Incorporating Local Knowledge into Joint Fact Finding

At its core, joint fact finding (JFF) is about bringing knowledge—usually scientific or technical— into the policy arena in the most effective way possible. The JFF approach assumes that better decisions can be made when value judgments are informed by science. Therefore, much of the focus of JFF is around knowledge produced by experts, or information provided by the scientific community. This focus is justified; utilizing scientific investigations in public decisions is critical. However, there is another source of information that must also be included in decision making: local knowledge. The literature is filled with stories in which non-experts have made large contributions to the identification and understanding of environmental problems. The goal of this paper is to analyze examples of lay knowledge in the policy arena to further the development of a working model of JFF.