National Academies Press: OpenBook

Practices for Online Public Involvement (2019)

Chapter: Appendix F - Glossary of Terms

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Suggested Citation:"Appendix F - Glossary of Terms." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Practices for Online Public Involvement. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25500.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix F - Glossary of Terms." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Practices for Online Public Involvement. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25500.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix F - Glossary of Terms." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Practices for Online Public Involvement. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25500.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix F - Glossary of Terms." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Practices for Online Public Involvement. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25500.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix F - Glossary of Terms." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Practices for Online Public Involvement. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25500.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix F - Glossary of Terms." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Practices for Online Public Involvement. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25500.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix F - Glossary of Terms." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Practices for Online Public Involvement. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25500.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix F - Glossary of Terms." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2019. Practices for Online Public Involvement. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25500.
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Page 154

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

F-1 Blog: A regularly updated website or a feature of a website that contains articles, hyperlinks, images, video, and/or other media about a particular topic. Blogs are often informal in tone. The word blog may refer to the website or website feature as a whole, or to a single article. Crowd mapping: In the context of public involvement, crowd mapping is the collection of geographically based public input or comment regarding a particular issue or project. Often- times, crowd mapping is facilitated using an online platform. For example, to improve city bus routes, members of the public are asked to visit an online, interactive map of the city where they can place dots on the locations that they frequently travel to or from. Digital divide: The digital divide refers to barriers regarding technology implementation due to particular demographics having higher or lower computer or technological skills than the rest of the population usually due to age, income, or accessibility reasons. Digital newsletter/publication: An electronic communication, usually distributed via email, containing news or information on the activities of an agency or an organization (or on a par- ticular project) that is sent regularly to members/constituents or other people who are interested in staying updated. Discussion forum: An online platform that allows users to create or comment on prompts that center around a common topic. Users can also respond to comments made by other users. The administrator of the discussion forum can set guidelines for comments and prompts, moderate the content, and decide who is allowed to access and participate in the forum. Face-to-face or traditional outreach: Public participation that does not utilize online-based outreach tools to involve people and/or collect their feedback is face-to-face or traditional out- reach. This may include brochure or flyer mailings, phone calls, newspaper ads, and face-to-face interaction such as public meetings, in-person surveys, outreach tables at community events, and so forth. Keep in mind that there is a fair amount of overlap between online and traditional outreach strategies, and they are often used together to supplement one another. Informational videos: Video content produced by a public agency (such as a state department of transportation) that provides information on a particular issue relevant to the work of that agency, or provides context/background on a particular project, such as a transportation infra- structure project. Mobile application or “app”: A website or downloadable program designed for optimal use on mobile devices. Websites and programs are often designed differently for mobile devices like smart phones or tablets due to their smaller screens and touchscreen capabilities. Online public information: Online public information is a one-way process in which an agency disseminates information. Examples of online public information include activities A P P E N D I X F Glossary of Terms

F-2 Practices for Online Public Involvement such as tweeting information about a road closure, distributing press releases or public service announcements, or posting the location, date, and time of a public meeting to social media or the agency website. Online public involvement: Online public involvement (also known as online public participa- tion or engagement) is a two-way process, facilitated using internet-based tools, of incorporating the interests and concerns of the public in problem solving or decision-making (International Association for Public Participation, 2014). Examples of online public involvement include using social media or an agency website to collect public feedback on a planned project, allowing constituents to submit comments online before a public meeting, distributing an online survey, or releasing a mobile application through which users can submit concerns or issues. Online public involvement is different from online public information. While the former creates a two-way communication channel between an agency and the public, the latter is the one-way dissemination of information. Online public meeting: An online public meeting takes place through a web-based platform. Though the capabilities of these platforms differ, in general, participants and organizers can participate in two-way communication as a group, either through text or video messaging, emphasize and build on important ideas generated by the discussion, as well as organize and assign follow-up tasks. Online scenario building or testing: This web-based platform enables the public to view, create, and compare simulations of policy, plan, project, or program outcomes. Online trolling: A slang term that has entered common usage, online trolling is the activity of posting off-topic or inflammatory messages, images, or other content on an online platform with the goal of disrupting the conversation or provoking a negative response. Plan: An official document that details how resources will be allocated to reach a goal. Plans may be updated to reflect changing priorities or availability of resources. State DOTs produce plans for how investments will be made in the transportation system. Policy: A standard or regulation governing transportation that is set forth by a government agency. Program: A set of projects and policies implemented over time with the purpose of furthering an overarching vision or goal. Project: A set of tasks that leads to a clear, measurable outcome. Projects can vary widely in size and scope and therefore may take place in the short term or over many years. In the context of a state DOT, a project often entails the planning, design, and construction of infrastructure, such as a bridge or the widening of a road. Public involvement plan: An official document that outlines the processes that an agency follows to fulfill federal, state, local, and/or internal requirements for involving the public in decision making. Social media: Websites and other internet-based programs that allow a network of users to create unique, online profiles through which they can communicate information and other media with each other privately or publicly. Social media campaign: The use of online platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and so forth to facilitate a coordinated and concerted effort to reach members of the public to gather input to accomplish a specific goal. For example, a social media campaign may advertise a series of in-person outreach events, encourage users to take an online survey, or educate the public about a particular issue.

