Practical Action Consulting - 2 Nine experiences of democratising technology

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2 Nine experiences of democratising technology

In the diverse experiences described below, different individuals and organisations have adopted a variety of roles to bring about what can broadly be termed the 'democratisation of technology'. Each account begins with a brief summary of these contrasting roles.

2.1 A major UK medical research charity brings non-specialist carers into the decision-making process about how it spends its research funds.

In the early 1990s, the two-million-pound annual research programme of the Alzheimer's Society focused on the puzzles scientists wanted to solve, rather than on the needs of the Society's thousands of members. Lynne Ramsey was one such member. A prison inspector from South London, she cares for someone with dementia. As a fundraiser, she wanted to know whether the money she raised for the Society was producing useful results.

The research funds, she learnt, were awarded by 'peer review', a standard procedure in scientific research. Applicants submitted their proposals to a panel of experts who assessed only their scientific rationale. The Society was therefore funding research without taking account of the extent to which it would benefit people with dementia and their carers.

In 1998 the Society started to transform the way it funded its medical research. Scientists applying for funds were required to provide a jargon-free description of their proposed research and the possible benefit to people with dementia. The applications were then assessed by Ramsey and her fellow members of the society's Quality Research in Dementia (QRD) network, who rated each project application on a scale of one to ten. Those with the highest scores were then included in the next stage of decision-making.

The citizen-led nature of this research funding process comes from the combination of the QRD's ranking scheme together with an extended peer-review process: formal meetings attended not ...

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