Frequently asked questions​
Who can become an Idea Bank member?
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The Idea Bank platform is a resource for a closed community of litigators and advocates working on corporate accountability for human rights and environmental abuses around the world. Membership is open to public interest attorneys, plaintiff-side human rights attorneys, and advocates involved in legal strategies to address human rights and environmental abuses by companies. In-house counsel and company consultants are not eligible for membership. Interns are likewise not eligible, unless they have committed already to a relevant public interest position after law school.
The integrity of this community is immensely important to our members and underlies this platform's effectiveness. We will therefore review Idea Bank members and their current positions annually. Members must follow the Idea Bank’s rules of engagement.
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When I become an Idea Bank member, what should I do?
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Set up your profile. After becoming an Idea Bank member, please set your profile to “public.” This setting allows the rest of the community to see that you are a member. It also gives you access to the forum. Your profile will be “public” only to other Idea Bank members-- not the general public. We also invite you to add a photo and a short bio to your profile.
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Upload ideas.
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Explore the content on the Idea Bank and post your comments and questions.
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Sign up for Idea Exchanges-- small group discussions on selected topics.
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Submit feedback to Idea Bank facilitators by clicking on one of the “submit feedback” buttons on the site and submitting your comments. You can also email us at ideabank@corpaccountabilitylab.org. Our goal is for this platform to evolve and improve based on the needs and feedback of the community, so please reach out with suggestions!
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How do I submit an idea?
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You can submit an idea by clicking on "Submit Your Idea." A form will prompt you to enter some basic information and select a category to house your idea from a drop down menu. If your idea does not fit into any of the categories, please select "Other" and note below in the form what this new category might be. If you selected one of the existing categories, your idea will automatically upload on the Idea Bank once you hit "submit" (this might take a few seconds). If you selected "Other," we will create the new category as soon as we can and your idea will appear in the new category. You will also be prompted to select a “level of review” for your document, which will indicate to other members the level of review the document has undergone.
If you have trouble uploading an idea, you can email the Idea Bank team at ideabank@corpaccountabilitylab.org and we will upload it for you.
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What should I upload?
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The Idea Bank is a space to share ideas and legal strategies. Any information, whether it is a memo, report, or other document is welcome. Do you have some notes or an internal memo lying around about a new idea of how to use a specific strategy for corporate accountability? Upload it to the site and share and discuss this idea with other members!
How do I see ideas others have submitted?
All submitted Ideas are uploaded to the Idea Bank. You can find them by going into the category where it is uploaded, or, if you know the title of a document but not where it is, you can use the search function.
What does the color coding scheme mean?
We want you to upload ALL the ideas you have, particularly the ones that aren't well thought out yet. For you to feel comfortable doing this, we introduced a color code indicating the level of review every document has had. When you upload a document through the “submit your Idea” form, you will be prompted to choose a “level of review” for the document. Low (red) will tell other members that this idea has not been reviewed (for instance an internal memo by an intern). A publication or filed petition on the other hand could be marked as having a high level of review (green). Documents that have received some level of review could be marked moderate (yellow).
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How do I update/correct a document?
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Please send an email to ideabank@corpaccountabilitylab.org. The Idea Bank team will correct your error or remove a document you uploaded by mistake.
If my idea doesn’t fit into any of the existing categories, how will it be uploaded?
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If your idea doesn’t fit into one of the existing Idea Bank categories, that’s great! We hope that the topics covered on the Idea Bank will expand and be relevant to the community. Please upload your idea and select “Other” from the dropdown category menu. The CAL team will review your idea and create a new category for the site.
How do I comment on ideas?
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To comment and ask questions about an idea, you can post in the Forum (and tag the author if you’d like to ask them directly) or add a comment to the landing page for a particular idea.
I have multiple ideas to submit. Can I submit them all at once?
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Please upload each of your ideas individually, write a description, and choose a category so each one can be organized appropriately. If you have trouble uploading your ideas or have questions about the process, reach out to the facilitation team at ideabank@corpaccountabilitylab.org.
How can I connect with the Idea Bank community on and off of the platform?
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You can comment on individual ideas in the comment sections or write a general post in the Forum (called Community Discussion). We have also created a listserv, to which you should have been added when you became a member. Feel free to use this listserv to send around questions, comments or ideas that you want a quick response to.
We also host Idea Exchanges-- small-group discussions (about 5-8 people) on selected topics of the Idea Bank. They are a great way to engage with other members. Upcoming Idea Exchanges and sign ups will be posted on the email listserv and site forum.