Comments on: Who Wants to Bench? (at the Unicorn Theatre)

By: Who Wants to Be? » Blog Archive » Chapter Art Centre, Cardiff

Who Wants to Be? » Blog Archive » Chapter Art Centre, Cardiff — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 09:05:41 +0000

[...] Be…? audience, decided to collectively purchase and own woodland in Wales. Another voted to commission a ‘democracy bench’ for a London park, narrowly beating the second favourite idea: to make a Guinness Book Of World Records attempt for [...]

By: Who Wants to Be? » Blog Archive » The People Have Spoken

Who Wants to Be? » Blog Archive » The People Have Spoken — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 10:48:15 +0000

[...] £10 and then proposing, discussing and voting on what they wanted to do with their £1800. You can read the whole story so far, or just watch the new video – hot off Rick’s workstation – [...]

By: Who Wants to Be? » Blog Archive » Democracy Benches

Who Wants to Be? » Blog Archive » Democracy Benches — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 10:11:21 +0000

[...] the 7th November 2008, 180 people paid £10 each, and gathered in the Unicorn Theatre, London Bridge, to decide what to [...]

By: London Games Fringe 2008 » Photos - Who Wants to Be

London Games Fringe 2008 » Photos - Who Wants to Be — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:43:46 +0000

[...] Official site [...]

By: // CIRCUS foundation // » Blog Archive » Open Everything + Who Wants to Be

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 01:02:55 +0000

[...] Friday evening I pedaled down to the Unicorn Theatre for “Who Wants to Be”, along with James and Emma. Ever since Saul Albert’s presentation about the format at the [...]

By: // CIRCUS foundation // » Blog Archive » Themis Workshop 2 and next steps

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:37:37 +0000

[...] Saul Albert came next introducing The People Speak and talking through several case studies of their “Who Wants to Be” event format. This is a fabulous tool for stimulating ad-hoc collective decision making in a community. Up to two hundred people assemble in a hall or open space where they’re armed with coloured cards, a common objective and a budget to spend. There then follows a tightly-facilitated process where proposals are gathered, grouped, refined and whittled down to a collectively-determined outcome. The coloured cards, coupled with a visual recognition system, provide a lightweight tool for instant voting. The genius of the format is that it’s deliberately designed to evoke a television game show rather than an earnest debate. This leads people to take part in a more playful and dramatic fashion, better suited to creative problem solving and breaking down schisms in the community. Another crucial element is the freedom participants have to change the rules in any way they wish. It was fascinating listening to Saul describe how groups’ energy changes after they start to do this. it would be interesting to study whether such an experience has any impact on the individual’s engagement with the democratic system subsequently. I think many of us will now be joining in the next “Who Wants to Be” event on 7 November. [...]