Pre-Planning

Pre-planning

There are a few first steps that can be completed as soon as possible.  IRB approval should be first on your list. CNS-ASU will acquire  irb_approval_2012.pdf  for the Futurescape City Tours, but individual partners will abide by their universities requirements for internal review. Individual researchers will need to be added to the CNS IRB, which will involve completing the CITI training and supplying CNS-ASU with proper documentation. To view the IRB forms click here: futurescape_city_tours-_application_for_exempt_research.doc.

Approximately two months prior to the orientation session, recruitment efforts should commence. CNS-ASU produced a  fct_recruitment_flyer that was physically posted at community gathering places and circulated via email to dominant community organizations. A partial list of venues used to publicize the tours includes:

• City of Phoenix (Village) Community Hubs
• Mesa Arts
• SES Digest
• Science Museum
Phoenix
• Libraries
• ASU Campus
• Phoenix Community Alliance
• Valley AZ Interfaith
• AZ Town Hall
• ASU School of P.A.
• MCC
Community of Practice
• New Times
• Sustainability Digest
• State Press
• HeatSync Labs
• Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture
• Arizona Historical Society
• Terry Goddard (former Mayor and former Attorney General)
• ASU Farmers Market
• Greater Phoenix Rising (MAG and GPEC)
• Downtown Phoenix Journal
• Social networking Sites (Facebook, Twitter, Couch Surfing)

The flyer directed interested individuals to an application that we created using Survey Monkey. The survey collected demographic information, as well as information about the individuals’ civic involvement, knowledge of nanotechnology, hobbies, interests, and employment. Partner sites will log into Survey Monkey using CNS-ASU’s account. The CNS User account name is: CNS2012. The Password is: CNSCNS2012. Inside Survey Monkey you will find a survey designed for your site. You will insert the link to this survey into the email invitations and any printed flyers that you use for recruitment.

After about three weeks we had received approximately 60 applicants. We were then able to transfer the survey data into an Excel spread sheet to do an easy comparison of the information we received.

Selection of the Participants: When selecting 15-17 participants, we sought to create a balance in the group in terms of age, education, income, gender and ethnicity.  While we explored the notion of ‘Competent Outsiders’ (See Feinstein 2010 "Salvaging science literacy") and considered recruiting highly involved civic leaders, we decided to prioritize demographic balance instead. We noticed that many of our applicants were those who regularly engage in civic life. For a deeper discussion of representation and more thoughts about who to engage in public engagement exercises, see Sarah Davies  on_representation_fct_cns.pdf.

We sent either letters of  acceptance.doc or  rejection.doc to each participant. For those people we did not select, we included information which encouraged them to participate in other CNS public engagement activities, including attending our final exhibition.  We invited them to be added to CNS’s public list serv as well.  

During the pre-planning stage, we secured rooms for the 1^st and 3^rd sessions as well as a meeting place for the beginning of the tour.. We tried to secure rooms that had windows, movable tables and chairs, a projector, and wall space. We chose rooms that were located in ASU’s downtown campus and that were conveniently located to public transportation and parking. We initiated other logistical planning including ordering food, reimbursement tickets for public transportation and/or parking, and reservations for the gallery space for the final exhibition.  We tried to keep sustainability in mind as we chose restaurants and locations (for instance, we provided reusable cups and filtered water instead of plastic bottles of water and we chose local restaurants and cafes who prioritized sustainability).

Here is Carlo's powerpoint presentation about recruitment and pre-Session I planning from the April training.