Starting Off Right: Using Open Space Technology to Enable Citizens to Set the Agenda for State Disability Planning

This article presents a case study of how a state disability agency, committed to consumer participation in policy making, adapted a meeting strategy called Open Space Technology (OST) for use in policy making. The authors first describe how OST was adapted and used to allow for front-end citizen participation at town meetings. They then present the results of a document analysis to show the effectiveness of the technique: There was a great range of citizen input; the input was reflected in the state plan, and nearly 90% of the plan reflected the issues generated at the town meetings. The authors argue that OST is a promising technique for more effective involvement of citizens in the public policy process. © 2003, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.