Frequently asked questions

Answers to questions about our software and services

What are my design options?

You can see selected examples of all of our project templates here.

Do you have a Knowledge Base?

Yes, it is available to all partners. Contact us if you have a potential project, and we will be happy to share examples.

Do you have an app?

No. Mobile web is better suited for public projects from an accessibility and equity perspective. Neighborland works well on any device’s web browser (iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tablets, etc.).

Are you only available internationally?

We are currently available in the U.S. and Canada. We can launch in other countries for an additional setup fee.

How do you handle multiple languages?

Neighborland is available in any language supported by Google Translate. We built a localized configuration of Google Translate that exceeds the multi-lingual accessibility evaluations of several large government agencies.

Can we brand our project site?

Yes, you control the design of all of your project images, videos, and content. You can also customize your project navigation. If you need to fully customize the design of your project site, we’re happy to set up a demonstration site to show you how flexible our platform is.

Can we choose topics?

Projects have their own topic views, and we also show topics across the platform as well. We’ve found that keeping a common taxonomy across the platform helps with the cross-pollination of great project ideas. You can suggest topics and we’ll consider them for our taxonomy.

How do we upload data?

Facilitators upload ideas and votes from workshops and events in public space to Projects. A Neighborland community manager will email you a link to a simple Google Sheet to format the data. Facilitators transcribe the ideas and let us know and one of our community managers will proofread it and upload it to your Project.

How do we curate the data?

Clustering and de-duplicating similar ideas is at your discretion. We have a point of view on how to do this type of facilitation effectively — often the less the ideas, the better. Here’s a good example.

Who moderates projects?

Our partners have the ability to edit or delete participants’ content as soon as it’s posted. If you have a bad actor on the project, you can simply email us and we’ll ban or suspend them within 24 hours. It is worth noting that we have seen less than 0.001% of neighbor activity moderated off Neighborland over the past 5 years with over 3,000,000 pieces of data collected. One additional safeguard that we offer is that until a participant’s idea is supported (“me too’d”) it does not show up in other residents streams. We do not offer pre-approval of posts as it will dissuade residents from participating and could be easily criticized as “censorship.” We can add the capability for your team to suspend or ban users instantaneously for a small configuration fee.

How do you verify a participant’s identity?

We have a required survey option that our partners often use for resident segmentation (ex. Do you live/work/visit this neighborhood?). We can also use a 3rd party data enrichment service to provide additional verification of participants’ residence based on their verified email address for an additional fee.

Do you allow anonymous input?

Yes, organizations can offer anonymous participation on a per-project basis. Residents simply tap a “participate anonymously” button on the sign in page, and their personal details will not be shared publicly. There are two considerations: organizations lose the information on the individual’s city/neighborhood in reports (unless you add segmentation as a required survey question), and anonymous participants are more likely to create undesirable content, which means potentially more moderation work. Note that when we upload data from workshops and public events, or when residents use our SMS integration, it is anonymous as well. Additionally, Neighborland is a public space, so all content is viewable without sign in.

That said, we recommend requiring sign in (sign up) in terms collecting a richer set of data from participants, and communicating effectively with your network during a project. There is also a benefit for organizations who use Neighborland for multiple projects. By introducing a small amount of friction to participate, you typically ensure a higher quality of dialogue on your project.

Some public engagement tools suggest that they can verify participants with session cookies and IP addresses. This is not true. For example, a participant can simply use different web browsers and devices to weigh their opinions unfairly. Using IP addresses is flawed, as that would prevent multiple people in the same home or office from participating on a project. Additionally, it would be quite easy for an individual to manipulate data with a simple “click-farm” strategy.

Are you ADA compliant?

Yes, we have passed ADA (American Disability Act) audits from all of our government clients and continually update the platform to ensure that it meets ADA specifications. We are also FedRAMP and W3C compliant.

Do you allow advertising?

No. Neighborland is a public space that will always be free of advertising. Civic organizations have found that their organic reach on “free,” advertising-supported platforms like Facebook diminishes over time. Today, organizations reach about 2% of the people who “like” their page. Inevitably, they have to boost posts (buy ads) on Facebook to reach to their own supporters. We offer a different approach where organizations host project sites on Neighborland and reach 100% of their audience.

What happens when my project is over?

We will export a report of all activity on your project and archive your project for a small annual fee. For any 6+ month project, we will post a simple update page and host the project for free so that other organizations can learn from the project.

Something else?

Contact us and we’ll be happy to answer your questions. We now have a private knowledge base for our partners that we can share with you privately. We can also send you a video explaining our latest capabilities. And if you want to talk about partnering on a project, we’re happy to set up a brief phone or video call at your convenience.