Charting the Course

Now that instruments are calibrated, you should be ready to start making your map. The map metaphor is particularly useful in this section as it explores identifying where you want to go and how you’re going to get there. And importantly, it explains how you’re going to talk to people about your trip when it’s all said and done.

There are many ways of evaluating a project, from hiring a professional external evaluator, collaborating with a university researcher, or simply documenting and measuring a process. Unfortunately, even though there is an increasing amount of pressure to represent outcomes of public engagement, and there are many research organizations devoted to evaluation, there are typically no additional resources available. But there are ways of identifying and measuring value that can be meaningful for hitting internal metrics of quality assurance as well as communicating with the public in the all important feedback loop discussed above.