The City of Manor, Texas uses its website to poll its 6500 residents on local issues, and rewards participation with more influence on what gets decided.
Planetizen's contributing editor Christian Madera writes, "What separates Manor Labs from other crowd sourcing efforts is the City's creative way of incentivizing participation. Each time a resident participates online – either by suggesting a new idea or commenting and voting on the ideas of others – they receive a point, called an 'innobuck.' Innobucks can be redeemed for prizes, or re-invested towards making some of the ideas on the site a reality. Once an idea reaches a certain threshold, city officials evaluate the proposal, and decided whether or not to put it into action. So far, five ideas have been adopted from the site."
Read the full story: How Smaller Cities and Towns Can Begin to Benefit from New Media
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Harvard University Graduate School of Design
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University of Cincinnati Online
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