What is the ‘Collect input and feedback’ method?
Collecting input and feedback is the core participation method on the Go Vocal platform.
It allows you to:
Gather ideas or questions from residents (bottom‑up input).
Share options generated by your team and collect feedback (top‑down input).
Inputs can be displayed in two ways:
List view: A scrollable, filterable list of inputs (with options for voting, commenting, and sorting).
Map view: Inputs pinned to locations for geospatial context.
The method is fully customizable, from what you call inputs (“ideas,” “options,” “questions,” etc.), to how they’re collected, displayed, and sorted.
Choosing how to collect and display inputs
List view
Best for general idea collection, option feedback, and discussions.
Supports thumbs up/down voting and comments.
Ideal when location isn’t relevant.
Map view
Best for geographically specific input (e.g. urban planning, mobility).
Users pin ideas directly on a map.
Supports adding map layers for context (e.g. zones, infrastructure).
Important: The location question in the input form must remain enabled for map view to work. When you put the question on optional and users don’t fill in the location question, no pin on the map will appear.
Customizing the input experience
Choosing input terminology
Default name: Idea.
Alternatives: Option, Project, Question, Comment, Contribution.
Lets you phrase participation in the right tone (e.g. “Submit a question” vs. “Post an idea”).
Customizing the input form
Default fields:
Title and Description (always required, cannot be removed).
Image (optional).
Custom fields:
Add extra questions (visible to admins/project managers only).
Drag and drop text, images, or videos to add context before submission.
Fields only available for Proposals:
Cosponsorship & anonymity sections appear automatically if enabled.
Title & Description fields cannot be deleted or renamed (only annotated).
Setting rules and conditions (proposals only)
Voting threshold & timeline
Set how many votes a proposal needs to get an official response.
Choose how long (in days) residents have to reach the threshold (e.g. 90 days).
Pre‑screening (optional)
Requires admin approval before proposals appear on the platform.
Submissions stay in “Pre‑screening” status until approved or rejected.
Note: Only available on certain plans.
Cosponsorship (optional)
Require a certain number of cosponsors before a proposal goes public.
Cosponsors must have an account and accept the invitation.
Best paired with pre‑screening so proposals aren’t published prematurely.
User anonymity
Hide the author’s identity from other users, moderators, and admins.
Visibility and promotion
Navigation Bar: Pin your proposals project for quick access (max 5 pages allowed).
Homepage Highlight: Feature proposals prominently using the Homepage Builder.
Managing statuses
Automatic statuses (cannot be deleted)
Proposed: Default for all published ideas.
Threshold Reached: When enough votes are collected in time.
Expired: When the vote threshold isn’t reached within the deadline.
Pre‑screening: For ideas awaiting approval (if enabled).
Manual statuses
Ineligible: When an idea doesn’t meet criteria (no more votes allowed).
Answered: When you’re ready to provide an official response.
Admins can also create custom statuses via Settings → Input Statuses.
Controlling input and voting limits
Customisation options available:
Enable/disable:
Submitting posts
Commenting
Reacting (likes/dislikes)
Dislike settings:
Choose whether users can give negative feedback.
Vote limits:
You can set how many likes each participant may use.
Not currently supported:
Limiting the number of comments
Limiting the number of inputs
Limiting survey submissions beyond one per user
Note: For surveys, users can submit once per account. If access is open, they can submit multiple times anonymously.
What does assigning input mean?
Assigning input and ideas to colleagues allows you to distribute work across your team so that every idea, comment, or proposal gets timely follow‑up.
This feature:
Increases internal efficiency by making clear who is responsible for each item.
Ensures participants see their input processed quickly, which improves trust and encourages them to return.
Assignments apply to:
Ideas (via the Input Manager in each project)
Proposals (via the Proposals overview in the back‑end)
How to assign ideas/proposals to colleagues
Default assignee for ideas/proposals
By default, every new idea is assigned to:
The first project manager created for that project.
If there’s no project manager, the first platform administrator.
To change the default assignee:
Go to Project Settings → Access Rights tab.
Select a different administrator or project manager.
You can update this at any time.
Assigning individual ideas/proposals
Open the Input Manager for the project.
Reassign any idea to a specific colleague.
The new assignee receives an email notification and a platform notification immediately.
What does it mean to provide feedback and manage inputs?
Providing feedback and managing inputs keeps a project active, transparent, and trusted.
It combines front‑end actions (visible to participants) and back‑end actions (admin‑only for management and reporting).
Good input management means:
Acknowledging contributions with feedback or status updates.
Keeping participants informed by updating content and sharing results.
Moderating inappropriate content to maintain a safe space.
Collaborating internally by assigning tasks and inputs to colleagues.
Tip: Create a shared admin or project manager profile (e.g. participation@cityname.com) so colleagues can log in and manage content under a shared identity.
Responsibilities in managing inputs
What? | Visible to others? | Why it matters |
Assigning project managers | Yes | Distributes responsibilities across team members. |
Keeping participants up‑to‑date | Yes | Share updates, PDFs, images, and videos to maintain interest. |
Actively taking part in discussions | Yes | Use comments, feedback, statuses, and tags to show engagement. |
Moderating inappropriate content | No | Delete spam or profanity to protect the community. |
Assigning ideas to colleagues | No | Manage workload and delegate review or response tasks. |
How to manage inputs and engagement?
