Developing policies requires substantial and sophisticated argumentation - planned policies have to be justified in order to gain support from the members of political institutions, from stakeholders as well as from the general public throughout the whole policy process. In the phase of policy analysis and formulation, formal as well as informal consultations help to make all relevant voices heard. In recent years, the Internet and specific web applications have been used with some success to conduct such policy consultations (e.g., the European Commission's Your Voice in Europe platform).

The IMPACT project was started to further improve such deliberations. Its aim is to support the use of arguments in policy consultations with new Web-based software tools. By bridging the gap between formal models of argument and natural language policy deliberation, these tools will help to focus policy debate more strongly on the issues at stake and to provide specialists as well as ordinary citizens with powerful tools to gain an overview of a debate.

The Policy Argumentation Network is part of the project's effort to involve potential future users in the development process.

The project consortium consists of the following organizations:

• Fraunhofer Institute for Open Communication Systems, Berlin
  (coordinator, leader of workpackages on Policy Modelling; Management; Dissemination & Exploitation)
• Leibniz Center for Law, University of Amsterdam
  (leader of workpackage on Argument Reconstruction)
• University of Leeds
  (leader of workpackage on Argument Analysis, Tracking and Visualisation)
• University of Liverpool
  (leader of workpackage on Structured Consultation)
• User Interface Design, Ludwigsburg
  (leader of workpackage on Argumentation Toolbox Design, Architecture and Integration)
• Zebralog, Berlin
  (leader of workpackage on Requirements Analysis and Evaluation)

The project is a R&D project in the European Union's 7th Framework Programme on ICT for Governance and Policy Modelling.  For more information about the project and the partners involved, see the project's website: http://www.policy-impact.eu