Tools
From knowledge to action.
Everything a community uses to bring what it knows together, see it whole, connect it with others and put it to work, in the order knowledge moves.
01Bring
Bring it in
Recordings of any length, video, documents, handwritten pages, spreadsheets, photos and art, whole folders. Nothing joins until you say yes.
- Recordings of any length, and video
- Documents, scans and handwritten pages
- Spreadsheets, photos and art
- Whole folders, sorted into voices, context and what stays private
- Conversations and meetings, each person’s words their own
- A to-do list that explains itself
- Songs come in as songs
- Your community’s own names guide the transcripts
02Gather
Gather voices
Your community’s own portal and open seat, made by its organizers: a link or QR code that asks your question.
- Your community’s portal, asking your question
- An open-seat poster with a QR code
- Kiosk and guided-tour screens for events
- The Last Word: reactions, live in the room
- No public way for strangers to add to your space
03See
The Mirror
A body of knowledge reflected back: its weave and portrait, where people meet and differ, how it shifts over time, voices with captions.
- Captions in the language spoken
- Quotes play from where they were said
- Over time: earlier voices beside later ones
- Where voices come from, if a community shares places
- Translation, with the original kept
- Private, or public by choice
04See
Lenses
Your own question, in your own words. Try it first with nothing saved, then turn it on. Share lenses with others, credited.
- The question beneath each voice
- Portrait: the through-line and the tension
- Survival: what people know about getting through
- Imagination
- Roots: the questions people share
- Names: the hopes and grievances people name
- Where people meet and differ, and who sees it differently
05Connect
Circles
Communities that choose to can hold their knowledge up to each other’s: who meets whom, and why.
- Each community chooses what it shares
- Threads run between what they know
- Nothing is merged or taken
- Links across worlds and spaces, like Collective Memory
06Ask
Ask it
Ask a whole space, or one world in it. The people who speak to your question answer in their own words.
- Answers in people’s own words, with their recordings
- When nothing speaks to a question, it says so
- Ask a whole space, or just the world you’re in
07Act
Letters and briefs
Letters to decision-makers, briefs for funders, facilitation guides, the living record. Print or PDF, citing the voices they draw from, quoted in their own words.
- The portrait and the questions underneath
- The living record
- A letter to decision-makers
- Action mapping
- A brief for partners and funders
- Facilitation, dialogue prompts, guided reflection
- A zine, a field guide, a lesson plan, discussion cards, an exhibit kit
08Keep
Take it with you
Download everything any time, as JSON, CSV or text, with every source. What you bring stays yours, under your own key.
- Private by default, public by choice, private again any time
- Set any voice aside, instantly
- JSON, CSV or text, with every source
- Its own engine; nothing sent to outside AI
Use SurfaceThread
Bring what your community knows. See it whole. Act on it.
Tell us what it holds: a collection of recordings, a consultation, a campaign question, a body of interviews. We’ll show you how it could work with what you hold, or set up a demonstration.
- A conversationA person sees every note and talks with you before anything is set up.
- Your own space, your own keyOne accountable person holds the key to what you bring.
- See it wholeSee its knowledge surface privately, in people’s own words.
- Decide what travelsShare some, all or none. It stays your choice.
Founding partners: 10 to 15 groups start free through summer 2027, a program of Civic Designers, the nonprofit. See how it works