When you spell it out (Deliberative Meetings Organised by Citizens) DEMOCS has more than a whiff of the tumbril about it. Only a few people have heard of it: perhaps no more than the 50 who turned up at a small church across the street from London鈥檚 Waterloo Station last month. Their mission was to change the world by playing a simple card game.
Right now if you really care about something there are just a handful of ways to make a difference. Write to your elected representative (don鈥檛 hold your breath), contact the press (same applies) or take to the streets (mind the tear gas). But if all goes well there鈥檒l be another option: get those in power to agree to play out the DEMOCS game, designed to bring groups to an informed opinion on a divisive issue.
For the trial phase of DEMOCS, the issue is stem cell research. This is how the game works. First, players record where they stand on one of four positions ranging from a fundamentalist no to everything, through to a libertarian anything goes. Everyone gets a stern reminder of the rules of engagement designed to ensure that anyone can speak, listen and understand. 鈥淔acts鈥� and 鈥渋ssues鈥� are given out on separate cards.
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The goal is to control discussion so people come to a common conclusion, which is often not where they started. In the closing minutes, you agree the advice you鈥檇 give to a top politician. Cleverly, DEMOCS shows individuals how their own views can change 鈥� or not 鈥� and teaches a few lessons about consensus within groups.
The science arena has not been short of attempts to get ordinary folk to learn about key issues and take a more informed view. The Public Understanding of Science movement put a load of money into science communication. But in retrospect, this worthy effort may have been based on the false assumption that if people know more about science they will automatically give its fruits more support.
Perhaps the real problem between science and the public isn鈥檛 just knowledge but the right forums for the debate. Not to mention the small matter of involvement in decision-making. Could DEMOCS do the trick by focusing equally on the opinion-forming process and 鈥渒nowledge鈥�?
Of course, DEMOCS has applications in any kind of debate, not just science. A decline in the number of voters in elections and the rise in street protest may be early signs that the old democratic systems are cracking. Interest in DEMOCS reflects a growing global desire for new forms of participatory democracy.
Supported by the Wellcome Trust, DEMOCS is the brainchild of the New Economics Foundation, which describes itself as 鈥渢he radical think tank鈥� busily trying to create new solutions for social, environmental and economic challenges.
If you want to survey their bigger agenda, try