Whether you are a stakeholder, facilitator, agency official or student, this tool can help you understand and facilitate real-world public decision making processes. Using multimedia examples drawn from the California Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, the tool enables you to explore strategies for facilitating the different stages of collaborative decision making.

Click on TOPIC MAP in the upper right corner of the screen to see an index of topics covered in the site and navigate to specific areas. Click on the tool’s navigation arrows to follow the flow of a collaborative process from start to finish.  Or, focus directly on topics of interest by using the navigation bar at the top of the page. If you are facilitating a shorter process or want a high-level overview, you can select the “Short Process” option at the top of the page for a condensed version of the site content.  Bear in mind that collaborative decision making is an adaptive process. There is no one right way to design or facilitate such a process, and often the process is not as linear as the navigation bar suggests.

See the USER GUIDE for  an overview of the site, its uses, features, and tools.

This tool was developed by Professors Steven Yaffee and Julia Wondolleck and Graduate Research Assistants Nat Lichten, Julia Elkin, Sara Cawley, Rebecca Baylor and Christina Carlson, and made possible through the generous support of the McCance Family Foundation, Resources Legacy Fund Foundation and the Ecosystem Management Initiative at the University of Michigan. Site design services were provided by Don Hammond of Hammond Design and Mike Ludlum of Useful Solutions.  We welcome feedback that can help us improve the tool’s effectiveness. Please send comments to [email protected].