True Causes
PCM

SIDE BY SIDE

True Causes and di Stanford Online Deliberation Platform

Di Stanford Online Deliberation Platform come from Stanford Deliberative Democracy Lab and im Crowdsourced Democracy Team. Na video platform for small groups, usually eight to fifteen pipo, wey dem build to run Deliberative Polling, di method wey James Fishkin develop: dem dey poll representative sample of pipo, di sample go deliberate for small groups with balanced briefing material and questions to experts wey dey compete, and dem go poll dem again. Automated moderator dey manage di queues to tok and di timed agendas so evribodi go get fair turn, and plenti groups fit meet at di same time. Dem don use am for national and city deliberations for Canada, Chile, Hong Kong, Japan and di United States.

True Causes dey do different work. Deliberative Polling dey measure wetin representative public dey tink afta e don deliberate. True Causes dey produce map of wetin dey cause wetin, wey di pipo wey sabi di problem build, with evri link wey dem decide pair by pair.

Stanford platformTrue Causes
Question wey e dey answerWetin representative public go tink afta deliberation wey get information?Wetin dey cause wetin? Which causes dey deepest?
How pipo dey take partLive video for small groups, with automated moderatorWriting and voting, at each pesin own pace; video call for each group if you want
Who dey take partUsually random, representative sampleDi pipo wey dey involved for di problem
Wetin dey comotOpinion bifor and afta, and di change between demMap of causes, di deepest first, with evri disagreement wey still dey on am
SizePlenti small groups at di same timeRooms of up to 100 pipo free; any number of rooms for one question
Open sourceNoWe dey host am, e no be open source. Di results dey open: pesin fit read and download di map of public room, evri claim (JSON) and evri pair wey dem judge with im vote counts (CSV) without account
AccessThrough di Deliberative Democracy LabAnybodi fit open room; free up to 100 pipo
Turn-takingAutomated moderator dey run di queues to tokRound-robin turns: one card for each round, your next one dey wait for oda pipo; e dey written, so nobodi dey tok on top anybodi
Agenda and timingTimed agendas for each groupSeven stages, wey di coordinator dey close or shared clock wey dey keep evri room for di question togeda
ModerationAutomated moderation and prevention of abuseAI reading bifor card or turn post, if you want am; if e be like attack on pesin, na only di pesin wey write am dem go tell and na im go decide; admission rules dey decide who fit join
Opinion bifor and aftaDem dey measure am with surveys, na di core of Deliberative PollingEach member private stand bifor and afta, for im own words, wey dem dey count as minds wey change
Languages40+ languagesPlenti languages: di interface dey in 57 languages; cards wey dey come from rooms for oda languages dey get translation, and dem dey keep di original
AnalyticsReal-time analyticsLive vote counts for di coordinator, and di numbers of di instance for /stats

Wen to use di Stanford platform

Wen public body need know wetin representative sample of im population conclude about policy options afta e don hear di arguments, and e need make dat result stand up to scrutiny.

Wen to use True Causes

Wen di question na diagnosis: why problem no dey go. Deliberative Polling dey weigh options; True Causes dey identify which causes di options suppose target.

To use both

Dem fit follow each oda. Map di causes with di pipo wey dey closest to di problem; den put di options wey dey target di deepest causes to representative sample.

We check am for September 2026. Product names belong to dia owners. If anytin here about anoda product don old or e no fair, write to hello@mg.truecauses.org and we go correct am.

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