Democs

Young people in Estonia playing Democs.

Democs (Deliberative Meeting of Citizens) is a discussion tool developed by the New Economics Foundation to help ordinary people discover, discuss and decide about complex political issues.  Democs comes in the form of a conversation kit which breaks down all the key points about a topic into discrete information cards. Players sort through the cards, choose the ones that they think are important and identify the themes that link them. At the end of the process, participants are asked how they would like policy in this area to work.

The Who Sees What? Democs kit has been designed in consultation with leading experts on computer security, data protection, healthcare and research. It contains information about:

• Details of how the  system for electronic patient records will work
• The benefits of electronic records for patients and the NHS
• The risks to patient privacy
• The safeguards that will try to keep the system secure
• The way that patient records can help research

Democs ‘games’ are played by 6-8 people and take up to an hour and a half. Because all the information needed is on the cards, anyone can organise a Democs game and play it at home, at work or even down the pub! When the kit is launched this Autumn, you’ll be able to request a hard copy of the kit free of charge, or download it and print it out and run your own game. Afterwards, you can send us your results so we can include them in the survey.

You can download or order a free copy of the Democs game via our Get Involved page . If you have any questions about the project or the game then why not send us an email.