Glossary of Terms F-3 Tabling: A public outreach strategy in which staff are present at community events or gather- ings to promote, answer questions, and hand out materials or literature and engage the public face-to-face. Video streaming of public meetings: Video streaming of public meetings involves airing the live video of a public meeting on a website so that the public can view the meeting without attending in person. Web 2.0: A term for the shift in internet use in the early 2000s from information dissemination to communication and collaboration. Websites of this kind are characterized by their ease of use, compatibility with other services and products, and emphasis on user-generated content. Website: A group of World Wide Web pages usually containing hyperlinks to each other and made available online by an individual, company, educational institution, government, or organization.

Abbreviations and acronyms used without definitions in TRB publications: A4A Airlines for America AAAE American Association of Airport Executives AASHO American Association of State Highway Officials AASHTO American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials ACI–NA Airports Council International–North America ACRP Airport Cooperative Research Program ADA Americans with Disabilities Act APTA American Public Transportation Association ASCE American Society of Civil Engineers ASME American Society of Mechanical Engineers ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials ATA American Trucking Associations CTAA Community Transportation Association of America CTBSSP Commercial Truck and Bus Safety Synthesis Program DHS Department of Homeland Security DOE Department of Energy EPA Environmental Protection Agency FAA Federal Aviation Administration FAST Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act (2015) FHWA Federal Highway Administration FMCSA Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration FRA Federal Railroad Administration FTA Federal Transit Administration HMCRP Hazardous Materials Cooperative Research Program IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ISTEA Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 ITE Institute of Transportation Engineers MAP-21 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (2012) NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASAO National Association of State Aviation Officials NCFRP National Cooperative Freight Research Program NCHRP National Cooperative Highway Research Program NHTSA National Highway Traffic Safety Administration NTSB National Transportation Safety Board PHMSA Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration RITA Research and Innovative Technology Administration SAE Society of Automotive Engineers SAFETEA-LU Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (2005) TCRP Transit Cooperative Research Program TDC Transit Development Corporation TEA-21 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (1998) TRB Transportation Research Board TSA Transportation Security Administration U.S. DOT United States Department of Transportation

Practices for O nline Public Involvem ent N CH RP Synthesis 538 TRB TRA N SPO RTATIO N RESEA RCH BO A RD 500 Fifth Street, N W W ashington, D C 20001 A D D RESS SERV ICE REQ U ESTED N O N -PR O FIT O R G . U .S. PO STA G E PA ID C O LU M B IA , M D PER M IT N O . 88 ISBN 978-0-309-48041-3 9 7 8 0 3 0 9 4 8 0 4 1 3 9 0 0 0 0

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TRB’s National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Synthesis 538: Practices for Online Public Involvement summarizes current practices regarding online public participation strategies being used by state departments of transportation (DOTs), as well as explores the effectiveness of using these strategies and tools.

Online public participation methods offer agencies the potential for expanded participation and also present new challenges and demand new thinking about the appropriate mix of techniques in a public participation program, communication protocols, staffing and skill requirements, and how best to integrate emerging online engagement tools with traditional face-to-face methods such as public meetings.

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