Reading the guide: and the point is?

I finally took a look at the NCDD guidebook to find out (in detail) what I was getting myself into, now that I’m at the airport. This pause at the gate gives me a chance to think of the questions that I should ask at the conference. The focus of the proposed website and the conference are complementary in my mind.

From the point of view of a policy website, deliberation doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Policy information needs to be obtained and absorbed in order for deliberation to start, and one of the outcomes of deliberation is a better synthesis of information that could/should be shared with others.

From the point of view of a dialogue / deliberation process, you need a reason for the multi-partisan policy information to exist.

Therefore, the central, broad question of the conference (from my POV) is:

• What online deliberation tools exist, and how do/should they interact with repositories of policy information?

Other, more specific questions for fellow attendees:

• What resources do you use to lead deliberation? Online or in print? When discussion is caught up over “the facts,” how is that resolved?
• Do you know of a central resource that ties all types of policy viewpoints together in a non-partisan way? Do you think one would be useful? How would it be used?
• Do you know of others attempting to create a website like this? Do you know of people or organizations that might be interested in participating or partnering with an effort?
• What characteristics would you like to have in a useful policy info website? comprehensive, entertaining, interactive, etc.
• How could deliberation be used to “build up” and improve a policy resource (creating a cycle of improvement for both information and the deliberation process)? How are the results of deliberation used now?
• Who are the people you target to participate in deliberation? (How) are you trying to attract those not normally drawn to the idea?