ParticipateDB

From the about page: Darzin is an online stakeholder management software that helps "governments and companies of all sizes understand, structure and implement great stakeholder engagement processes,” and assists with "designing new processes/projects, fixing up existing data, training, coaching, designing for effectiveness and evaluation.” Darzin fulfills this through three main objectives: Make the process of data management and distribution more efficient. Extract knowledge from qualitative data. Present information in formats easily understood by decision makers. Functions include maintaining "up-to-date contact lists; sending out information to stakeholders; capturing feedback from all sources; tracking actions and complaints; and easy reporting.” More information about Darzin’s features can be found here . Darzin is based in Sydney, Australia.

Dialogzentrale (“online dialogue hub” in English) is a citizen participation tool that allows for both single and multiple-phase participation processes. Dialogzentrale is built on the CMS , Drupal. Its expansive modular toolkit includes crowdmapping, idea crowdsourcing, document annotation, participatory budgeting, and ask-your-mayor. On the platform, citizens can contribute suggestions, rate, pose questions and comment on one or more topics. The mapped-based module enables participation for geo-referenced procedures. In early 2017, “opendoors,” another e-participation product of Zebralog (the firm responsible for Dialogzentrale’s development), was integrated into Dialogzentrale. The tool has been used in a number of German city projects; of which include, Berliner Mitte and participatory budgeting in Unterschleißheim . Zebralog is located in Germany with Berlin and Bonn offices. Zebralog was founded in 2003 and launched Dialogzentrale in 2014.

Future Dialog is a simple and easy community engagement platform. The platform uses community-branded apps and web-versions for communities to produce questionnaires, crowd-sourced pinpoint mapping, and submit ideas to improve communities. Future Dialog´s engagement solutions enable information sharing, feedback collection, digital voting and formulation of new initiatives. The platform also offers web-based content management and a dashboard for analytics. Community applications developed by Future Dialog have been used in a wide variety of contexts. For instance, the city of Liminka has utilized the platform to conduct surveys and solicit feedback on city-hosted events, public transportation and other public services. The political party Social Democrats of Finland uses the platform to engage and understand how the electorate feels about various topics. Feel free to read more about it here Future Dialog Oy Ltd. was founded in 2015 and is based in Helsinki, Finland. Introductory video

OpenDCN (Open Deliberative Community Networks) is an open-source collection of deliberative spaces, each with specific tools to foster discussion: Community space: aimed at fostering public dialog on civic issues and facilitating the rise of mutual trust between participants through free discussions; Deliberation space: fosters the creation of a shared vision position among the partcipants, i.e., to finalize a deliberative process in order to produce a well defined outcome. Deliberation space makes up the core of the participatory system; participatory processes consist of a series of deliberation stages, each relying on a different participatory modality and involving different participants. Personal space: Manage user profile, relationships and personal objects of each user. Each space is equipped with the following tools to facilitate the participation process: • Informed Discussion: an enriched forum with facilities for sharing information resources to support the discussion and for finalizing the discussion by producing, asynchronously and collaboratively, a summary document. • Problems and Proposals: collect constructive proposals that meet at least a problem previously reported by others or by the same participant. • Certified Citizen Consultation: polls among participants, who choose among alternatives, thanks to a variety of polling modalities; Certified Consultation is suitable when the opinion of a large number of people must be heard. • On-Line Ordered Meeting: structures synchronous on-line debate finalized to making decisions. It can be seen as an advanced chat where times and modes of interaction are organized by a set of business-meeting rules adopted to support a fair decision-making discussion. This tool is useful to support limited groups of people who have to work together synchronously on very specific issues or on bound domains. • Agenda: designed for outlining and managing the deliberative process, as well as for coordinating all the deliberation tools associated with a certain stage of the process. Events calendars, brainstorming, e-petitions, and social mapping are among OpenDCN’s eclectic modular toolbox. For the full set of tools and detailed explanation of each tool’s function, consult the website . A demo version of the tool can be found “here”: http://demo.opendcn.org/. OpenDCN has been used in numerous Italian municipalities and is based in Milan, Italy. It was developed jointly by the Foundation RCM ( FRCM ) and the Civic Informatics Laboratory ( LIC ).

Opinion Suite was Delib’s e-consultation software package for local authorities and public sector bodies. According to the blog article announcing Opinion Suite, the platform hosted the following modules: A consultation finder database – developed in for and conjunction with Bristol City Council, the acknowledged leader in this field. An online survey tool – currently being used by a number of government departments and public bodies, now being rolled out for local authority clients Opinion Tracker – a system for tracking and analysing conversation on any topic around the web, gaining genuine meaning from the conversations people are already having about you. Opinion Suite was an open-source product that could be downloaded, installed, edited and run for free. In 2010, the platform was replaced by Delib as Citizen Space . More information on Citizen Space can be found in the ParticipateDB tool entry .

Stickyworld is an online consultation software that aims to facilitate community and stakeholder engagement by building participation portals that can disseminate information, collect feedback, and track site engagement. Administrators can publish time-limited consultations, workshops, or design reviews, and invite a private or public audience to provide input on images, slideshows, maps, virtual tours and videos. The software can be used for a diverse array of digital engagement activities including: user forums, 360 virtual open days, 360 virtual site visits, planning consultations, place-making forums, visual forums, Twitter walkabouts, brainstorming sessions, and drawing reviews. Learn about each case of usage here . A few key features: - Transparent conversations: visitors reply, share, flag or like each other’s comments. - Registration choices: remain anonymous as a Public Visitor or sign up with Facebook. - Customization, discussion moderation, and report generation for administrators. Introductory Video Stickyworld has been used in a number of city portals in the UK, including Kent, Canterbuty, and Westerham. Stickyworld was founded in 2010, having evolved from a collaboration app utilizing virtual post-it notes. The company is based in London, UK.

