Asking questions. In public space. Without barriers.
A printed A2 board carrying your process, and in front of it a battery-powered e-paper device with five answer buttons. Put it up, let people take part, evaluate it in the same participation project.
Participation usually reaches the same people
Anyone with an opinion should be able to voice it. The usual formats make that hard — and so they skew the picture an administration gets of its population.
No time for the workshop
Evening sessions reach the people who already come. Anyone working shifts or putting children to bed stays outside.
Too many hurdles online
Find the link, register, enter your details. Every step costs participants — and the online survey only reaches those who already know the channel.
The question is asked at a desk
Participation happens where nobody is currently affected. The place at issue does not appear in the process itself — and the people who use it every day are not asked.
A landscape display, five answer buttons, no cable
The box measures 244 × 189 × 73 mm. Behind the clear pane sits a monochrome 7.5-inch e-paper panel with 800 × 480 pixels, mounted in landscape. Below it are five buttons at even spacing forming an answer scale — the display draws an arrow above each one, pointing at its button. A sixth button sits apart on the right-hand edge.
- →On battery there is no power connection, no cable and no socket at the site. The box runs for up to three months on one battery charge, after that our service swaps the battery.
- →Collected offline, transmitted at night. Answers stay in the device until then; once a night a few kilobytes go out over LTE.
- →No account, no app. Pressing buttons is enough.
- →On battery there is no opening to the outside. No plug, no opening — the USB-C port sits inside, charging means opening the housing. That helps against weather and vandalism.
- →Built for outdoor use. Sealed parting line, sealed display seat, buttons rated IP65/67.
Data protection from the start: no cameras, no personal data, no accounts. Only the answer itself is collected — GDPR-compliant, hosted in Germany.
The box asks. The board says who is asking.
The eye-catcher
The board is the surface that works as people walk past. On its own, from ten metres away, the box is just a black case.
The sender
Coat of arms, wordmark, topic, deadline and the QR code to the project page all sit on the board. There is no room for them on the display: 800 × 480 monochrome carry the question and the five answer options. Without the board nobody knows who is asking.
The carrier
At a post site the board is the mounting, not the decoration. The wall bracket is screwed through the board's hole pattern. Behind that pattern sits an aluminium reinforcement for load distribution and threads. The board itself hangs on the post with two band clamps.
The board is A2 portrait (420 × 594 mm, around 3.2 kg), 10 mm rigid PVC foam, printed with your process: header band, headline, three columns, box in the lower third.
The box adds to your platform. It does not replace it.
The Mitmachbox adds one channel — the running process stays where it is. There are three ways to do that.
Standalone
Box and platform from us. Create surveys, manage devices, export results, separate logins for your team. Nothing has to change on an existing platform — you do not even need one.
Alongside an existing platform
The box runs on our platform, your portal keeps its role. The results view can be embedded as an iframe in the existing participation platform, so residents see it where they look anyway.
Native in Consul
nativeIn the Consul edition of demokratie.today, the participation platform for cities, districts and municipalities, the box is a project phase — you work in the familiar Consul layout without learning a second system. Write questions in the admin area, publish a version, roll it out to devices — results and CSV sit in the same project as the online phases.
All three ways share this: every site can be evaluated on its own and compared with the others — and the same question can additionally run online within the same process. On site and online are not two decisions but one operation.
What sets the Mitmachbox apart
The lowest barrier
No link, no sign-up, no form. Whoever walks past presses a button and has taken part.
No staff tied up
No stand duty, no clipboard. The box asks around the clock, in the rain and in winter.
One process instead of two
Offline and online phases run in the same participation project — one evaluation, not two separate data sets.
Evaluation that holds up
Every answer carries its timestamp, the survey version and the site of its box — traceable in committee too.
Participation in four steps
Receive board and box
Board and box come as rental equipment — including band clamps, rail and tools.
Create the survey
The survey is created as a phase in your participation project: write questions, keep them as a draft, then publish.
Set it up on site
Board onto the post with two band clamps, box into the rail, secured from below with one screw.
