Testing the new Urtak poll widget

I've stumbled across an interesting poll/quiz widget called Urtak that not only collects data but allows participates to add their own questions. 

That's an interesting twist on traditional online quizzes, and ensures that where you start may not be where you end up.

I've embedded the poll widget in the upper right of all my page templates, and currently am asking questions about personal technology. Give it a spin and let me know what you think. 

Urtak is a polling widget with a twistUrtak (an Icelandic word meaning "statistical sample") is free and simple to get started, although it took me three tries to make sure my questions were written in the required Yes/No phrasing. And while adding questions is a snap, I was unable to edit my mistakes or disable quizzes, which go live immediately for the world to see. Until you get the hang of writing in a Yes/No format, it's easy to mess up, so having an edit function would seem like a major need.

Responses are random so don't expect scientific results. But do expect your readers to add their own twists by sharing questions that may take your poll in new directions. 

I do like the ability to cross tabluate questions, which can add interesting layers once responses get sizable. 

And I like that you can't pick and choose questions. The only way to see the next question is to ask the one at hand. The community can influence questions it doesn't like. The more people click "Don't Care" on a question, the less that question is asked.

Cross-tabulating questions can add new insight once you start getting lots of responses.

Urtak currently says nearly 10,000 "Urtaks" are live, containing 65,000 questions and more than 14.6 million responses. Topics and languages run the gamut. The Urtak folks have been smart in making it easy to add widgets to the Facebook, Tumblr, Blogger, Typepad and Squarespace platforms so expect those numbers to grow. 

Update on Monday, September 16, 2013 at 8:33 PM by Logan Molen

Sadly, Urtak has announced it is shutting down, effective Seot. 20. Yet another good idea that just never gained enough traction. 

Comments

[Laura]

Thanks for the feedback, Logan! We've just released a WordPress plugin to make integration even easier, and comments are always appreciated :)