Twilio is a cloud communications platform that enables software developers to make and receive calls and send text messages globally using its web service APIs (programmable SMS , voice, video, chat, fax). From the Wikipedia profile: “Twilio uses Amazon Web Services to host telephony infrastructure and provide connectivity between HTTP and the public switched telephone network ( PSTN ) through its APIs.” From the about page : “Twilio powers the future of business communications, enabling phones, VoIP, and messaging to be embedded into web, desktop, and mobile software. We take care of the messy telecom hardware and expose a globally available cloud API that developers can interact with to build intelligent & complex communications systems. As your app’s usage scales up or down, Twilio automatically scales with you.” A comprehensive list of Twilio products can be found on the Our Products page . See Twilio Docs for its API references. Twilio was founded in 2007 and is currently based in San Francisco, CA. The company also has offices in Bogotá, London, Dublin, Mountain View, Madrid, Tallinn, Munich, Berlin, Sweden, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Vox Populi (Latin for “voice of the people”) is a community engagement tool that allows administrators to invite citizens to share their ideas through interactive 3D models of the community. The software is comprised of three modules: - Survey tool: can be used with or without its mapping function. - Right-of-way editor: allows community members to generate their vision of streets and roads for transit improvement. - Online Public Information Centre ( PIC ): allows community members to view poster boards at live events, rate proposals, and tag and post comments to graphics or lines of text. City officials can track community engagement and identify gaps with Vox Populi’s dedicated dashboard for analytics. Vox Populi is being used in VoxWaterloo , an online portal to facilitate discussion on the city of Waterloo’s University Avenue Corridor project. As the project website explains: VoxWaterloo provides a visual and tactile way of exploring an urban setting in a three-dimensional model space to: - Mark locations and features that you consider important such as landmarks that need to be preserved, or issues that need to be addressed by your local government. - Share your ideas for civic improvements through suggestion cards/comment boxes, and design important urban assets such as roadways and public space A major feature of VoxWaterloo is the Right-of-Way editor. Simply put, a right-of-way or ROW refers to the width of an avenue, road or street from a private property line on one side of the ROW to a property line on the other side. One aspect of the Gateway project is to consider whether and how University Avenue reflects the corridor’s emerging brand as a centre for learning, discovery, innovation and entrepreneurship. Another aspect is to consider whether the Avenue functions as a safe and sustainable travel route for vehicle traffic as well as public transit users, cyclists, and pedestrians. The Right-of-Way Editor is a visioning tool that allows you to select a segment of University Avenue, and craft a vision that reflects how you believe private vehicle, freight, public transit, cycling and pedestrian traffic could be accommodated on a given road segment. Vidya, Vox Populi’s developer, was established in 2015. It is based in Kitchener, Canada.

Voxcitio is an online tool for citizen engagement and stakeholder management developed by Cork, Ireland-based Vconnecta Ltd. From the website: Voxcitio is a new breed of engagement software focused on building dynamic relationships. Stakeholders come in many forms; private entities, staff members, government organizations and, of course, the public. We work to allow you to manage all of these stakeholders in one dashboard. Used in public consultation projects, smart cities programs and for citizen engagement Voxcitio drives engagement with stakeholders large and small. Scaling one-to-one relations and creating dynamic feedback loops will help your project build consensus. Voxcitio software include functions for team and casework management, issue-tracking, analytics, database visualization and mobile app outreach. The built-in segmentation feature allows for advanced filtering of people by groups.

vTaiwan is a platform facilitating civic deliberation that involves both online and offline processes. The “v” represents “virtual.” Read more about vTaiwan’s in-person meeting procedure here . The platform is specifically focused on crafting legislation on digital issues at a country-wide level. For example, it has been used to consult the public on personal data protection, unmanned aerial vehicle, e-clinic, cyberbullying and most notably, the regulation of Uber in Taiwan. As of December 2017, vTaiwan has tackled 24 issues. Depending on the stage of the project, proposals on the digital platform are organized into 5 categories: Coming soon Opinion collection Draft proposal Send to the hospital Historical case From the website’s User Manual (translated): First, you may add “reasons” to the formulation of proposed laws or proposals for amendment in addition to the “content”, that is, all the factors that you should consider before making your proposal. "Reason" can be information, a case, or a concrete idea. If the source of the message can be attached is better, it will help the executive or other participants to understand your suggestion more easily. Second, we welcome inquiries on the topics discussed. For example, the text of the executive authorities is not clear enough, or it is time to discuss needs and hope that the executive can provide more information. Thirdly, if you simply agree with a suggestion, you can press “Like” instead of saying the same thing again. If you do not agree with a suggestion, or a description of the content, you can make suggestions or questions, but please avoid too much personal emotions, such as direct criticism or ridicule, it will not help your opinion was adopted. Discussions are monitored by a team of neutral moderators. vTaiwan was born out of the 2014 Sunflower Revolutions in Taiwan. It is currently run by Public Digital Innovation Space ( PDIS ), a group of coders, activists, legal experts and designers that was formed in 2016. The tool and project was created as a result of a g0v hackathon.