• Membership in CivicEvolution is free.
• Click the Join link on the left side of the page.
• You need to provide a valid email address, an email will be sent to this address to confirm your membership before you can participate.
• Please use your full real name - this encourages a more respectful exchange of ideas
• Your IP address (the network address of your computer or internet provider) will be logged and the your approximate geographic location will be included with your name in the team listing: e.g. Jane Doe, Perth, WA, AU
• We record and display your location so your teammates will know they are working with a true stakeholder, rather than someone from the other side of the world.
• After joining CivicEvolution, you still need to join a specific proposal team.

Your email address and any information you provide to CivicEvolution will only be used to provide you access to and information related to your proposal and your team. Personal email addresses are not shared with anyone else, including your team members.

Teams are listed in the Team signup page which is accessible from the home page by clicking one of the topics.

You can join a team by clicking the Sign up button in the details section of any idea that sounds interesting

If less than 8 people have signed up for an idea, you will be added to the waiting list

If 8 or more people have already signed up for an idea, and the team is still open, you will be added to the team.

An idea needs to attract 8 members before the team can get started on the proposal development process.

The reason we want at least 8 members per team is so each idea can be tested out against others, and we need at least 6 people to sign off agreeing to the proposal at the end of your team's work.

When you sign up for a team that has less than 8 members, you are added to a waiting list.

You are waiting to for the team to attract 8 members. This is a good time to invite your friends and colleagues to join the team with you.

As soon as the 8th member signs-up, the team can get started and you will receive an email with instructions.

CivicEvolution will not stop you from participating on more than one team; however, we suggest that you start off with just one team and see how much time is involved. After a few days, if you feel you have the time and interest, you can sign up for another team.

1. Click the Invite my friends link under the proposal idea
2. Enter one or more email addresses for the friends that you would like to invite
3. Enter a message that you would like to share with your friends.
4. An email will be sent to your friends with information about the idea, your message, and a link that will let them access the team sign up page.
5. If your friends want to join the proposal team, they will have to join CivicEvolution, confirm their email account, and then sign up for the proposal team.
6. Once they click the link on the invite email, they can join CE, confirm their email, and sign up for team in less than one minute.

When you register with CivicEvolution, you will immediately receive an email to confirm your address. Simply respond to this email address and your CivicEvolution membership will be confirmed.

If you didn't initially confirm your email address, you can request another confirmation email. Click the Confirm email link on the left side.

You can quickly and easily reset your password with these steps:

1. Click Reset password on the left side
2. Enter your email address
3. Click Send reset code
4. The reset code will be emailed to you immediately, though it it could take a few minutes to reach you
5. Enter the 6 character reset code from the email
6. Enter and repeat your new password
7. Sign in with your new password

Click the More actions... link on the left side, then click Change my password

A proposal is a solution to a problem that is developed and deliberated by a team. A proposal consists of

• Goals
• Action plan to achieve the goals
• Consideration of the social,economic, and environmental impacts
• First steps to implement the action plan
• Key ideas from research

We have an example proposal related to Residential solar access.

Click this link to see how the final proposal will appear after creating the key points for each section: Residential solar access proposal

Click this link to see the page where you will create the key points for the "Action plan" section: Action plan key points

Here are the steps in developing a proposal:

1. Team members introduce themselves
2. Clarify the idea behind the proposal
3. Research and discuss the problem and idea
4. List and prioritize the goals
5. List and prioritize the action plan
6. List and prioritize the impacts
7. List and prioritize the first steps
8. Endorse the proposal
9. Submit the completed proposal

The proposal is automatically generated by compiling the most important key points from each section.

The proposal should be aimed at convincing an independent funding group that this project should be prioritised for funding/support.

The online team is the group of people that will discuss, develop. and endorse the proposal. A team is at least 8 people and no more than 25 people. Teams are kept small so every member can contribute and be heard.

The schedule for developing a proposal takes about 2 weeks, after the team forms and introduces itself. The team leader can extend the schedule to allow the team more time to explore an issue or to accommodate members that cannot participate frequently.

