User guidelines for the repository of Collective Intelligence Tools and Case Studies

The Repository (https://coldigitkp.pory.app) presents collective intelligence tools (CI-tools) with examples of long-term implementation or of short-term projects using the tools. It is developed by the NORFORSK-funded project COLDIGIT.

This page provides background information and guidelines for using the repository.

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Terms of use

Content in the COLDIGIT portal is governed by the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license (CC BY 4.0) (the “Creative Commons License”).

This license enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, so long as attribution is given to the creator. The license allows for commercial use. CC BY includes the following elements:

BY: credit must be given to the creator.

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Purpose and target audience

One of the main objectives of the research project COLDIGIT is to understand how technology can increase Collective Intelligence (CI) in the public sector and contribute to strengthen democratic processes. With this research topic in mind, we have collected and analysed digital tools developed and/or used to create CI, as well as applications of these tools in real contexts and in pilots. The tools that were specifically developed to guide a democratic process or part of the process are of particular interest. We however also included some tools developed for general social interaction and collaboration that were used in the context of democratic processes.

Several target groups were envisioned for the repository: municipalities, NGOs, political consultancies and academic institutions. These groups have different needs that have influenced the design of the repository. Municipalities, a primary target group for the repository, are foreseen to have a need for mature digital tools and approaches. Researchers may rather be interested in new/emerging technology or tools that apply existing technology in new and innovative ways. The repository covers therefore aspects related to pragmatic objectives (e.g., threshold for participation and tool maturity) and aspects related to epistemic objectives (e.g., AI technology and VR technology).

Sources used for building the repository

COLDIGIT has made use of several sources to populate the repository. The primary sources are previous knowledge from the project partners, participation databases (Participedia, OECD, European Digital, CrowdLaw, People Powered, CivicTech, Involve, Public Good App House) and reports and evaluations (most of them developed earlier by the project partner Nesta). Other sources were used to complement the findings: Internet searches/snowballing webpages, digital democracy networks and academic sources using search tools such as Google scholar and Scopus.

Note that more or less information about the tools and case studies is provided in these different sources, leading to an uneven level of details in the description of tools and repositories. Additionally, well-established technologies are more widely used than emerging technologies, which might have created an unbalance between the categories of tools.

Using the repository

Scroll in the web page to get an overview of the tools. 20 tools are first uploaded to the page. Click on “View More” to upload 20 additional tools.

To read more about a tool and possible examples of their implementation, click on the card for the tool.

About search

The search function supports searching for a string in the name of the tool, its description or a tag associated to the tool. However, due to functional limitations, search can only be made on an exact series of words. For example:

  • A search on social media platform generates a result if the description of a tool contains these three words in the same order. However, this result may not be found when using the terms social platform or media social platform.
  • A search on active generates results if this word or other words containing the string active (e.g., interactive) are contained in the name or description of tools.
  • A search on Italian generates results if this language tag is used for tools.

Note that

  • Capitalization does not matter.
  • You should not use quotation marks (i.e., “”)
  • Logical expressions are not supported.

About filtering

Filtering allows to select tools associated with particular tags. Filters are available for a number of categories, as depicted in the left column. The description of categories is provided in our Glossary. For example, you may filter on particular co-creation methods.

If you select two or more filters under a category, tools tagged by at least one of the selected filters will be displayed (i.e., a logical inclusive OR applies within a category). For example,

  • setting the filters “Smart contracts” and “AI agents” in the category “functions enabled in the CI-tool” will display tools tagged by “Smart contracts” and tools tagged by “AI agents”.

If you select filters under two or more categories, tools tagged under both categories will be displayed (i.e., a logical inclusive AND applies between categories). For example,

  • setting a filter “Gamification” in the category “functions enabled in the CI-tool” and “Finnish” in the category “language” will display tools that are both tagged by “Gamification” and “Finnish”.

Data Downloads

Please click the following links to download the raw data.

Link to complementary repositories

You may wish to look at repositories we have extracted information from. These contain other types of information (e.g., case studies that do not make use of digital tools or digital tools not used in the public sector):