YourView
 | |
Type of site | Debate, deliberative democracy |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Founded | May 2012 |
| Headquarters | , |
| Owner | OurView Foundation |
| Founder(s) | Tim van Gelder |
| URL | yourview.org.au |
| Current status | Inactive |
YourView is an Australian not-for-profit debate website, founded in 2012.
Drawing upon the aims and principles of deliberative democracy theory, the website promotes considered debate in order to establish the "collective viewpoint" on political and social issues.[1]
Organisation
YourView is supported by the not-for-profit Ourview Foundation (ACN 154 763 970), established in 2011 by the Australian philosopher Tim Van Gelder in collaboration with the public intellectual Paul Monk. It is funded by voluntary donations.[1]
The site was launched publicly in May 2012 and was maintained and developed by a staff of volunteers based in Melbourne. The website is currently inactive, and the project is on hold.
Content
YourView draws on ideas developed within the deliberative democracy movement, which promotes rational deliberation as a means of forming opinions and guiding policy decisions.[2]
Users initially vote for or against a proposition based on a current issue, and are subsequently invited to post comments to justify their adopted stance. Each debate is prefaced by an "explainer", which provides basic information about the issue being discussed including an outline of key arguments.[3]
As part of its objective to promote constructive and informed debate, YourView uses an algorithm to assign each user a credibility score; the algorithm aims to quantify a series of "epistemic virtues" that collectively determine the extent to which an individual user has contributed to the deliberative process. The raw "for-against" vote is weighted by user credibility scores to compute a "collective wisdom" metric,[3] thereby setting it apart from purely aggregative opinion polling.[4] Details about which factors influence the algorithm are not published, which reduces the model's transparency but aims to prevent users from gaming the system.[5]
References
- ^ a b "About YourView". YourView Australia. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
- ^ Short, Michael (14 March 2012). "Full transcript: Tim van Gelder". The Age. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
- ^ a b Simons, Margaret (27 February 2012). "New Kid on the Block: YourView, a more considered taste taker". Crikey. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
- ^ Short, Michael (14 March 2012). "The getting of wisdom". The Age. Retrieved 27 September 2012.
- ^ Grötker, Ralf (31 May 2012). "Software bestraft Schwätzer" (in German). Heise Online. Retrieved 27 September 2012.