Walker, Perry

Democs, an acronym standing for a Deliberative Meetings of Citizens' is a game that was developed by the New Economics Foundation, London with the aim of making it easier for people to work out, share and express their views on public policy issues. The game comes in kit form and allows a group of around six people to find out about an issue, for example human genetics, discuss it, seek common ground, and give their views. The paper outlines the development of the game and gives detailed instructions on how it is played.

The author describes PLA approaches as a set of recipes for the field of Participation. The purpose of this article is to describe another such recipe called "Imagine" which is a version of Appreciative Inquiry. This begins with a group asking appreciative questions then using those questions to talk to a wider group. Their answers are developed into provocative propositions (challenging statements about how the future should be) and these are presented to the wider group of people who need to be involved in making them come true.