Breaking Echoes
A strategic design intervention that combats political polarization and media bias
The world we live in, weaponizes bias to swing narratives and drive populations apart. We conducted an investigative study into the causes and effects of affective polarization through Media and Journalism on North America college campuses. By adopting a design thinking approach - leveraging behavioral nudges, experience and information design to find strategic interventions, we aim to take step in the right direction to restore independent thinking and grey-area dialogue, while reducing social tribalism.
This project was carried out in partnership with Shefali Dhar at Parsons School of Design and was recognized as Capstone Project of the Year 2024 at The New School.
Context
Graduate Thesis / Capstone
Role
UX Research, Strategy, Product Design, Art Direction, Business
Industry
Media and Journalism
Date
2024
Process
This project was carried out across 30 weeks, under the guidance of various contributors - researchers, academics, social scientists, journalists, policy advocates, anthropologists and most importantly the common person, dwindling in a polarized state. Starting from discovery through dialogue, we were able to find some key factors that affected the minds of the American adult - informing their decision making and opinions.
The state of information today causes the consumers to repel one another and move further away on ideological lines - leaving no room for nuanced discourse.
How might we reduce political polarization between groups of people through the information they consume?
Channel the force of information in a centripetal manner, to create stability and nuance in discourse while making civic duty and participation, palatable.
abridge is a news platform that embraces diverse ideas by gathering all perspectives and giving you the vocabulary to understand your opinions
Our approach
Aggregation
Filtered and vetted news articles that provide perspectives from as many standpoints as possible.
Reflection
A tool for guided opinion- making: users swipe through subtopics to gauge feelings on broader issues, with an echo chamber analysis.
Conversation
Matching echo chamber breakdowns with political representatives, enabling users to vote based on issues, not just party alliances.
Participation
A social media layer that connects users from different echo chambers to further converse on divisive issues.
Resume