The beacons and NCC (funded by RCUK, FC's and Wellcome Trust's Beacons
for Public Engagement Initiative) have been pondering what PE means for UK
researchers over the past two years. In fact the NCC are conducting a
public consultation on the matter see:
http://www.publicengagement.ac.uk/what-public-engagement.
The model that I find most useful is to consider engagement as a spectrum of
activities ranging from the one-way information provision (books, lectures,
media and PUS) through the two way engagements such as
involvement/dialogue, consultation etc all the way to empowerment (eg
citizens jury's/ deliberation).
Some may think this as an increasing scale of desirability ie we should all be
aiming to empower people. But the truth is that in order to empower, you
must also carry out all the other activites on the scale including informing.
Also tit is important to note he cost of the activities increase significantly
(possibly exponetially) from inform to empower.
I have recently been thinking about changing my model to reflect the
volume of activities, so it is a wedge, with the thick end being inform and the
thin edge being empower.
If you prefer to think in pictures, email me and I can post the slides I am
developing on this.
I'd really be interested to find out if this fits in with your
experiences/understanding of the enegagement processes.
Best,
Heather
Dr Heather J Rea
Network Coordinator/Project Manager
Edinburgh Beltane - Beacon for Public Engagement
Darwin Building, The King's Buildings,
Edinburgh, EH9 3JR
E: [log in to unmask]
T: 0131 650 4875
W: www.edinburghbeltane.net for partners
W: www.engagingscotland.net for public events
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The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.
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