Final Project Presentation
My paper discussed the severe polarization between political parties in the United States. People all over the country are engaging in harmful rhetoric, trying to take down their “political opponents” even if they are neighbors or friends. The polarization in the United States Democracy has created an environment that has made people feel unsafe during their daily lives and especially while voting. One reason for the severe polarization is filter bubbles, a term coined by Eli Pariser. They are the personal universes of information that we live in online. These filter bubbles caused the spread of misinformation and fake news that we saw in the 2020 election. People were only getting information that confirmed their own biases, so they could not see the other side’s point of view. I learned from theorists such as Hannah Arendt, Tony Fry, and Leticia Wolff that one way to try to dispel the polarization and pop these filter bubbles is by allowing people to share their stories. By doing this, public discourse is created where people feel more safe sharing their views without the fear of any backlash. Some questions that arose at the end of my paper about how designers can try to design interventions to help depolarize and pop filter bubbles include: how do designers make sure that filter bubbles do not continue to create a spew of misinformation that can lead to severe polarization? How do designers ensure that communities continue to have open dialogues?
In comes, Across the Aisle, a platform that only allows you to follow and connect with people who have opposing political ideologies from you. This platform will allow people to have a real discussion about politics without fear of backlash from their peers. The point of this platform isn’t to allow people to convince others to join their side but to allow them to begin to understand each other’s views and thoughts. It will show users the necessity of communication within communities in order to help dispel polarization. Obviously, this can open up a lot of negativity so there will be rules and guidelines in place to make sure that this won’t happen. When you sign up for Across the Aisle, you will have to go through a vetting process. This will make sure that you are someone that actually wants to have a conversation and learn and not someone who is trying to force their political agenda on others. After getting accepted onto the platform, you will take a questionnaire that will identify your political views. Then you will create your profile and be able to choose a discussion topic you find interesting. These topics range from voting laws to international relations. After choosing a discussion topic, the platform will match you with someone that you can have a conversation about the topic. You will be able to video chat, voice chat, or just message. Before the conversation begins, both people have to agree to the guidelines of the platform. In order to get the conversation going, you will be given discussion questions that allow you to relate on a human level first before diving into the politics of it all. The platform monitors the conversations for harmful rhetoric, if it gets heated, the platform will ask you to take a break and come back to the discussion. After you have a productive conversation, you are given a badge. Based on the number of badges you have, you are able to unlock deeper topics as well as group discussions. On your profile, you are able to post discussion threads as well as display your badges. The twist is you can only see profiles from people across the aisle.
Example Discussion Channel Topics
Starter Topics
2020 Election
2020 Presidential Candidates
Mail In voting
New Voting Policies in Different States
Political Parties
Upgraded Topics
International Relations
Climate Change
Gun Control
Abortion Rights
Immigration Rights
LQBTQ+ Rights
My Prototype: