Comparing and contrasting models of participation for online transportation decision-making

The Participatory Geographic Information Systems for Transportation (PGIST) Project is developing geographic information system- and Internet-based tools to support public participation in transportation decision making. An early task is to compare and choose methods and techniques for public participation to embed within our Internet-based participation system. More than 20 participation methods and techniques have been identified for synchronous settings - i.e., same time/same place. However, most of these have not been evaluated in an asynchronous (i.e. different time/place), Internet supported setting. To assist with systematic comparison of methods, we are developing a conceptual framework to describe them and evaluate their suitability for translation to Internet based decision support systems.