Bring your Tablet!
Technology and innovation were at the forefront of the July 24th and 26th Choices Workshop in Cary, North Carolina. We built a custom online survey within the Imagine Cary website – where, for the first time in Cary, participants could provide input during the workshop using their tablet device. While only about a dozen of the more than 100 participants choose to use the online version during the workshop, we received plenty of positive feedback. The online surveys will be collecting input through the end of August. The town staff will also use the website to record paper forms from the workshop so all the input is in one place.
The web-based format was one of two design challenges involved with the workshop. The other was helping participants navigate through a large amount of material and provide meaningful input on important questions within a two-hour time period. The self-paced workshop was set in four stations focused on each of these topics. Each color-coded station featured background information, a set of general questions and a set of policy options for participants to evaluate using paper forms.
Over the past year, the Town of Cary has been evaluating the community input and technical analysis conducted in the first phase of Imagine Cary, the planning effort to create a community plan. It is now time for citizens to make choices that will help determine what Cary will be like in the year 2040.
The Choices Workshops focused on exploring the community’s future choices and needs regarding housing, employment locations, commercial and shopping centers, and the city’s developing southwest area.
