, quality of decisions, and level of influence on public policy and action. If you have suggestions for improving Participedia or suggestions for articles, please share with us and the rest of the Participedia community by posting it in the discussion tab at the top of this page.

Case Studies and Organizations

The map below shows the locations of case studies (red pins) and organizations (green pins) currently described in Participedia. Click on a pin to view the article about the case or organization.



What Kinds of Articles Belong in Participedia?

Democracy

Participedia collects narratives and data about any kind of process or organization that has democratic potentials. A process is democratic when it functions to include, empower, or give voice to those affected by collective decisions in making those decisions. That is, the Participedia understanding of "democracy" is broad, and does not prejudge where these processes might be found, how they might be organized, or who might create them. The Participedia strategy is to cast a wide net, while also collecting enough information to uniquely distinguish each case, method, or organization. That said, Participedia is primarily interested in participatory processes not encompassed by the standard institutions of electoral democracy, about which our knowledge base is already wide and deep. In responding to form-prompts, authors should provide only the data appropriate for the case, process, or organization.

Failures

Failures also belong in Participedia. Failures include processes that are inappropriate for particular issues, contexts, or goals. Cases of participation that involve patron-client relationships, government attempts to co-opt opposition, or processes which are merely labelled "participatory" or "democratic" also belong in Participedia. Sometimes such processes function more democratically than a government organization might have intended. But often processes are labelled “democratic” or “participatory” when, in fact, they are not. To know what kinds of processes work best, we also need to know as much as possible about missteps, miscalculations, inappropriate processes, and ideological uses of participatory processes. Articles should include as much information about the originating intentions, functions, and effects of processes as possible, so we can distinguish processes that have democratic effects from those that do not.

How to Create an Article

Creating an article for Participedia is easy. Just follow these steps:

  1. Create a Participedia account using the tabs at the top of this page and then login to Participedia.
  2. From the left-hand menu, choose Add a case, Add a method, or Add an organization. Name your case, method, or organization.
  3. Click on the Add or edit button, which creates a page with data forms and a text box for your article.
  4. Following the form prompts, enter as much of the requested data as you can, using the Glossary as a guide when necessary. Keep notes on what works for you, and what does not work. Enter suggestions on the Main Discussion page so we can continually improve our data collection.
  5. Enter a text description of the case, method, or organization, using the outline to the right of the text box as a guide to content. WikiMedia formatting is easy. The quickest method is to copy the formatting from an existing Participedia article, which is revealed by clicking the “edit with forms” tab at the top of any article page. You can also go to MediaWiki's Formatting Help page: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Formatting.
  6. As you work, remember to Save. The Save Page button can be found at the bottom of the edit page. You do not need to complete an article at one sitting, but make sure you save before exiting the edit page. You can return to the page to edit or add information at any time by clicking on the case, method, or organization on the Main Page, and then clicking on the “edit with forms” tab. We also suggest that you use the Show preview at the bottom of the editing page for authoring and editing.

That's all there is to it!

Language Policy

Participedia is a global project. Therefore, we welcome articles in any language. If you create an article in a language other than English, please indicate the language in parenthesis right after the name of the article - e.g. "Orcamento Participativo (Portuguese)" We will try to translate articles into English through multi-lingual volunteers.

Please Use the Discussion Pages!

There are bound to be significant disagreements about facts, claims, descriptions, and even basic terms about participatory or deliberative governance. Each article in Participedia has a discussion page. On this page, please record personal experiences about the case, note controversial claims or definitions, or simply register your reactions. To read or edit this page, just click the "discussion" tab above any particular page and enter your thoughts about the article.


Recently Edited Case Studies


Recently Edited Method Entries


Recently Edited Organization Entries


Glossaries

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