You Decide

by Alasdair

Northern California’s KQED Public Television has developed an inspiring tool “You Decide”.

You Decide describes itself as an “online devil’s advocate designed to challenge your point of view on current issues.”

The debates are centred on the issues that are facing the candidates and the American voters in the presidential race. The user is asked to answer “yes” or “no” to a question relating to current issues and debates. Whichever way the user answers they are asked to consider the other side through the presentation of facts, figures and alternative arguments. After reading and deliberating, and given the chance of going back and forth in those deliberations, the user is asked for their final vote. This is followed by an opportunity to post comments and thoughts and to participate with others in the discussion area. Sound bites from the presidential candidates are also included.

What I love about this is that it provides both sides of the argument with credible content. It is well researched and it presents actual facts and figures. It is not designed to change your mind, rather it gets you thinking about the topic, exposes the users to alternative points of view and brings together people who have different opinions to talk intelligently about them.

This is a wonderful example of how social media can be used to engage people and encourage dialogue. Too often social media is thought of as being synonymous with social networks or online communities. Collecting congruent people who share similar thoughts and experiences is not going to lead to meaningful dialogue or significant change. It is great to see a shift in the way people are thinking about and using social media.

Bookmark and Share
[del.icio.us] [Digg] [Google] [StumbleUpon] [Windows Live] [Yahoo!] [Email] More »
Powered by Bookmarkify™

Previously

Viral Marketing

Viral marketing—why such an off-putting term? Well, it’s become increasingly more fitting these days, standing for marketing efforts that usually comes across as crass, undesirable, and in-your-face. Spreading the word via the internet like a disease, into every appropriate (and inappropriate) channel, doesn’t sound like the type of marketing companies or agencies would want [...]

The Changing face of Social Media

In relation to the timeline of communication tools, websites are only a millisecond old. Even if we disregard paintings on cave walls and the formation of the alphabet and just start from the first printed word, websites are mere saplings against the giant redwood.
Yet it is hard to imagine a life without websites; they [...]

The common fallacy in the Grey Market

The Grey or Silver Market starts around age fifty and continues to the end of life’s journey.
In America alone, there are 78 million baby boomers, people born post 1950. Unlike the majority of generations before them, these boomers will lead more active, inventive and creative lives than their predecessors.
It is well documented that people are [...]

Recent Posts

Contributors

Clare Munn
Alasdair Munn
Clinton Fein
Lucia Stoller
Ned Clarke
Gail Bailey
Allan Munn

Network

Pangeaday.org
The Sierra Club
Women’s HIV Program
Conservation Strategy Fund
Get Smart Radio
Seneca Falls
TED.com
Environment Africa
George Mark Foundation
Justin Dart Foundation
Ohlhoff Foundation
Home Away from Homelessness
Learn2Adopt, Learn2Foster

Tags

Blogroll

Spam Blocked