Polis
Polis is an open-source online tool and process for finding out what a large group thinks in its own words: participants write short statements and vote agree, disagree or pass on the statements of others. The system sorts participants into opinion groups based on how they vote and highlights the statements that all groups support as well as those that divide them. It is developed by The Computational Democracy Project, a US non-profit, and the result is a map of where a group splits and where it already agrees, which can feed a live deliberation or a decision.
Facilitation script
- 1
Design session with the sponsor: agree the topic wording, who is invited, how long the conversation stays open and what the sponsor commits to doing with the results.
45 min - 2
Draft and review the seed statements, set up the conversation and test it with two or three people.
45 min - 3
Launch: send the invitation with a short explanation of how it works and why it matters. While it is open, moderate new statements at regular intervals and send a reminder. The minutes count only the organiser's working time for the launch; the conversation itself stays open for days or weeks, and moderation comes on top.
30 min - 4
After closing, read the report with the sponsor and pick out the opinion groups, the consensus statements and the main dividing statements.
60 min - 5
Live session: present the opinion map, check that people recognise it, and work in small groups on what the consensus statements make possible and how to handle the dividing ones.
90 min - 6
Publish the results and the next steps to all participants.
15 min
Tips
The quality of the result depends on the statements, so write seeds that each make one clear claim and cover the range of views, and keep moderating for duplicates and double-barrelled statements.
Explain to participants that the aim is to find statements people on different sides can agree with, which encourages them to write bridging statements instead of slogans.
Publish the results to everyone who took part and say what will be done with them, or the next invitation will get a fraction of the response.
Common pitfalls
Seed statements that all lean one way, which shapes the early voting and produces a map that reflects the organisers more than the group
No moderation, so duplicates and two-in-one statements pile up, votes are spread thin and the clusters become hard to read
Too few participants or votes, which yields opinion groups that look precise on screen and mean very little
Reading consensus statements as a mandate, when participants were self-selected and may not represent the wider population
Collecting input and then going quiet, which teaches people that taking part changes nothing
Variations
Polis can run asynchronously over days or weeks as a consultation, or live during an event, with participants voting on their phones while the opinion map is shown on screen. The software is released under the AGPL-3.0 licence, so organisations with data-protection requirements can host it themselves. Other voting and survey tools can collect agree and disagree votes on participant statements, but without the clustering of participants into opinion groups they do not show cross-group consensus. A common design uses Polis as the first stage and a face-to-face deliberation, such as a workshop or citizens' panel, as the second.
Where it fits
When to use it
You need to hear from more people than can fit into a workshop, from several dozen up to many thousands
A topic is contested and you want to know where the camps really differ and what they agree on despite that
You are preparing a deliberative event and want its agenda to come from participants' own statements
Open comment threads or town halls on the topic have been dominated by the loudest voices
Decision-makers have committed to respond to the results
When not to use it
The group is small enough to talk in one room; a facilitated conversation with dot voting or gradients of agreement is faster and richer
You need a binding decision between fixed options; Polis maps opinion and does not decide, so use a formal vote or consent process
The question needs long-form reasoning or expert evidence that will not fit into short statements; use a consensus conference or working groups
Many of the people concerned lack internet access or confidence with digital tools, which would skew the picture; combine with or replace by in-person methods
Leaders are not prepared to act on or even publish what comes out, which turns the exercise into a show of listening
Related methods
Frequently asked questions
What is Polis?▾
Polis is an open-source online tool for mapping the opinions of a large group. Participants write short statements and vote agree, disagree or pass on each other's statements, and the system groups people by how they vote and shows which statements divide the groups and which all of them support. It is developed by The Computational Democracy Project, a US non-profit.
How is Polis different from a survey?▾
In a survey the organisers write all the questions. In Polis participants add their own statements, so the topics come from the group, and the analysis clusters people into opinion groups instead of only counting answers. That makes it possible to see statements that find agreement across groups that otherwise disagree.
How many people do you need for Polis?▾
It is built for large groups, from dozens to many thousands. With a small team the opinion groups are not meaningful and a live conversation is the better tool. Whatever the size, look at how many people voted on each statement before drawing conclusions.
Does Polis make the decision?▾
No. It shows where a group stands, which is input to a decision. The usual next step is a live session or formal process in which people work with the consensus statements and the points of division and then decide.
Is Polis free to use?▾
The software is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence and can be self-hosted. A hosted version is also offered by its developers. Check the current terms and your own data-protection requirements before choosing between them.
Plan your next workshop with AI
Workshop Weaver helps you combine methods like Polis into a complete, timed agenda in minutes.
Try it freeMethod descriptions on Workshop Weaver are original content written by our team, based on established facilitation practices. This method was inspired by work from The Computational Democracy Project.