As a conversational process, the World Café is an innovative yet simple methodology for hosting conversations about questions that matter. These conversations link and build on each other as people move between groups, cross-pollinate ideas, and discover new insights into the questions or issues that are most important in their life, work, or community. As a process, the World Café can evoke and make visible the collective intelligence of any group, thus increasing people's capacity for effective action in pursuit of common aims.
Science cafés are live events that involve a face-to-face conversation with a scientist about current science topics. They are open to everyone, and take place in casual settings like pubs and coffeehouses.
The nLab is a collaborative wiki which has grown out of the desire (I, II) of an on-line community communicating via the weblog The n-Category Café of people interested in discussion of expository and research nature about mathematics, physics and philosophy in the light of category theory and higher category theory (the "n" in "nLab") to have a place for development (the "Lab" in "nLab") and indexed archivation of the ideas and concepts that were, are and will be subject of or that developed out of the discussion at the weblog.
While dialog and deliberation techniques (America Speaks, Deliberative Juries, Open Space, World Café, etc) all have important roles to play in increasing public participation, their proponents may benefit from considering some additional working assumptions and principles.