368 Farm Ln
East Lansing, MI 48823
USA
Professor Michael Hoffman, School of Public Policy, Georgia Institute of Technology
Consensus Building on Wicked Problems on the Reflect! Platform
Wicked problems can be defined as problems that can be framed in a number of different ways, depending on varying interests, world-views, values, or differences regarding the scale on which people think the problem should be addressed. Decisions on wicked problems o?en lead to confusion when people do not understand that others look at the same problem from a completely different point of view, or to serious conflicts. This can be seen in debates on health care reform, globalization, or the design of new technologies. The talk will present the Reflect! platform which is currently developed to enable small teams of students to experience the challenges of wicked problems first hand, but also to guide them through a process that leads from attempts to define a wicked problem and performing a stakeholder analysis to collaborative consensus building.