Beyond the actual
results and content of a Dotmocracy session, there should be critical review of
how the session was conducted to check the legitimacy of the results.
Some key
questions to investigate:
Who participated and do they appropriately
represent the group being consulted?
What information was provided to
participants? Was the information
accurate and unbiased? Did participants
understand it?
Was the preamble and question(s) open ended, or
did it suggest a certain opinion?
How much time was provided for discussing,
drafting of ideas and dotting? Was this
sufficient considering the complexity of the issue at hand.
How many ideas were dotted?
On average, how many dots were filled-in per a
sheet?
How many sheets had only a few dots?
Were the Dotmocracy rules and requirements
properly followed?
Were the results fully and accurately published
upon completion of the session?
Providing
answers to these kinds of questions may be useful for including in reports to
the hosting organization and critical observers of the process. Insights from these answers can also inform
the planning of better future sessions.