Participation and model-building: Lessons learned from the bukittinggi workshop

Authors: Vanclay, Jerome; Haggith, Mandy; Colfer, Carol

Source: Small-scale Forestry, Volume 2, Number 2, May 2003 , pp. 135-154(20)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

FLORES (the Forest Land Oriented Resource Envisioning System) was initially constructed by 50 people during a multidisciplinary workshop in Bukittinggi, Sumatra, in 1999. It proved that a model of a complex system could be constructed in a participatory way by a diverse team; that it could be done with a graphically-based package such as Simile; and that the resulting model could remain reasonably accessible to all participants, and could run on an ordinary notebook computer. Many useful insights can be gained through building such a model, and subsequent experience has demonstrated that modelling in this way can foster continuing interdisciplinary collaboration. Participants founded the FLORES Society, a loose collective open to all researchers interested in pursuing the development and use of such models. The Society conducts an e-mail discussion group on FLORES@cgnet.com (subscription requests to JV anclay@scu.edu.au).

Keywords: collaborative model-building; workshop facilitation; simulation modelling; adaptive management; FLORES

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11842-003-0012-8

Publication date: 2003-05-01