By default, all platforms have e-mail verification enabled - meaning, someone needs to confirm their email address in order to sign-up for an account.

But sometimes, you may want to have an extra layer of user verification for participants on your platform, as a condition to participate in a certain project for instance.

There are two additional user verification options:

Participants use a unique code in order to verify themselves on your platform.

What are some common use cases?

If you are planning a project specific to members of an organization or people from a specific street or neighborhood, and want to limit participation to those individuals, then user verification with unique codes may be a good solution.

How do you set it up?

You will need to have a list of unique ID numbers for each individual you would like to be verified - you can generate the numbers yourself (such as invitation codes) or use an existing (national) ID system. Please contact support@citizenlab.co if you want to integrate this verification method into your platform. They will assist you in this process.

Next, to activate verification on your platform, create a new smart group for verified users. This smart group will automatically be updated to include any platform user who has verified their account with their unique code or ID number.

You can then use this smart group to limit who can view and participate in your project. In this instance, people whose accounts are not verified will not be able to see the project or can only take certain actions in a project.

How does it work?

When a new user registers on your platform, they will be prompted to enter their ID number (those who do not have a number can also skip this step). If their ID number is a match on the list of unique ID numbers, their account will be automatically verified. Alternatively, if they try to participate in a project that requires verification, they will be prompted to first verify their account before they take an action (e.g., submit an idea, post a comment).

You can integrate the following national user identification and authentication systems into your platform:

What are some common use cases?

If your engagement project requires that participants are nationals of one of the above countries, if you want to have a secure method to ensure that participants only sign up for one account or if you want to ensure that participants register with their real name and identity.

How do you do it?

If you'd like to integrate a verification system into your platform, get in touch with us to discuss the requirements and set-up, as they are slightly different depending on the country. Keep in mind that there is some coordination work on both your side and our side, especially to obtain permissions to access external verification systems. As such, please contact support@citizenlab.co at least 2-3 months before you would like to activate it on your platform to allow sufficient time to follow these procedures.

Once it's in place, when people register for your platform or try to participate in a project that requires verification, they will be prompted to verify their identity using their national ID number, such as through a digital ID reader. This information is entered via an external verification system such as provided by the national government - we do not keep, store or otherwise have access to these numbers.

Depending on the system, we may be able to obtain the first name, last name and/or email address of the user to populate their account profile when they verify themselves. Unfortunately, additional information such as city of residence, age, etc. are not able to be transferred to us from these systems.

Next, to activate verification on your platform, create a new smart group for verified users. This smart group will automatically be updated to include any platform user who has verified their account with the integrated verification system.

You can then use this smart group to limit who can view and participate in your project. In this instance, people whose accounts are not verified will not be able to see the project or can only take certain actions in a project.

How does it work?

When someone tries to participate in a project that requires verification, they will be prompted to first verify their account before they take an action (e.g., submit an idea, post a comment). The verification link will take the person to an external system to log-in using their credentials. Once they've done so, their account will show on the platform as being verified and they can take all actions available to the Verified Users smart group.

Note:

In the case of FranceConnect, it is also possible to use FranceConnect as a single sign-on registration method so that participants do not need to create a separate user account for your platform. This is at the moment not available for any other verification methods.

Do you have any questions or need help? Don't hesitate to send a message to support@citizenlab.co!