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.
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.
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.
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.
I hope it inspires you.
August 2020
