A hands-on introduction to planning for successful, meaningful community engagement in government open data initiatives, designed and facilitated by Laurenellen McCann (Director of New America DC) at the 2016 What Works Cities Summit. This workshop walks through the basics of human behavior to demonstrate how to develop outreach plans that "meet people where they are" and support the creation of long-term, authentic, *non-extractive* connections between people. Although this presentation caters to open data, this "build with" approach can be a used for a variety of governmental and non-governmental initiatives.
If you're interested in learning more or having Laurenellen teach your team, contact them here http://laurenellen.com/contact
6. @elle_mccann
WHAT IS
“ENGAGEMENT”?
● Our work engages voters.
● Our project engages communities.
● Our tools engage neighborhoods.
!?!?
“We do a thing AT a vague group of people.”
21. @elle_mccann
IF WE’RE GOING TO PLAN FOR
SUCCESS, WE NEED TO
CONCRETELY DEFINE...
1. WHAT ACTIONS AND CONNECTIONS (VERB)
2. WHO WE ARE TRYING TO ENGAGE (NOUN)
23. 1. Creators (24%) who produce content, upload videos, write blogs
2. Critics (37%) who submit reviews, rate content, and comment on
social media sites
3. Collectors (21%) who organize links and aggregate content for
personal or social consumption
4. Joiners (51%) who maintain accounts on social networking sites like
Facebook and LinkedIn
5. Spectators (73%) who read blogs, watch YouTube videos, visit socia
sites
6. Inactives (18%) who don’t visit social sites
Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, Forrester Research
24. How people engage and whether they engage has to do with how
openly or narrowly you, as a creator, structure opportunities for
engagement.
When it comes to data, if you only value certain forms of engagement that
favor your “creators” (developers, data providers, etc), you constrict the
potential for other kinds of participants to feel substantially included enough
to dabble in different roles—and you affect the size and diversity of your
participant pool.
@elle_mccann
25. 1. Creators (24%) who produce content, upload videos, write blogs
2. Critics (37%) who submit reviews, rate content, and comment on
social media sites
3. Collectors (21%) who organize links and aggregate content for
personal or social consumption
4. Joiners (51%) who maintain accounts on social networking sites like
Facebook and LinkedIn
5. Spectators (73%) who read blogs, watch YouTube videos, visit socia
sites
6. Inactives (18%) who don’t visit social sites
Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, Forrester Research
26. Just a few of the many roles people play when it
comes to (open) data:
Developer Researcher Visualizer
Teacher Reporter Artist
Quality Analyst Advocate Critic
Provider Enthusiast Creator
Archivist Collector Inactive
Legal Advisor Translator
@elle_mccann
28. 1. Creators (24%) who produce content, upload videos, write blogs
2. Critics (37%) who submit reviews, rate content, and comment on
social media sites
3. Collectors (21%) who organize links and aggregate content for
personal or social consumption
4. Joiners (51%) who maintain accounts on social networking sites like
Facebook and LinkedIn
5. Spectators (73%) who read blogs, watch YouTube videos, visit socia
sites
6. Inactives (18%) who don’t visit social sites
Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies, Forrester Research
32. @elle_mccann
TAKE-HOME SKILL:
STAKEHOLDER MAPPING
A TOOL FOR
● IDENTIFYING THE ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS
YOU NEED TO CONNECT WITH TO BUILD GENUINE
RELATIONSHIPS AROUND (OPEN) DATA
● HIGHLIGHTING WHO IS ALREADY ENGAGED
33. @elle_mccann
TAKE-HOME SKILL:
STAKEHOLDER MAPPING
A TOOL FOR
● IDENTIFYING THE ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS
YOU NEED TO CONNECT WITH TO BUILD GENUINE
RELATIONSHIPS AROUND (OPEN) DATA
● HIGHLIGHTING WHO IS ALREADY ENGAGED
● DETERMINING WHICH RELATIONSHIPS TO BEGIN TO
DEVELOP FIRST (AKA YOUR SUPER TEAM)
36. *ACTIVITY TIME*
Get to know your group! Please share….
➔ Your name
➔ Your city (or where you’re coming from)
➔ A project you’re working on that you want
to generate more public engagement with
@elle_mccann
37. *ACTIVITY TIME*
➔ Pick one project from your group
➔ Freeform list who’s involved in making the
project happen now
➔ Individuals’ names
➔ Organizations
➔ Departments
➔ Agencies
➔ Whatever
@elle_mccann
39. *ACTIVITY TIME*
➔ Who is this project REALLY for? Add names/orgs/people
who…
➔ have direct lived or work experience related to your project
➔ have a stake in the outcomes of your work
➔ are already working on this issue
➔ are working on or involved in overlapping or intersecting issues
➔ will be affected by the work you do (explain diff between having a
stake (teachers) and being affected by (students))
@elle_mccann
43. Potential relationships
● PARTNERS (orgs and individuals that can help boost the signal of your work,
get you access to resources and people’s attention through either simple
affiliation or activity)
● COLLABORATORS (orgs and individuals that will play more active, hands-on
roles throughout the development process and after, in evaluation and
iteration)
● CONNECTORS (orgs and individuals that will help you evaluate your list of
stakeholders, bring the right folks to the table, and help spread the work or
help you gather resources through communications and outreach at different
points in the process)
● TESTERS (orgs and individuals who can guide, gutcheck, prioritize, and help
evolve the work)@elle_mccann
45. ● Who do I have direct connections to on this list?
● Who are the obvious leaders (orgs and individuals)?
● Who is it hard for me to see that I might have missed?
● Who has influence (power, money, press attention) in this work already—and who
doesn't but should?
● How diverse is this list? (Think about age, geographic representation, race, gender,
class…)
● What does it mean to prioritize one organization’s involvement over another?
● Who can help me bring these people together?
Step 4: Reflection & Iteration
@elle_mccann
46. Step 4: Reflection & Iteration*
*Extra points for asking for help!
● Who do I have direct connections to on this list?
● Who are the obvious leaders (orgs and individuals)?
● Who is it hard for me to see that I might have missed?
● Who has influence (power, money, press attention) in this work already—and who
doesn't but should?
● How diverse is this list? (Think about age, geographic representation, race, gender,
class…)
● What does it mean to prioritize one organization’s involvement over another?
● Who can help me bring these people together?
@elle_mccann
47. ➔ Meeting partners and other constituents where they are.
(public festivals are underutilized engagement & education infrastructure)
➔ Building reciprocal relationships
(show up for others as you would have them show up for you)
➔ Creating a diverse chain of activities
(for the love of g-d don’t just do hackathons; remember to focus on
“who”!)
Gear outreach activities to….
@elle_mccann <3 Sustainable Engagement 201
48. OUR GOAL ISN’T TO ENGAGE ONLY THOSE
WHO KNOW ABOUT OPEN DATA OR CALL
OPEN DATA “OPEN DATA”.
OUR GOAL IS TO BUILD MUTUALLY
BENEFICIAL RELATIONSHIPS THAT ACTIVELY
CELEBRATE AND VALUE PUBLIC
KNOWLEDGE.
@elle_mccann