GETTING STARTED: Canvassing
We’ve designed OpenField to be intuitive and easy to learn, whether your canvassers are seasoned experts or knocking doors for the first time.
Creating Accounts, Logging in, & Resetting Passwords:
From the home page, you can create new accounts, log in, and reset passwords for your canvassers.
Canvassing a List:
After a user logs in they will be prompted to enter a Conversation Code, which links them to your organization’s canvass. They will then be prompted to enter a local address or pinpoint their location. Once an address or location is entered, users will click the FIND AVAILABLE DOORS button to advance to the next step.
Users will then be greeted with a popup indicating their contact goal for the session and asked to select the turf they would like to canvass on a map.
The user’s location will be indicated with a yellow pin icon. Eligible turf will be shown in blue. Previously claimed turf will be shown in gray. Currently active turf will be shown in gold. A legend indicating what the colors mean is also located in the lower right corner of the map. A user will select blue turf and see a popup with further information about that turf. Once they click the hyperlinked text in the turf to select it, they will be taken to the next step in the canvassing flow.
Next, a user will see a detailed breakdown of their turf and be asked to select a starting location. The house icons indicate a single unit dwelling, the building icons indicate a multi unit dwelling. Users will select their starting location and begin canvassing.
Users will then land on a profile for the address they have selected. The profile screen includes:
- A general prompt encouraging the canvasser to identify themselves and who they are canvassing with (your organization will be automatically populated into the prompt). A list of individuals linked to that address and, if available, helpful identifying information such as their gender identity and age.
- An option if the canvasser determines that they are talking to a person who is not on this list.
If the person the canvasser is speaking with is on this list, the canvasser simply needs to select that person’s name and will be taken to a screen with more information about that individual and the full canvassing script.
If the person the canvasser is speaking with is not on the list, they should select “Meet someone not on the list” and will be taken to a screen where they can search for that individual or create a new profile.
If there is no one home at the address or the person being canvassed is hostile, the canvasser can choose the relevant option from the “Couldn’t connect with anyone” dropdown menu and then click NEXT DOOR to be taken to the next address on their turf.
The canvasser can always click the prompt in the upper left corner of the screen to return to a view of the street they are on.
Once the correct individual is selected or created, the canvasser will be taken to their profile in the system and able to work through the script questions.
Users will see their contact goal in the upper right corner as well as additional information about the person they are contacting within the TALK, ABOUT, HISTORY, and REGISTER tabs at the top of the screen.
- TALK: contains your canvass’ preloaded script and is where users can take notes on their conversation as they work through the script. At the bottom of this tab, users can SAVE and advance to the next person.
- ABOUT: has basic information about the individual that users are connecting with.
- HISTORY: has the contact history of this person.
- REGISTER: initiates the voter registration process in OpenField.
The open-ended notes field will take any type of input from full sentences to general reference notes.
Important: When the canvasser is done with the conversation and ready to move onto the next conversation they should click the SAVE + NEXT DOOR button at the bottom of the TALK tab.
On the left side of the screen there is an OF icon. This icon and menu are available to canvassers at any stage of the flow.
If a user clicks this icon they will be shown a sidebar menu where canvassers can SEARCH for an individual, return to the MAP, view a STREET LIST of their turf, ENTER A NEW CONVERSATION CODE, SELECT MORE TURF, CHANGE LOCATION, view a LEADERBOARD to see how they compare to other canvassers, and FINISH KNOCKING.
When canvassers are done they will be taken to the leaderboard where they can see their standing compared to fellow canvassers and be asked a debrief question.
