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A Toolkit for Democratizing Science and Technology Policy: The Practical Mechanics of Organizing a Consensus Conference

University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

Maria Powell

University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA

Joshua Grice

Indiana University, USA

Judith Adrian

Center for Democracy in Action, USA

Carol Lobes

Center for Democracy in Action, USA

A widely touted approach to involving laypeople in science and technology policy-related decisions is the consensus conference. Virtually nothing written on the topic provides detailed discussion of the many steps from citizen recruitment to citizen report. Little attention is paid to how and why the mechanics of the consensus conference process might influence the diversity of the participants in theses fora, the quality of the deliberation in the citizen sessions, the experiences of the participants and organizers, and other outcomes that affect democratic decision making within the conference and more broadly over the long term. As an aid to those interested in utilizing the consensus conference format, the authors outline in detail how they set about organizing their consensus conference on nanotechnology in the spring of 2005. They discuss what specific aspects of their consensus conference worked, and why, and also consider what they learned of relevance to future application.

Key Words: citizen engagement • citizen participation • consensus conference • democracy and expertise • democracy and science • nanotechnology

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