Process
Aimed not just to “talk” about problems, the NIF is a way for people to deliberate, or to have serious discussions on issues. In its early years, NIF depended on Public Agenda Foundation, an agency found by Dan Yankelovich, to select issues for the deliberation of NIF. But now, various groups and individuals have been able to frame issues for discussion.
NIF forums have moderators to moderate the discussion, (Melville, Willingham, Dedrick, 2005). While the moderator may not be expert in the issue being discussed, his/her function is nonetheless important to the discussion. NIF moderators do 5 things:
1. Lay out ground rules for discussion.
2. Introduce issues.
3. Draw participants into discussion by keeping a healthy atmosphere for discussion (i.e., ask participants questions).
4. Encourage participants to consider alternatives carefully.
5. Lead the final segment of a discussion, to “reflect” upon the experience.
Also, some forums would publish a report on what they have deliberated at the forums. These reports usually come from the forum moderators based on the deliberations at the forums. For information on these reports, visit this link: http://www.nifi.org/reports/issues.aspx. It is unsure whether any decision maker would read these reports. But these documentations are available to the public. And they are valuable insights into the society’s perception on various issues.
Read more about this topic: National Issues Forums
Famous quotes containing the word process:
“The a priori method is distinguished for its comfortable conclusions. It is the nature of the process to adopt whatever belief we are inclined to, and there are certain flatteries to the vanity of man which we all believe by nature, until we are awakened from our pleasing dream by rough facts.”
—Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914)
“In contrast to revenge, which is the natural, automatic reaction to transgression and which, because of the irreversibility of the action process can be expected and even calculated, the act of forgiving can never be predicted; it is the only reaction that acts in an unexpected way and thus retains, though being a reaction, something of the original character of action.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)
“[Wellesley College] is about as meaningful to the educational process in America as a perfume factory is to the national economy.”
—Nora Ephron (b. 1941)