With that lovely bank holiday weekend behind us and another at the end of the month, May is certainly a favoured month at Delib HQ, and with the added excitement of an election and more volcanic ash on the horizon it looks set to be an eventful few weeks! We are looking forward to seeing what the new government looks like and the new dawn (hopefully!) of applying deliberative digital democracy, which we held an event to discuss only last week. As ever we learn and improve from our networks so do comment and let us know your thoughts on our newsletter and blog, and on Twitter

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And finally...

Forward

The day we designed digital deliberative democracy

Photos of attendees at the designing deliberative democracy event

Last Friday, as I'd hoped to do, we got some smart and interesting people together at our offices (and a couple of nearby pubs) in Bristol to figure out what digital deliberative democracy might/should look like when mapped on to some specific problems.

Find out more about: the day we designed digital deliberative democracy

Are There Questions You Should Include In Any Consultation, From Online To Offline?

Screenshot of a radio button question asking How old are you? with various age options. The question has the word required next to it

Ges says: "We've been doing work here recently on online consultation survey architectures with regards to required questions. It's more fun than it sounds, honest, and it's thrown up some bigger questions that got me thinking about the nature of consultation as a whole."

Read out more about: Are There Questions You Should Include In Any Consultation, From Online To Offline?

Leaders' Debate Live Blog!

Photo of police and protesters at the second leaders debate in Bristol

On 22nd April Bristol held host to the second leaders debate. Our office being perfectly situated next to the venue transformed the Delib team into roving reporters for the day, blogging and tweeting the event.

Find out more about it: Leaders' Debate Live Blog"

How The Internet Might Be Influencing The Election

Screenshot of the sentiment twitter tracker Delib produced for the second leaders debate

Gez takes a look at the role technology has played in the election so far.

Read the full blog post.

Hijacking Consultations - Does It Actually Matter?

Gez says:"It's something we've come across a lot over the years here, the worry that if you take consultation online, you'll just open yourself up to campaign groups and special interests stuffing your consultation full of their unique take on the world."

Check out Hijacking Consultations - Does It Actually Matter?

Bebo On The Way Out?

As more and more people are looking to use 'social media' as part of their engagement and consultation activities, it's worth keeping an eye on what's going on in the different platforms...and Bebo is looking poorly.

Read more about our Bebo On The Way Out?

Learning about accessibility

A couple of weeks ago Michaela went to an accessibility talk entitled 'WCAG 2.0 for usability specialists' and learnt a lot of useful, basic stuff.

4 easy ways for PCTs to start getting ready for the promised post-election changes towards more interactive, participative decision-making

Both the Conservatives and the Labour Party, in their manifestos officially launched this week, are committed to more closely connecting citizens and patients with the decisions made about their health care provision.

Genuine Party Political Participative Democracy In Bristol

Phot of Bristol West candidate Danny Kushlick

Gez says: "This is an interesting story. Mark Thomas has put together a project where anyone can turn up to one of his shows and suggest and vote for policies for a new political party, with the winning policies becoming official party policy."

Keep reading Genuine Party Political Participative Democracy In Bristol