Polis Opinion Mapping
Participants write short statements on a question and vote agree, disagree or pass on statements written by others, which are shown to them semi-randomly. An algorithm groups people who vote alike into opinion clusters and finds statements that all clusters agree on, and those that divide them. The results usually feed a live dialogue among stakeholders or decision-makers.
Use for contested topics with many stakeholders, when you want to find the common ground that exists across camps before people meet.
Solves: Public debate rewards the most extreme statements, so people never see how much they actually agree on.
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Step 1: Frame one question and write 10-20 seed statements covering different views.
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Step 2: Open the conversation and share the link widely. Participants vote and add their own short statements (10-20 min each, over one to three weeks).
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Step 3: Moderate new statements for duplicates and off-topic content daily (10 min a day).
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Step 4: Read the report: opinion groups, what each group believes, what all groups agree on, what splits them (60 min).
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Step 5: Bring the consensus and divisive statements to a live dialogue to work on next steps (60-120 min).
- Keep statements short and single-claim. Two ideas in one statement make the votes unreadable.
- Seed statements from all sides so the first participants have something to react to.
- Show participants the live visualisation; seeing other clusters often softens positions.
- Use inside an organisation before a strategy offsite to find the real fault lines in advance.