For years, David Lazer has studied the ways in which technology is shaping Democracy in the United States. It doesn't look good—political polarization is increasing, trust in the media is declining, and income and wealth disparities are more stark than they've been in at least 40 years, he found.
But Lazer, distinguished professor of Political Science and Computer Science and Information Technology at the University, sees the challenges as opportunities for change.
To engage with a constituency increasingly entrenched in one political camp or another, and informed by algorithms rather than traditional, reliable news sources; Lazer suggests politicians meet citizens in online town hall-style meetings. His recommendation is based on a series of experiments he and two other researchers describe in a new paper Book called Politics with the People: Building a Directly Representative Democracy.
