[community] FW: Remunerating advisory committees

[John D. Willis]

Hi everyone

I worked for 15 years in opinion polling and market research, an industry in which it has long been standard practice to compensate individuals for their time.  Lately, with the onset of online surveying, this ‘compensation’ has been interpreted to things like entry into a sweepstakes, but for any significant time - focus groups, journaling, mystery shopping, depth interviews, etc — the codes of conduct in Canada, USA and Europe are unequivocal: people’s time is valuable, regardless of their skills, so they should be financially compensated.

As a I transitioned to my career as a designer I was somewhat shocked by the degree to which this industry does not always see things this way. The startup culture and ubiquitous over-use of the concept of ‘crowdsourcing’ lead some to believe the resource of human insight is free. Add to this the reality that people with unique accessibility experience are much more likely to be economically marginalized, and the issue of compensation in design becomes, for me, quite fundamental. Enterprises need to take this onboard and educate their investors, funders, and partners - it’s a normal part of doing business.

So I’m very glad the  conversation is alive and well on this list serve!

thanks for listening…
j


John D. Willis | CE, CMRP, MDes 
Design & Innovation in Public Services

LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/tojohnw
Twitter: @TOjohnw

> On Jul 16, 2018, at 2:40 PM, Yarrow, Alexandra <Alexandra.Yarrow at biblioottawalibrary.ca> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Given the trend of consultation fatigue, I am wondering:
> 
> 
> ·       if any of you have an accessibility or inclusion-based advisory committee (or a similar advisory committee comprising members of the disability community), and if so,
> 
> ·       do you remunerate them (stipend, expenses or in any other way)?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> 
> Alexandra Yarrow B.A. Hon., M.L.I.S.
> Manager, Alternative Services | Chef de service, Services parallèles
> Bibliothèque publique d'Ottawa Public Library
> 120 av. Metcalfe, Ottawa ON K1P 5M2
> tél 613-580-2424 x32312
> cell 613-818-4918
> www.BiblioOttawaLibrary.ca<http://www.biblioottawalibrary.ca>
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