Consensus tools can aid dialogue

The New Economics Foundation has launched a new participatory tool called Crowd Wise.

The tool is designed to assist approaches to dialogue where the focus is on consensus building. The tool is intended to help groups of participants formulate a range of opinions and then explore where the consensus lies through preference voting.

Consensus methods are one of many different tools used in science and technology dialogue and typically come from the field of conflict resolution. They are therefore particularly useful where views on a subject are polarised or in conflict. In science and technology there are several such issues, notably GM foods which, as reported in last month's bulletin, has recently been the subject of much debate.

As the use of dialogue increases so there will be a need for new tools like Crowd Wise to help structure and run those deliberations, particularly where viewpoints are opposed or conflict exists.