From the website: Choicebooks and Workbooks: are to online engagement what the conversation guide is to in-person conversations: a critical enabler of informed participation. Choicebooks allow participants to place themselves in the shoes of decision-makers, and as the name implies, make tough choices. To this end, they provide balanced information on the issue(s) at hand, outlining benefits, drawbacks and tradeoffs associated with various approaches or options. Scenarios may also be used to illustrate the choices faced by decision-makers. Workbooks, by contrast, focus on providing relevant context information and facts to facilitate issue exploration, allowing participants to familiarize themselves with an issue by “working through it”. In both cases, participants are invited to review the background material provided and share their views by responding to a mix of close-ended and open-ended questions. These guides are often prerequisites for participating in other online engagement activities, since they provide a common baseline of information to all participants. Choicebook is developed by Ascentum based in Ottawa, Ontario (Canada). Update : Ascentum has been acquired by Hill & Knowlton Strategies, and Choicebook has been discontinued. In order to access the site, view an archived copy .
Tools (3)
In a process known as “reverse publishing,” SharedBook enables companies and consumers to dynamically produce personalized and customized books and documents with its patented publishing and annotation platform. Policy makers, nonprofits, educators, and special-interest communities can use SharedBook’s platform to allow their members or constituents to engage in an online dialogue on bills, rules, research and other important documents. Starting with highlighted excerpts from the original content, a series of comments and replies can be posted and shared with any and all interested users to facilitate a pointed and detailed discussion. The source document is locked down and the community discussion is stored and presented back as footnotes at a granular level. A permanent record of the conversation can be preserved as a professionally printed book or PDF download. Some platform features include, secure transition from print to digital, centralize materials, engaging user experience through note-taking, polls, highlight, update live content, analytics. SharedBook was used by Congressman John Culberson (R-TX) for collaborative review of the healthcare bill “H.R.3200 – America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009.” Founded in 2002, the company was headquartered in New York with R&D in Herzlia, Israel. Since 2014, SharedBook has been acquired by XanEdu and is now based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It has also merged with AcademicPub. SharedBook Overview from Jeff Letson on Vimeo .
Online social learning platform that “facilitates best practice sharing, builds professional networks, and integrates a number of dynamic features for both real-time and on-demand interaction.”