AnswerGarden, a tool for collecting feedback, brainstorming, or generating word clouds
Poll and survey creatorsWord cloud creators
Description: AnswerGarden is a tool for collecting feedback, brainstorming ideas, or generating word clouds. Users submit short responses to a prompt, and the tool aggregates these responses to create a visual representation, i.e. a word cloud, displaying the most common answers. These can then be circulated through a URL or embedded in a website or blog. Answer Garden is free but requires having an account to create word clouds, although not for visualising them. AnswerGarden was developed by Creative Heroes, a Dutch design agency.
Evaluation: AnswerGarden is an easy-to-use, valuable tool for sharing surveys, collecting feedback, or assessing knowledge of a certain topic. AnswerGarden works best with simple questions with one-word answers as there is a character limit of 20 or 40 characters, depending on the setting selected. As a drawback regarding other similar tools, word clouds do not update automatically. Instead, the presenter needs to click on refresh to see new answers.
Cost: Free.
Usability and tech notes ▼
Time efficiency 
Time needed to learn how to use a tool and its time-saving potential: Medium.
Interface language(s) The number of languages in which the tool is currently available/adaptable to: English.
Respect for privacy What data does the tool collect and why? What security measures are there? GDPR compliant? : Medium. AnswerGarden gathers personally identifiable information (PII), such as email addresses and names, but only to provide its services. It employs cookies and shows personalised advertising, although users can opt out of this. It does not mention compliance with the GDPR. AnswerGarden’s privacy policy was reviewed for the last time in 2017. See more here.
Saving work for future use Can work be saved for future use?: Yes, but having an account is required to edit existing word clouds.