Are you a firm believer in the offline old-school? Or do you choose the digital route whenever you can? Good news: when it comes to community engagement, you don’t have to pick one.
In fact, a combination of offline and online engagement methods ensure that you reach a more diverse audience. Those young parents who don’t have time to make it to the town hall? They can participate online after the kids are in bed. The elderly couple that has only just learned about e-mail? They can weigh in on the topic of their interest in an offline workshop.
Both online and offline methods have the potential to boost citizen engagement, but with a combination of both, you tap into the full potential of community engagement.
Online vs. offline citizen engagement?
For a long time, elections and offline touch points were the only true ways for citizens to let their voices be heard. Offline debates or town hall meetings allow local governments and citizens to meet face-to-face and build long-lasting relationships. But they also require a significant investment of both cities and participating citizens. The local government needs to provide human resources, materials and follow protocols for an offline event to take place, while citizens have to make time and get actively involved for this to work.
As the internet has changed the way people engage and interact with each other, cities have started to adapt their communication techniques. Online participation platforms have provided answers where offline participation methods lacked. Maintaining an online platform is less expensive and more flexible. Instead of travelling to physical locations and sitting through events to get the information they are after, citizens can focus on specific online projects they feel passionate about. On the online project page, they can find all the information they need to participate from the comfort of their own home. And while offline events have limited seating, online platforms are open to all. As such, cities can engage with more citizens.
Yet, online and offline participants can be different. For instance, online platforms mainly attract younger citizens than those who attend offline events. On the other hand, offline participation methods might exclude those with busier schedules. That’s why a mix between offline and online participation is the best way to go.
1. Live stream offline events
Live streaming is a simple, cost effective way to boost engagement and has become increasingly popular in recent years. All you need is a solid Internet connection and a good HD camera or phone.
Live streaming is a powerful citizen engagement tool because it shows transparency and allows interaction. Citizens really appreciate peeking into city meetings. It makes them feel more involved as they can interact directly with the politicians through commenting in real-time. For instance, cities can ask a question about a project and get an answer right away in their video comments or direct messages. Citizens can also interact with one another directly, which helps to create a community feeling.
Example: Online constitution crowdsourcing, Iceland
In order to draw up its new constitution, Iceland used both crowdsourcing and live streaming. First, the council posted draft clauses and interviews with its members on its website and its social media page. Then, it opened its meetings to its citizens and streamed them live on its website. Citizens could see the constitution being written in front of them and post or comment on the clauses even though they did not attend the event.
2. Discuss online ideas at offline events and vice versa
Offline and online participation methods can reinforce each other, even — no, especially — when they tackle the same projects. City councils can post reports of their offline meetings on their online platforms and let citizens share their thoughts. Similarly, ideas or opinions from the online platform can function as a starting point of offline debates. As online platforms reach more and different citizens than offline ones, they allow cities to collect a wider range of ideas. Once these ideas are assessed, cities can ask for opinions about them or perhaps even test them out at offline events.
Example: offline and online engagement in Temse
The Flemish city of Temse chose a specific participation approach that optimally plays into the benefits of both methods. On the municipality’s online platform, residents suggested ideas to improve the mobility and safety, such as cycling highways, a ban on motorised vehicles, and one-way streets. Besides that, the online platform also allowed people to enter ‘open ideas’ that help shape the city’s multi-annual plan.
After the exploration phase on the online platform, the municipality hosted an offline ‘Mobility for Citizens’ workshop which allowed citizens to ask questions and share their concerns in real life. The conclusions of this workshop were then brought back online, as the output was taken into account in the selection and implementation phases of the project.
3. Organise online workshops
Recently, a global pandemic has forced us to rethink the way we come together, including in a political and participatory context. To ensure democratic continuity, many offline touch points have found a new place in the online realm. A good manifestation of this is the surge of online workshops, which allow cities to organise live video meetings, facilitate group discussions, gather input and votes, and reach consensus, the way they would offline. At CitizenLab, we, therefore, launched the online workshop feature on our platform and tested it with some of our partners.
Example: online workshops in Dongen
The Dutch municipality Dongen launched online workshops to discuss a couple of important topics with its community. How can the municipality adapt the environment to the ageing population? What’s the best way to continue collaboration during the coronavirus crisis? Which actions can the municipality take to tackle climate change? And what about the energy transition? Through online workshops, the municipality offered its residents a unique opportunity to share their ideas.
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