What is ThoughtexchangeTM?
Thoughtexchange is a tool that allows communities to have meaningful and productive online conversations. There are three steps:
- SHARE – where everyone shares their thoughts.
- STAR – where everyone sees each other’s thoughts and adds stars to them.
- DISCOVER – where everyone’s thoughts and stars are shared publicly.
How long does it take to complete the exchange?
It could take you as little as 10-15 minutes to participate. In response to each question, we recommend that you share your thoughts, then rate about 20-30 thoughts in the Star step. You do not need to rate all thoughts, but you are welcome to rate as many as you like. You will also have an opportunity to Discover the top thoughts that are important to the OCDSB community.
What kinds of questions will I be asked?
You will be asked about the OCDSB’s plan of work for the next 4 years, 2019-2023.
What happens in the STAR step?
In this step you will read the thoughts of others and assign stars to the thoughts you like the best. This will help us get a sense of shared values and priorities. Thoughts are completely unedited; the thoughts you see in STAR are presented exactly as they were submitted - typos and all.
How do I assign stars?
At the top of each screen there are 16 stars which you can assign to the 9 Thoughts on the screen. Use the stars to identify the Thoughts most important to you. You may assign up to five stars to any Thought you feel deserves a higher priority. The more stars you assign to a Thought, the more important it is to you. Click the stars at the bottom of the Thought to assign them. You don’t have to assign all stars. If there are duplicate Thoughts (same idea, expressed differently) on your screen, please assign the stars to the one which most closely reflects your priorities.
Why do I only have a limited number of stars?
There is a limited pool or quota of stars to “force” participants to prioritize. Making participants choose among the thoughts requires that they consider each and every thought more carefully.
Why can’t I see all of the thoughts I shared?
Generally, most of the thoughts you shared will appear in your selection of thoughts in the Star step. Although if you added a lot of thoughts, you might not see all of them. Also, ThoughtexchangeTM reviews every thought that is added to the conversation and at times a thought must be removed. A thought is removed when it is rude or hurtful to a person or a group of people, containing identifying information, or it does not answer the question.
Can I add Thoughts?
Yes. We are always interested in your ideas. You will be sent reminders/notifications when 10 or more thoughts have been added since you last participated or if the Leader has sent out a manual notification to all participants.
Do I need to use all of the stars provided?
No, you don’t have to assign all stars. The more stars you assign to a Thought, the more important it is to you. If you have stars remaining but have completed starring the Thoughts on the screen, just move head to the next screen.
Will people know what Thoughts I have shared?
No, your answers are confidential. Thoughts are shared and the results of the staring process will be shared but your name or email address will never be shared or connected to a specific Thought.
Why are Thoughts shared verbatim?
This consultation is a public discussion process. It gives all stakeholders a chance to share ideas and to identify their priorities. It is important that people have the ability to express themselves freely without editing or modification on our part.
Whose thoughts am I seeing?
During the Star step you will read the thoughts of others and assign stars to the thoughts you like the best. You will always have the opportunity to see some of your own thoughts and a random selection of the thoughts of others. For each question, you will see up to nine thoughts at a time on a “page” and three pages per question. In total, each participant will see 27 thoughts per question.
How do I save or submit my responses?
In the exchange you won’t see an ‘End’ or ‘Finish’ button. Within an exchange, the conversation flows and it allows a good dialogue to continue. Unlike a traditional survey, participants can keep coming back to read and rate what others think, and share additional thoughts of their own. The exchange will close on December 12.
How do I use the ‘Flag’ feature?
Click on the box with the Thought that you would like to remove. In the bottom portion of the Thought, you will see the section “Remove This Thought”. Using the drop box, identify your reason for flagging the thought (note: You will only be able to select “rude/hurtful” or “Does not answer” from the drop box; use either reason for flagging but in the fillable box). In the fillable portion, please provide a brief explanation of why you would like the Thought removed. Once your Thought is flagged, it will be sent to Thoughtexchange and so they can remove your Thought from the public process.
What happened to Thoughts that have been flagged?
If Thoughts were flagged, they will no longer appear in the public STAR process. However, all Thoughts will be captured in SHARE report that will be reviewed by us.
Am I able to remove my own Thoughts from the exchange?
If you no longer wish to share your Thoughts, you can flag them using the ‘Flag’ feature and explain you are self-moderating, and the Thought(s) will be removed from the process
.
Am I able to remove someone else’s Thoughts from the exchange?
While responses were not edited, they were moderated with the intent to remove Thoughts that are:
1. Rude
2. Hurtful
3. Do not answer the question
4. Contravene the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
If you see a Thought that you feel should be removed for one of the reasons above, please click on the Thought and use the 'Flag' feature. If you no longer wish to share your Thoughts, you can flag them using the ‘Flag’ feature and explain you are self-moderating, and the Thought(s) will be removed from the process.
Have the Thoughts been edited for clarity?
No, the Thoughts are shared exactly as submitted - no Thought has been edited. However, Thoughts that were considered rude, hurtful, that did not answer the question or that were contrary to the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act were removed.
Why does the screen show duplicate Thoughts?
Each Thought represents one individual opinion. You may see a duplicate thought; the same idea expressed differently. If there are duplicate Thoughts (same idea, expressed differently) on your screen, please assign the stars to the one which most closely reflects your priorities.
Why does the exchange appear different on mobile and desktop computer?
The Thoughtexchange software detects and selects the layout that best suits your device and size of your browser window.
Will my answers be filtered?
All responses will be moderated and thoughts will be removed if they are rude or hurtful to a person or a group of people and/or do not answer the question.
What are leader comments?
An Exchange has a leader (i.e. a person who sets it up and/monitors the feedback). The leader uses comments to wrap up the conversation and address common concerns that people have. Leader comments provide feedback to let participants know that they are being heard.