The Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities and three institutional partners are co-sponsoring a Pilot Citizens' Panel on `Telecommunications & the Future of Democracy` at Tufts University in April 1997. Based on the `consensus conference` process pioneered in Europe, a Citizens' Panel provides a context for non-experts to deliberate effectively on issues of public policy that are both technically complex and socially controversial. Substantively, the goal is to offer non-expert citizens an opportunity to develop and publicize informed judgments on emerging telecommunications technologies and policies that promise to profoundly affect the future character of the American society and politics. Procedurally, the goal is to demonstrate that: (a) notwithstanding greater socioeconomic and cultural diversity in the US, non-expect Americans can deliberate as successfully as their European counterparts; and (b) the process can be easily replicated and incorporated into the public policy-making process. This project is exploratory and high risk in several respects. For example, while experience has shown that a consensus conference works effectively within relatively small, homogeneous populations such as Denmark's', there is no guarantee that it can work within a much larger and more diverse population. The urgency of the project derives from the opportunity to harness the talents of 12 highly motivated student volunteers from the Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) program at Tufts University. The key public forum will be held at Tufts in early April in the context of a much larger conference on the Future of Democracy, scheduled for April 4-7, 1997 and also being organized by EPIIC. Dissemination of project results will occur by reports and presentations to media, interest groups, and government agencies