Manage participant comments:
Remove or moderate user comments from the input page or comment manager.
Edit inputs:
Go to the Input Manager of your project phase.
Select the relevant submission from the list.
In the right-hand pop-up, click Edit.
Modify the title, description, or other fields.
Click Save to apply changes.
Submit ideas on behalf of others:
Use the Author dropdown (only visible to admins) to post under another user’s name.
Vote on behalf of participants:
You may add offline votes manually,
But cannot modify or remove online votes.
Sorting and filtering inputs
Sorting options for participants:
Most liked (vote count)
Most discussed (comments)
Trending (engagement + recency)
Random (reshuffles daily)
New / Old (chronological)
Tags (filter by topic)
Status (filter by proposed, reviewed, implemented, etc.)
Project setup:
Set a default sorting order when creating the project.
Users can still switch sorting in the dropdown.
Note: Custom sorting order is not possible.
What does moving and copying input mean?
Sometimes you need to reorganize input (ideas, posts, surveys) to keep your project’s workflow moving.
For example:
Ideas collected in Phase 1 are evaluated by a jury and then displayed in Phase 2.
A jury pre‑selects entries that later go to citizens for voting.
You want to highlight winning or high‑quality ideas in a later phase.
The platform lets you:
Move or copy input between phases of the same project.
Move input between projects.
Duplicate surveys between projects.
Important: Moving input doesn’t create a new idea, the same input simply appears in multiple phases. If you edit it later, the change applies everywhere it appears.
How to move or copy input between phases
Set up your phases first
Create all phases where you want ideas to appear.
Use either Collect Input and Feedback (ideation) or Proposals, Petitions or Initiatives. Only these methods support moving or copying input.
Move or copy ideas
Go to the project → open the Input Manager.
Click the phase number below an input to add or remove it from that phase.
Clicking a number adds the input to that phase.
Clicking again removes it from the phase.
Use the bulk drag‑and‑drop option to move up to 10 inputs at once to another phase.
Drag‑and‑drop only works this way: inputs → phases (not phases → inputs).
Check “All Phases” tab
If an input is removed from all phases, it goes to All Phases (not visible anywhere until reassigned).
How to move inputs between projects
Go to the platform‑level Input Manager.
Drag and drop the input onto the destination project. Drag‑and‑drop only works this way: inputs → projects (not projects → inputs).
Manually assign the input to the right phase in the new project:
Go to the new project via the Projects tab.
Click the correct phase number under the input to place it.
If you don’t assign a phase, it defaults to All Phases and won’t show up in any phase view.
Note: The URL of the contribution doesn’t change when it moves between projects.
Similar idea detection
When users start typing a title or description, similar existing ideas are shown.
This nudges users to engage in an existing discussion rather than posting duplicates.
Users can still submit their idea, this feature simply prompts reflection.
To activate: toggle Similar Input Detection in the Phase settings.
Internal communication on ideas
Project managers/admins can leave internal comments on ideas.
Internal comments are visible only to staff, not to participants.
Find this by: Project → Ideation/Proposal phase → Click an idea → “Internal Comments.”
How to track and provide official feedback on ideas/proposals
1. Find inputs that need your attention
Go to the Input Manager.
Use the dropdown filter to:
View ideas assigned to you, or
Filter by another colleague to check their assignments.
Toggle “Only show posts that need feedback.”
A red badge indicates how many inputs (ideas or proposals) still need feedback.
2. Respond to inputs
Change the item’s status (e.g. Proposed → Under Review).
Leave an official comment explaining the status change or giving feedback.
This keeps participants informed and shows visible progress on the platform.
3. Stay on top of assigned work
All admins and project managers receive a weekly email reminder listing:
Items assigned to them.
Items still awaiting feedback.
Note: Items remain on your list until official feedback is provided (changing status or commenting).
What is bulk official feedback and status updating?
Bulk official feedback allows admins to add official updates and change the status of many ideas at once by using a structured Excel sheet.
This process is useful when:
You need to give the community updates on a large number of ideas at once.
You want to change multiple ideas’ statuses in a single action.
Instead of updating each idea manually, you send a filled‑out template Excel file to support, and the team imports the updates for you.
How to bulk update ideas with official feedback?
Step 1: Export the ideas
Export all ideas you want to comment on or update.
Step 2: Prepare the template
Copy all IDs (column A in your export) into column A (“ID”) of the provided Excel template.
[Include link or reference to download the template Excel sheet.]
Step 3: Fill out the columns
Feedback Author Name (Column B) – Required
Shown publicly on the platform (e.g. “Team Mobility – City of Nanaimo”).
Does not have to be a registered user.
Feedback Email (Column C) – Required
Not shown publicly. Must be the email of a registered admin on the platform.
Your Feedback (Column D) – Required
The text of the official update. You can personalize with
{{first_name}}to auto‑insert the citizen’s first name.
New Status (Column E) – Optional
If you want to change the status, type the exact status name as it appears on your platform.
First Name (Column F) – Optional
Used when the citizen deleted their account, so a placeholder name can appear instead of leaving it blank.
Step 4: Send to support
Email the filled template to support@citizenlab.co.
Include the exact day and time you want the updates applied.
Allow 10 working days for the task to be scheduled.