Participation and model-building: lessons learned from the Bukittinggi workshop
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.
Citation
Vanclay, J. K.; Haggith, M.; Pierce Colfer, C. J. Participation and model-building: lessons learned from the Bukittinggi workshop. Small-scale Forest Economics, Management and Policy (2003) 2 (2) 135-154.
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