Dotmocracy

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Dotmocracy is an established facilitation method for collecting and prioritizing ideas among a large number of people. It is an equal opportunity & participatory group decision-making process.

Participants write down ideas and apply dots next to each idea to show which ones they prefer. The final result is a graph-like visual representation of the groups collective preferences.

Contents 1 Traditional Dotmocracy 1.1 Traditional Dotmocracy Links 2 Advanced Dotmocracy 2.1 Advanced Dotmocracy Links 3 See also

[edit] Traditional Dotmocracy

Traditional dotmocracy, also know as "dot voting" or “multi-voting”, is essentially placing stickers or written marks next to ideas one likes, usually written on easel paper by a facilitator. The group can then easily see which ideas are most popular amongst participants. There are a few variations such as the use of green dots to show approval and red dots to show objections and rules about how many dots one can stick on each proposal. This facilitation process has been formally and informally used since at least the 1980s.

[edit] Traditional Dotmocracy Links

• Dotmocracy Overview by Audience Dialogue
• Group Brainstorming: Dot Voting with a Difference
• Voting with dots - A long compolitation of assorted discussion of the topic from a facilitators mailing list.

[edit] Advanced Dotmocracy

Advanced dotmocracy is a specific method designed by Co-op Tools that follows clearly defined rules and uses specially designed idea sheets.

Each dotmocracy idea sheet includes an area to write one idea, a scale of "strong agreement", "agreement", "neutral", "disagreement", "strong disagreement" and "confusion", a column for signatures and spaces for written comments. The sheets are "dotted" by each participant by filling in one circle on the agreement scale (or confusion), signing it and optionally adding comments.

The main benefits of the advanced dotmocracy process are:

• Any participant can present a detailed idea in their own words without the bottleneck and filter of a facilitator. In effect, many more ideas can be posted in a much shorter period of time.
• The distribution of ideas on separate sheets allows for unlimited ideas to be presented and rated at the same time.
• The agreement scale on each sheet makes it clear the levels of agreement, disagreement and confusion for every posted idea. Traditional method of just posting dots just for approval does not recognize disagreement or confusion.
• The one dot per person/per sheet provides a much more accurate representation of the participants’ collective opinions. For example, using the traditional dotmocracy method, 10 people can put one dot each on a idea, or one person can put 10 dots on the same idea. Reviewing the results, decision-makers can not tell the difference between the two different scenarios.
• Participants can write useful comments on the sheets or below on sticky notes.
• Documented rules and guidelines promote consistency and reliability of results.
• The letter-size idea sheets can be easily photocopied and archived.
• There is no need to purchase the dot stickers that the traditional process requires.

[edit] Advanced Dotmocracy Links

• Idea Sheets for downloading
• Advanced Dotmocracy Handbook
• dotmocracy.ca for facilitator resources and case studies

[edit] See also

• Consensus
• Voting