We’re looking to engage our community on planning projects. Share your ideas and comment on ideas left by your neighbor. Post will be reviewed by city staff and officials to help guide our decision-making on a variety of planning projects.
This is a place for you to collaborate with your peers and make your community a better place. MindMixer is working with your local decision makers to host this site. You and your friends, family and neighbors will be presented with a series of topics on which you can provide your ideas and feedback. That input will be taken into account by your local leaders, who will keep you posted on the impact your ideas and opinions are making in your community. You’re here to build a stronger future, and we are very happy to be working with you! To learn more about the specific goals of your community’s MindMixer site, visit the About the Project page.
First, you need to create an account. But it’s a quick and easy process! Just click the “Sign Up” “Sign Up” button in the top right corner of any page on your MindMixer site. Then, you can either create an account using your existing login information for Facebook, LinkedIn or Google+, or you can create a new login using your email. Either way, we’ll just ask for some basic information (birth day, zip code, gender) and you’ll be ready to engage!
To access your profile once you’ve signed in, simply click on your name in the upper right hand corner of any page of your MindMixer site. Click the “Account” tab. Notice that all the required fields are already filled in. Scroll down to the “Optional Fields.” That’s where your profile can shine. Tell other participants a little about yourself and upload a profile picture. That picture will be displayed along with any idea or comment you leave on your MindMixer site, and is a good way to take ownership of your input.
The community leaders who are taking part in this conversation are listed on the Who’s Listening page. They’re taking your input into account and shaping the future of your community based on the feedback they’re receiving from you and your fellow participants. You might recognize some of them as your mayor, city council representative, superintendent or principal.
A topic is the individual question you and other participants are providing an answer to. Click the “Topics” menu at the top of any MindMixer page to see the list of topics (or, questions) that are open for discussion.
There are several ways you can provide your input and get involved in the conversation on your MindMixer site:
The first way is by clicking the “Activity” menu at the top of any MindMixer page. That will take you to a page that shows all the activity on your site — in other words, all the ideas and comments of other participants. You can find the same information by clicking on each individual topic. For poll topics, you can see how others have voted by casting a vote yourself, which will bring up the results so far.
Once you submit an idea or vote in a poll, your feedback will be entered into a report for your community leaders. They will then take that feedback into account when making decisions that impact your community. They may also review your idea and apply a status.
Reviewed ideas are those that your community leaders have read and considered. Reviewed ideas are tagged with a different “status” each time — either Implemented, In Progress, Being Reviewed, Referred to the Appropriate Party, or Not Feasible. This status shows you which stage your idea is in on the way to being made a reality. Your community leaders may also leave a message explaining the status they have applied, along with a note detailing the Next Steps for your idea.
Each individual topic does have a date at which it “closes,” meaning no more feedback will be accepted after that time. That date is listed on the Topic page. However, your community leaders can extend that date as many times as they see fit. The amount of time during which your MindMixer site is available to view is up to your community leaders.
Each idea on your MindMixer site can be given a rating — Neutral (/), It’s Okay (one star), I Like It (two stars), I Love It! (three stars). From the Topic page and the Activity page, you will be given the opportunity to rate each idea on an open topic by clicking on the number of stars on the sliding scale beneath an idea.
When you click the number of stars you would like to give an idea , the average rating of the idea will change to reflect your rating. The total number of ratings given will also change. These numbers will help your community leaders narrow down the ideas the community is most in favor of.
You can comment on any idea on the Topic page or the Activity page, or by viewing the Idea Details. Beneath every idea is a field that says “Add your thoughts.” Simply click in that field and start typing your comment, then click “Add Comment.”
By leaving a comment on another participant’s idea, you are essentially joining that conversation. You can refine an idea, you can dispute it, you can ask the participant who submitted that idea a question. You can even ask other commenting participants their thoughts. Your comments enrich the dialogue and bring the ideas you’re commenting on to the attention of your community leaders in a different way.
Every time you contribute to your MindMixer site, you earn points. Your MindMixer site has a point system as a way to make engagement more fun for you. The points you earn can be redeemed toward unique rewards from your community. Those rewards can range from baseball caps to a key to the city — it all depends on your community and how many points you have! Check the Rewards Store to see what’s offered on your MindMixer site. You can also see how you measure up against the other participants in your community by checking out the Top Contributors.
Almost any action you take on your MindMixer site earns you points. The point structure is broken down on the Top Contributors page, but here it is again:
Every week you will receive an email that updates you on the activity on your MindMixer site. It will include all the following information (where applicable): Topics that are closing soon, most popular ideas, recently submitted ideas, recently reviewed ideas, comments on your ideas, comments on instant polls you have taken, and upcoming new topics. You can turn off these weekly emails in the “Preferences” tab of your Profile. You will also receive an email when your community leaders have an important message for you. You can turn off these notifications in the “Preferences” tab as well. You will still be notified of these important messages when you visit your MindMixer site — just look at the bullhorn in the upper right corner of any page.
You have several options. Share buttons are located on nearly every page of your MindMixer site. Click the icon for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ or email to post that page to your friends and followers. You will also be prompted to share each new idea you submit with a pop-up window once your idea submission is complete. Sharing is important to growing your community’s online conversation and making sure everyone has a voice. And don’t forget — you get points for referring a friend!