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ERIC Number: ED362429
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1992
Pages: 92
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: ISBN-8-87114-179-5
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Citizen Participation in Policy Formation: A Review of Governor Roberts' Conversation with Oregon.
Weeks, Edward C.; And Others
This document presents the results of a survey of Oregon voters, polling those who did and those who did not participate in a series of meetings using the state's interactive telecommunications network, Ed-Net. The meetings were part of a project in deliberative democracy called a Conversation with Oregon, launched by Governor Barbara Roberts to address a fiscal crisis in state government. Governor Roberts conducted 32 Ed-Net telecast sessions, reaching 10,000 randomly selected persistent voters in 900 local meetings throughout the state during November and early December. In the Conversation and Ed-Net meetings the Govenor discussed with voters appropriate levels of government services and how to pay for those services. The conversation and especially the Ed-Net meetings were an unprecedented effort to use modern, interactive communications technology to involve large numbers of citizens in the deliberative process of public policy meetings. This report describes the Conversation with Oregon, and documents the extent to which the Ed-Net Meetings succeeded in opening up constructive communication. The voter survey and analysis showed (1) the conversation succeeded in calling together a broad cross section of the state's most persistent voters; (2) the planning and operation of the Ed-Net meetings successfully involved many individuals and organizations in new roles; (3) the meetings significantly increased participants' grasp of basic facts about state finances; (4) persistent voters exhibited a skeptical attitude toward government and politicians that is not changed easily; and (5) though the fiscal crisis remains unresolved, the Conversation succeeded in opening a channel of communication between the governor and voters. (DK)
Center for Advanced Technology in Education, College of Education, Eugene, OR 97403-1215.
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers; Policymakers; Practitioners
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Oregon Univ., Eugene. Center for Advanced Technology in Education.
Identifiers - Location: Oregon
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A