AccountAbility wants the revision of its sustainability assurance standard, AA1000AS, to happen in as a collaborative way as possible. In order to maximize participation and leverage the synergies of collective knowledge it has partnered with openDemocracy, Sd3 and BISD to develop a wiki platform to make this a reality.

Tony Curzon-Price, CEO openDemocracy says, “Wikis and crowd-sourcing techniques are all about participation, openness and empowerment, but all within a framework that allows a coherent joint creation. This fits perfectly both the practical requirements of updating the AA1000AS standard and also the ethos of the standard itself. openDemocracy, an expert in collaborative creation projects, is very pleased to be a part of this exciting process.”

This platform has been designed to improve access to and the transparency of the standards process. At the same time it recognizes the established responsibilities of the AccountAbility Standards Technical Committee which has final responsibility for the text that will be published. As such they will be active participants in this wiki, both during open sessions and Technical Committee deliberations.

In the past, after making a draft standard available for open consultation, the Technical Committee would meet to prepare and agree on the final draft. Access to these meetings was limited to members and formal observers. The final deliberations of the Technical Committee will now also take place on the wiki platform so that there will be full transparency around their revisions and decisions.

More information: http://accountability.opendemocracy.net/aa1000/index.php/Main_Page