Forum - Service Design for Civic Engagement
Are local governments designed for equitable citizen participation? While civic engagement aims to empower citizens and support representative governance, barriers to participation can hinder those outcomes. City council meetings, key venues for public input, pose specific challenges such as long durations, dense content, and intimidating formalities. After researching this topic in my Master’s thesis, Public Comment, I developed Forum, a digital platform placed in and around the city council meeting environment that creates new pathways into the civic environment. Forum consist of three main touch points. Each designed to increase citizens’ engagement with public discourse.
Forum’s most expansive touch point is a tablet for each audience members seat in the meeting chambers. It sits on a shelf attached to the back of every chair and can easily be picked up for a more hands on experience. This interface design is comprised of three modules, each affording a different kind of interaction with discourse. Expanding or minimizing the modules customizes the interface to the users’ preferences. Even in a collapsed state, modules remain tucked to the side for easy access. Letting users quickly switch between views. The live video feed ensures visibility no matter where in the room the participant sits. An agenda module provides additional context for all items up for discussion.
Forum supports a more informed discourse through the The Live Listening module, which offers real-time captions and translations in multiple languages to serve non-English speakers. The tool also has a “Simplified English” option that makes procedural language and jargon easier to understand. Where previous versions of the meeting agenda contained short descriptions full of procedural language, the tablet interface offers more expansive, and clearer context.
To activate the overflow seating area outside the meeting chambers, Forum, is also accessible on larger kiosk-like interfaces. These screens are active during and outside of the meeting times, available whenever City Hall is open.
At the kiosk, users can view the latest agenda items. Swiping to the public comment section, they can zoom in on feedback left by other community members and leave comments of their own.
At the kiosk, users can view the latest agenda items. Swiping to the public comment section, they can zoom in on feedback left by other community members and leave comments of their own.
Lastly to increase Gen Z awareness, Forum includes a social media component: @forum.fayetteville, where young residents on Fayetteville’s Youth Advisory Council explain agenda items in short-form videos. This adds representation for Gen Z citizens and invited more young voices into the local political discourse.