For more details on the organization of the Citizens' Panel, see Loka Alert 4.2. The Pilot Citizens' Panel successfully demonstrated that non-expert American citizens can participate in technically complex public policy deliberations as effectively as their European counterparts. Presently Loka is talking with other organizations about future citizens' panels. The tradeoff for that scientific rigor is that at several million dollars the cost of a Fishkin process is an order of magnitude higher than for a consensus conference, and thus the occasions when it can conceivably be implemented are limited. Moreover, the participating citizens have less opportunity than does the lay panel in a consensus conference to become deeply immersed in complex issues, set their own agenda, deliberate thoroughly as a single group, and articulate conclusions in their own voices.
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