Naming
Before a group of people can work together on a common problem, they must have a shared sense of what that problem is. Before a community can take up a course of action, the issue needs to be framed in a genuine way that is relevant to people’s concerns.
Framing issues in a way that reflects people’s closely held principles encourages citizen participation in the democratic process and makes them more eager to join the conversation than if they believe the “powers-that-be” are in charge, and are wrong.
When citizens deliberate about an issue and when a community has a habit of asking citizens to make choices, the directions that are chosen often are better, with a legitimacy that simply doesn’t exist otherwise, and citizens take ownership of problems. Learning to frame issues in public terms can help revive citizen participation.
When a group of citizens sits down to "name" an issue, participants may use a number of methodologies and processes to identify the "wicked problem" they are trying to address (and will subsequently frame into three or more "approaches." Although technically part of the later "framing" process (used to elicit comments that will be grouped into "approaches" to the issue) the group may employ brainstorming, combined with background research, and may list items for a "concerns" exercise that helps to ascertain not just what participants are concerned about, but also why they are concerned. A number of strategies may be utilized in order to put the issue in the best possible "name" so the framing process can begin, and the order in which these strategies are used may be flexible, organic, and recursive.