Pol.is
| Developer(s) | The Computational Democracy Project - a 501(c)3 nonprofit |
|---|---|
| License | AGPLv3 (open-source) |
| Website | https://pol.is |
Polis (or Pol.is) is a software designed to get large groups of people to collaborate.[1] By allowing people to share their opinions and ideas, its algorithm helps to elevate ideas that can facilitate consensus decision-making.[2]
By September 2020, this civic technology had helped to form the core of dozens of pieces of legislation passed in Taiwan.[2] Proponents had sought out a way to inform the government with the opinions of citizens between elections while also providing an online outlet for citizens that was less divisive and more informative than social media and other large websites.[2][3] Polis has also been used in America, Canada and Singapore.[4]
Colin Megill is one of the cofounders of Pol.is along with Christopher Small and Michael Bjorkegren who built it after Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring.[4]
Darshana Narayanan argues that open-source machine-learning-based tools like Polis can help to bypass the influence of special interests or experts.[4] The software is intended as an antidote to the divisiveness of traditional internet discourse.[5]
Taiwan[edit]
vTaiwan[edit]
vTaiwan has relied on pol.is as a major component in its efforts to solicit citizen engagement.[6] vTaiwan has also built on top of it by taking away features like the ability to reply to other people's comments as a way to minimize trolling.[6] As of 2019, 26 national issues related to technology were discussed on the platform and 80% led to government action.[4]
Join[edit]
The national platform for online deliberation in Taiwan, "Join" is run by the government and focuses on all issues, whereas vTaiwan is run by citizens and focuses on digital issues.[7][8] "Join" was, by 2018, able to attract 5 million citizens to join, far more than vTaiwan had up until that point, and it also used Pol.is.[6] The software allowed for even the questions posed to be reframed towards a focus on root causes, for example, if that's where a consensus could be found.[6] Audrey Tang emphasizes that unanimity is not the goal with this tool, but "rough consensus" where a tolerable compromise is found.[5] Megill credits Tang and CL Kao, a cofounder of g0v, with convincing him to open-source pol.is.[5]
External links[edit]
- Media coverage for Pol.is
- Can Taiwan Reboot Democracy? by Click (BBC) via YouTube
- Consul Democracy
- CrowdLaw homepage
References[edit]
- ^ Soper, Tyler (April 17, 2014). "Startup Spotlight: Pol.is uses machine learning, data visualization to help large groups spur conversation". GeekWire.
- ^ a b c Miller, Carl (2020-09-27). "How Taiwan's 'civic hackers' helped find a new way to run the country". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-02-27.
- ^ Miller, Carl (November 26, 2019). "Taiwan is making democracy work again. It's time we paid attention". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Retrieved 2024-02-27.
- ^ a b c d Narayanan, Darshana (March 22, 2019). "Opinion: Technology and political will can create better governance". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2024-05-04.
- ^ a b c Leonard, Andrew (July 30, 2020). "How Taiwan's Unlikely Digital Minister Hacked the Pandemic". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2024-05-04.
- ^ a b c d Horton, Chris (August 21, 2018). "The simple but ingenious system Taiwan uses to crowdsource its laws". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2024-02-27.
- ^ Tang, Audrey (2019-10-15). "Opinion | A Strong Democracy Is a Digital Democracy". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-05-04.
- ^ Tang, Audrey (March 12, 2019). "Opinion: Inside Taiwan's new digital democracy". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2024-05-04.