Participatory Technology Assessment

Having played a central role during 2009 in World Wide Views on Global Warming, the first global citizen policy consultation in history, Loka Founder and Senior Fellow Richard Sclove is working with partners in the United States and internationally to create an institution in the United States that would coordinate and disseminate participatory Technology Assessment (pTA) activities. WWViews helped establish that ordinary citizens can sort through complicated issues, deliberate together, and develop their own perspectives on ways to meet challenges. However, most countries (including the United States) lack a political culture and institutional framework for incorporating these voices into policy-making. The pTA project aims to address this need.

This page is an archive of works from the Loka orbit relevant to emerging interest in participatory technology assessment (pTA) in the United States. We will post policy proposals and other documents relevant to creating a pTA organization as they are available in the coming months. Stay tuned for more materials and action updates.

Richard Sclove, Cybersobriety - How a commercially driven Internet threatens the foundations of democratic self governance and what to do about it

Richard Sclove, Decision-making in a democracy

Richard Sclove, Town Meetings on Technology

Richard Sclove, From Alchemy to Atomic War: Frederick Soddy's 'Technology Assessment' of Atomic Energy, 1900 - 1915

Richard Sclove, Reinventing Technology Assessment: A 21st Century Model

Richard Sclove, Why the Polls on Climate Change Are Wrong

Richard Sclove, World's Citizens to Politicians: Get Serious on Global Warming Now!

Richard Worthington, Community-Based Research and Technoscience Activism

Richard Worthington, Ecology and Nanotechnology