A tool to understand both sides of the political debate.

Poliloq is a project created for the 2019 RSA Student Design Awards in London, UK. Its aim is to improve the quality of citizens’ participation in public decision making within the democratic process.

 
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Context + Client

Our team of 5 selected a brief that challenged us to “design a digital solution to increase the quality and quantity of citizens’ participation in the democratic process.” The brief was sponsored by Twitter, a platform we believed has higher stakes in a quality-of-participation solution – something they could potentially integrate into their existing product. So we made that our focus.

We found that there’s a growing distrust of the media and confusion surrounding what information is true and what is not. Citizens are becoming increasingly polarized in their political views, and entrenched within echo chambers. Because of this, people are often unable to understand and discuss opposing political perspectives which impedes the democratic process. Wouldn’t it be better if online political discussions were more productive, and less hostile? If people could more easily understand opposing views, exit their echo chambers, and discuss based on factual information?

These were the questions that we set out to solve through design. My main role in the project was to manage content flow and hierarchy, build prototypes, and develop the brand. I was also responsible for research, refining concepts and recording usability testing results.

 

The Process

We surveyed 228 individuals aged 15-60 and discovered that 90% consume their political information online, with 33% claiming to engage in political discussion online. Of the group, 77% expressed difficulty in finding credible political information. These figures helped us validate that a market exists for what we were setting out to build. From here, we conducted secondary research regarding market analysis and competitor analysis. We then completed a S.W.O.T. analysis, stakeholder analysis and value proposition canvas in order to gain a better understanding of our customer, what their current pains are and how we could provide value. As a result of our research, we gathered four key insights that we used to drive the project:

  1. It’s important to understand how and why people justify opposing viewpoints

  2. Social media’s current algorithm traps people in echo chambers

  3. There is growing concern over the accuracy of information online

  4. Trust and transparency are important values to uphold for a solution that handles information

We then conducted a How Might We design sprint to brainstorm solutions and narrow our focus to the most important components. As a result of the sprint, we began to formulate early concepts of what a solution could be. Some of the many concepts we considered were: a chrome extension that identifies fallacies and misleading information, a blockchain database that accounts for versioning, and a feed algorithm (similar to Facebook) that displays opposing topics, meant to combat echo chambers.

 
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Examples from the HMW design sprint:

  • HMW connect people to the right resources

  • HMW engage informative conversations instead of reinforcing held beliefs

  • HMW make open minded discussion more fun

  • HMW come to agreements

  • HMW encourage open dissent

  • HMW foster humility

 

However, none of our ideas felt robust enough to solve the challenge we were facing. So we kept working over the following weeks, piecing together elements, consulting university professors and peers, experimenting with concepts and features, and slowly emerged Poliloq - a tool to help people understand both sides of the political debate. The core attributes that we envisioned for Poliloq were:

  • A decentralized system

  • A secure system

  • Wiki functionality for crowdsourced information

  • An environment that encourages open mindedness and critical thinking

  • A place that fosters mutual understanding

  • An overall reduction of political polarization

After we had our concept and direction selected, we began the prototype phase. We kicked off this phase with a timed design sprint using pen and paper to draw possible ways that the product could flow. After pitching our ideas to each other and dot voting on the best components, we began wire-framing and rapid prototyping different options. Emphasis was put on information architecture and hierarchy to create the most natural and fluid experience for users.

Over the following week, the prototype came together.

 

Some of the results from the paper prototype design sprint and dot voting:

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An early iteration of a high fidelity prototype:

 
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The final design:

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When our prototype was sufficient for testing, we set up in a high traffic area and attracted passerby with Timbits (Canadian doughnut holes).

We tested with 5 users, first providing them with an overview of the project, then giving them several core tasks to complete, and finally asking them their thoughts.

During usability testing, we learned that users had a strong interest in how crowdsourced information is verified and how contributor permissions would be introduced over time. This confirmed our assumption that these processes need to be well defined and transparent in order to evoke trust in the platform.

To facilitate the verification system, all information that is edited or added to Poliloq requires an attached source, with the history visible and secured using blockchain. Users can vote on claims through community polls to help verification. Over time, users will gain permissions which will give them more control over the information on Poliloq. This multiple level system is below.

 
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Final Thoughts

Poliloq’s final design is a result of research, insights, design thinking, and iterations. User experience was a priority when designing the platform. We focused on producing a lean product, creating the most essential elements, while simultaneously planning for scalability.

We solve the problem indirectly, through reasoning that is not immediately obvious. Poliloq’s value will increase over time as the size of its database increases. This will also perpetually increase the value that our users receive. This is not a simple, one-time fix to solve the problem of inaccurate news, but a tool, that over time will help people make better informed decisions and develop more compelling opinions.

We are not telling people what they should or should not believe as the truth; instead we are helping people present their beliefs more strongly so that productive debate can ensue, thereby improving the quality of the democratic process.

Twitter reached out to our team after the design awards with a personal note to congratulate us on a strong project, an incredible amount of work, and great research. They also expressed interest in using our project in an upcoming blog post.

View the prototype at poliloq.webflow.io

View the project proposal here