Evaluate and report
Compare results by site and period, export them as CSV and carry them into the committee paper.
The box is a phase in your participation project
This is the native route in detail — three points that make the difference to a device without a platform.
Draft and publication
A published version is immutable — anyone changing something afterwards creates a new version. Every answer stays attached to the version it was collected against. An answer's identifier is created on the device so that it can exist without a network connection, and it is unique there — a dropped connection produces no duplicate vote.
Evaluation per site
Each site on its own, sites compared with one another, narrowed down by period. Offline and online answers as CSV from the same project.
Devices at a glance
Site, battery level and last sync for every box.
Swipe sideways for answers and status.
Three question types — and an order that can branch
Single choice
One answer per question. One button press, on to the next question.
Multiple choice
Several answers are possible, each counts separately in the evaluation.
Rating scale
The options carry numeric values so that averages can be calculated.
Conditional questions
The next question depends on the previous answer. Anyone pressing “Never” on question 2 is not asked the questions about usage but skips ahead.
Every question can be mandatory or optional.
More municipalities than boxes
Every device is made one at a time: 3D-printed housing, populated circuit board, laser-cut pane. We build in small batches — and demand runs ahead of production.
The first series is taken. Anyone joining the waiting list now is next in line as soon as we allocate the following slots.
What the rent covers
Board and boxes are rented, not bought — so here is what is included at no extra charge.
Included
- Platform with any number of surveys
- Maintenance
- Battery replacement
- Mobile data including SIM
- Replacement if damaged or lost
- Briefing and support
A board that changes with the topic
- The board is rented along with the box, not bought
- A new process gets a new film — same board, new topic
- No new purchase per topic, no storing of retired posters
Not needed
- No server
- No IT integration
- No power connection when running on battery
- No network needed on site
- No stand duty
Three ways onto the network
How the box sends its answers depends on the site, not on the process. Every connection works with every package — the device stays the same.
Mobile data
The box brings its own SIM and reports in once a night with a few kilobytes. Nothing to connect at the site, nothing to open up on your network.
The standard case for anything that moves around.
Wi-Fi
Where the box stays in one place and a network is within reach, it joins that one — in the town hall, the library, the citizens' office.
For stationary use.
LoRaWAN
Where the municipality runs its own LoRaWAN, the box joins it directly. Range over kilometres at very low power, including where mobile coverage thins out.
For cities that already have the network.
Packages
The packages differ in how long the box stays and how many there are.
Project
One process, one period. For a first campaign or a traffic trial.
- Board and 2–4 boxes rented
- Monthly rent
- Unlimited surveys
- Briefing by video
- Support by email
Annual operation
RecommendedThe boxes stay on rent and move from process to process.
- From 5 boxes, 12 months
- Several teams and departments
- A named contact looking after you
Permanent site
A fixed site with a power socket, usually indoors. The box runs off mains rather than battery.
- For a citizens office, a foyer or a library
- Stationary version with mains connection
- No battery swaps needed
- Unlimited surveys
- Connected over Wi-Fi or LoRaWAN
The questions municipalities ask first
Does it need Wi-Fi?
Normally not — it brings its own SIM, and once a night a few kilobytes go out over the mobile network. Nothing has to be opened up on your network. Where you would rather have it otherwise, it also joins a Wi-Fi or a LoRaWAN.
What happens if the box is stolen or destroyed?
There is no personal data on the device. An answer consists of the device, the survey version, the timestamp and the options pressed — nothing more. A missing box is property damage, not a data breach. Replacement is part of the rent.
How many questions can a survey have?
Several in a row — the display shows the progress. Each question offers five answer options, one per button below the display.
Who evaluates the results?
You do. The figures are in the browser, by site and period, and the raw data is available as CSV. On request we take on the questionnaire, site selection and evaluation — that is the Full service package.
Book a demo
We show you the box online in 30 minutes — with your specific process in mind. After that you will know whether it fits.
More on this in the privacy policy.