Identifying the Public and Its Interests

[Will Focht <wfocht@okstate.edu>]

First, I would recommend that those among the public who wish to express their interests be allowed to self-identify.  Presumably such persons can be labeled as "stakeholders," or even better, "interested and affected parties" or IAPs.  No proof of stake should be required; only their interest is necessary to justify their participation.  

Though many others in this dialogue will offer valuable outreach suggestions, I might add that outreach efforts should not be directed to groups based only on demographic or geographic characteristics (nor should representatives be invited to participate based on these) because interests are not necessarily, or even commonly, related to such characteristics.  Instead, identification of IAPs can better be identified through reputational sampling techniques such as "snowballing."