More Than Just Complaints: Generating Thick Engagement Through Thin Participatory Programs

Thin participatory processes are designed for information exchange. But complaint processes, message boards, and hotlines sometimes facilitate thick, meaningful engagement. Can policy design leverage factors driving engagement to enable values-based responses to complex policy problems, while allowing information exchange to continue as-needed for most participants? Using place-based case studies from oil and gas drilling and community complaints in three regions of Colorado, I make propositions about how the drivers of collaboration are related to the practice of engagement within participatory programs. Based on the case studies, presence of coercive policy actors, inclusion of multiple governmental authorities, and transparency in participatory communication are likely to facilitate thickening. Meanwhile, measurement-based responses to participation are likely to propagate thin participation only. Accordingly, in designing thin processes, policy makers should recognize the nature of engagement will depend on the type of knowledge exchanged and the suite of institutions that might use or leverage the participatory action.