ASTC Forum Workshop

Overview

Evaluation Title:

ASTC Forum Workshop

Contact:

Amy Grack Nelson [1]

Permissions

[2]
Creative Commons
Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike

General Description:

The NISE Network held a pre-conference workshop titled, “Dialogue and Deliberation: Building a Better Forum,” at the 2008 Association of Science -Technology Centers Conference (see Appendix for agenda). In addition to the four-hour workshop, a two and a half hour forum was held the night before at The Franklin Institute. The forum covered the topic of nanotechnology and privacy. All participants were surveyed for their feedback about the forum and workshop.

Major Findings:

The workshop was a beneficial experience for participants. They valued learning how to carry out a forum and having the opportunity to talk with others who are interested in engaging visitors in dialogue and deliberation. The value of the conversations was echoed by NISE Net staff who mentioned the lively discussions as an indicator of the workshop’s success. All participants left familiar with the goals and purpose of a forum, aware how to acquire resources through nisenet.org, and comfortable with the idea of presenting a forum at their institution.

Resources

Documents:

ASTC Forum Report [3]