Understanding Wicked Problems in Public Policy: The Role of Play and Participation

I know what you're thinking wonstar that girl's never getting a job in government and you know what you're probably right

why is that well it turns out that my playful tone just doesn't properly match the sober affection best suited for the

world's most wicked problems now you may not have heard of wicked problems and that's okay but it's how we talk about

challenges in policy there's Social Challenges that are extremely difficult to solve and resistant to resolution

we're solving one aspect of the problem inherently unravels others in this way they're also not very cool problems like

oh my God that problem is so wicked or hey Society where'd you get that Wicked problem so we've got problems more than

99 of them and lots of them are wicked from poverty to Health Care the environment nuclear weapons education

and Rob Ford and you've got me with vacillating levels of seriousness and over there

government which frankly takes itself a bit too seriously and yet Paul policym is a sort of game it's one where we try

to make Society better and get things done in fact it's a four player Pursuit refereed by the media where the public

service NOS experts and the private sector jostle for power and influence just like this and they jostle so

intensely that they Overlook the public who watches from the side lines that's right public policy keeps forgetting

about the public by the way that's you and if you want to be a player in the process

by all means but your moves are few you could protest write a letter make a deputation attend a consultation or

tweet passive aggressively the process forces you to be reactive not

proactive so where do we look for some policy style inspiration imagine that the City of

Toronto asked you to help allocate the municipal budget a city in Brazil Porto algra has been doing just that since

1989 or what if the political party that you support crowdsourced their election platform asking you to shape and inform

their priorities hold the phone is there place for such Tom Foolery in something as serious as rigorous and as

important as public policy there can be and what you need to know is this get your notebooks out you're

going to want to write this down somebody zoom in on me there are two P's in public

policy there's a pee in public and there's a p in policy but that's not what I mean I want

to explain that there are actually two kinds of policy there's big p policy and there's small P policy big p is the

articulation of a course of action that's intended to influence it's more formal and typically regulated big p is

uh bills and laws and acts and is by no means Child's Play but that doesn't mean we can't play around with it last year

Iceland rolled the dice and they crowdsourced their constitution small P small p is the

articulation of a standard it's less formal typically unregulated and lots of small P Innovation happens thanks to the

Ingenuity of ordinary people think of something like the rocket radar app a privately developed application that

lets you know when the next street car or bus is coming down to the minute that was made possible by the government

practice of open data another cool example is how some walk-in clinics or doctors will now text you when it's

finally your turn sparing you that mind-numbing weight these are user-led improvements to

public processes that make things better for everyone and that's exactly the same vision that drives big p policy change

this guy small P small p is a Sandbox for the public good and it's where we can start to get in the ring with those

Wicked problems now what else is going on in the ring last year these random computer Gamers solved an AIDS research

problem that had been stumping scientists for 15 years using an online game called fold it it

took the gamers 3 weeks this is an example of how the public has a place when those experts are spinning their

wheels in 2007 Americans played the alternate reality game world without oil the simulation helped players imagine

what a peak oil crisis might be like which in turn helped players engineer Solutions what I like about this example

is that it wasn't mandated by government the public made their place and the result has obvious benefits for the

state I said there were two P's in public policy and I want a third play and should we proactively

just play around with problems games aren't new I know that but what is new is the notion that there is a link

between the elements of games and widespread productive participation in policymaking in Canada we're ignoring

the merits of gamification crowdsourcing and Mass colle collaboration and what I'm endorsing is a brave new policy

world that's more inclusive experimental and daring and more small P can be the Catalyst we need for big p to stand up

and take note of new hot ways for getting done policy makers I haven't forgotten

about you don't think I wrote my talk thinking you wouldn't be here or watching online and can we give it up

for people watching online from work yes you guys I triple dog dare you to come

out and play but first I need you to recognize that there is a serious place for play in policy and as for the rest

of you policy Spectators you can be an extraordinary source of surprising solutions to our most pressing and yes

even Wicked problems but there is only one one way to find out ladies and gentlemen your move it's the

end thank you