Click this link to see the schedule for developing a proposal: Proposal development schedule

• Click the Add your own idea for a proposal link
• Enter the title for your idea
• Your title should be clear and concise. It is the first thing people will see. If it isn't clear or interesting they may not sign up. The title should be 4-8 words and must be less than 100 characters long
• Enter a description of your idea
• Describe your idea in 1-2 sentences. It should provide the what, how, and why of your idea.
• Remember, the idea you post should be clear and compelling. This is one way you will recruit team members to work with you. The other way is to invite your friends an colleagues.
• The description provides clarity and focus for the project team
• Use ordinary English (Avoid technical jargon and buzzwords)
• You can edit your idea title and description at anytime. Perhaps the first members that sign up can help you to make the title and description more clear and compelling.

Here is an example of a good title and description:

Improve solar access to subdivisions and buildings

Improve the use and application of existing tools and policies and create financial incentives to promote solar access in subdivisions.

Team members are expected to:

• Follow and participate in the group discussion
• Read the daily email summary of activity and/or visit the project site daily
• Review and suggest key points at each stage of the discussion
• Prioritize the key points in each section by assigning points to the key ideas that they like best
• Comment on the key points and help the team refine them
• Encourage respectful discussion and sharing of ideas by all team members.
• Read, discuss, and endorse the final proposal.
• Respect the privacy of your teammates and do not share their comments with others without their permission.

In addition to the team member responsibilities, the team leader ( the person who suggested the proposal) has a few other responsibilities:

• Having posted your idea, you will take the role of team leader unless you choose find another team member who wants to do it.
• Welcome team members, suggesting they introduce themselves.
• Post at least 2 references, preferably with brief summaries, that explain your idea or its background further.
• Encourage all team members to contribute their ideas.
• 'Kickstart' some sections with one or two dot points if suggestions are not forthcoming.
• Keep an eye on the team's progress, encouraging team members if not much is happening.
• Send messages to team members requesting them to come online to comment or prioritise.
• If there are team or content problems, you may need to talk with the online facilitator on behalf of the team.
• Act as a fair and impartial facilitator for your team, encouraging viewpoints and seeking common ground.
• Get sign-off to the final proposal from at least 6 members so it can be considered for support/funding.

We hope that members will participate daily or at least several times a week. You can keep up with the team deliberations in as little as 5-10 minutes per day.

The discussion area under each proposal is designed to allow people to ask questions and offer suggestions to make the proposal idea more clear or appealing. You can also start a conversation about the project or offer some interesting material for people to consider before the team formally gets started.

• Click Display the discussion link
• Click Add comment, or click Reply to reply to an existing comment.

You can edit your comment if it is less than 30 minutes old.

You can delete you comment if it is less than 30 minutes old and no one has replied to your comment.

We expect people to differ - judgment and opinion are subjective things and we encourage freedom of speech and a marketplace of ideas.

While we do not and cannot review every message posted in the Forums and are not responsible for the content of these messages, we reserve the right to delete, move or edit messages that we deem abusive, defamatory, obscene, or otherwise unacceptable. We reserve the right to remove the posting privileges of users who violate these standards of Forum behavior at any time.

• Each proposal development page is private and can only be viewed by the team members and CivicEvolution facilitators.
• Keep in mind that CivicEvolution cannot ensure the privacy of your comments as other team members could share the content of the team page with non-members.

There are specific Help pages for each step of the proposal development process.

• Click the icon in the top right corner of the page.
• Click the Help link on the left side of the page.
• For specific help in the pages, click the icon that appears in various places throughout the site.

You can close the "Help" popup by clicking the X in the top left corner of the popup.

Each help popup is specific to the current page. If you change pages, you will need to re-open Help to see the specific help for the new page.

Click the More actions... link on the left side, then click Contact us and send us your question or comment.

Click the More actions... link on the left side, then click Contact us and send us your question or comment.

1. Click the Flag link under a comment
2. Fill out the form explaining the problem
3. Click Send

We will investigate your report.