How Can We Be Different And Still Get Along? Polarisation in a Digital Age
About 2 years ago, I entertained the idea of writing a book. I wanted it to be on polarisation, which I had dedicated a lot of time to researching and being an activist in. I wrote an outline, which can be accessed here, and thought I would just need another 15,000 words to turn it into full manuscript. I spoke with many agents, and a couple of publishers, but although many loved the ideas, few thought it was commercially viable for publication.
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This draft was finished in the summer of 2019. Since then it’s been lying dormant in my hard drive. I considered rewriting it as a think-tank report, which would involve a lot of design, formatting and style changes. I was unable to secure any sort of grant for that. So, this particular report has been waylaid.
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Until now. A number of people have requested more of my writing on polarisation. I've sent them this and received a lot of positive responses. I realised it would do much more good published than languishing on my desktop.
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This paper includes
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The story of the Echo Chamber Club
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A clear articulation of the 'old' way of understanding echo chambers
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A new articulation incorporating identity, language and power
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A framework to understand disagreement reconciliation via mutual recognition
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Some ideas to build recognition into technology products.
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I hope it inspires you.
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August 2020
