INTER PARi
How to take advantage from (and to integrate)
different participative initiatives?
Women's political agenda
Perception and Awareness of Science
PARTICIPANTS
Students (most schools)
PARTICIPANTS
Adult lay people (most women)
KIND OF ACTIVITY
Propositive, but particularly LEARNING
KIND OF ACTIVITY
Learning, but particularly PROPOSITIVE
METHOD
Participatory techniques that enhance attending the scientific debate –
Inquiriy on young people’s perception of science and scientific values
METHOD
Participatory techniques that enhance building a political agenda
MAIN TECHNIQUES:
Group discussion, qualitative inquiry, open space technology
MAIN TECHNIQUES:
Group discussion, metaplan, survey, didactic activities
AIM
Reduce the distance between people and politics
AIM
Reduce the distance between people and science
Main common goal:
Gaining the possibility to include own desires and points of views
in the science policy debate
The two experiences have many points in common; nevertheless, as they consider with priority different social
groups (students within or without an area/citizens in an area) and have a slight different general objective
(participation in the scientific/in the social debate), each one carries out a different model of participatory
process within the concept of deliberative democracy.
This explains the main differences of the two experiences: a. etero-organised vs self-organised system; b. role of
endogenous and exogenous documentation; c. structured vs open interviews.
For both experiences a question arises relating to the main meaning given to “participation”: large presence
(quantitative) or in depth capacity to be propositive and deliberative?
The challenge is to integrate as much as possible the two participatory processes, to profit by open space within a
scientific context; the core of the question is how to define a proper participation technique model within a
highly formalised (and sometimes highly autonomous) context as school is.
REFERENCES:
Robert Owen a User's Guide Open Space Technology
Marianella Sclavi:Progettare la città con i suoi abitanti
Adriana Valente (editor), La scienza dagli esperti ai giovani e ritorno/ Science: from specialists to students and back
again, Biblink, Roma, 2006.
L. Libutti, A. Valente, Science communication and information dissemination: The role of the information professional in
the “Perception and Awareness of Science” Project”, Journal of information science, 32(2), 2006
Adriana Valente*, Luciana Libutti*, Elena Del Grosso+, Michela Mayer°, Alba L’Astorina^
* Institute of Research on Population and Social Policies of the National Research Council, Italy
+ Orlando Association, Documentaion center of women of Bologna, Italy
° Unesco Commission, Education for Sustainable Development
^ Institute for Electromagnetic Sensing of Environment of the National Research Council, Italy