Author Archives: Tim van Gelder

Political debate: how can we encourage playing by the rules?

Posted on June 3, 2013

We knew things were pretty dire, but a new poll has put some numbers onto our fears. The “Citizen’s Agenda” survey from the University of Melbourne has found that voters are “pretty appalled” at the standard of political debate, with 57% of … Continue reading →

Posted in Argumentation, Deliberation, Democracy, Political Debate, YourView | 2 Comments

“Direct Democracy” Exhibition and Forum

Posted on May 30, 2013

Yesterday The Age had a review of the Direct Democracy exhibition at the Monash University Museum of Art.  Robert Nelson wrote: “Our elections are contrived over highly controlled choices, where ‘‘the major political parties battle for the middle ground swing … Continue reading →

Posted in Deliberative democracy, Democracy, YourView | 1 Comment

What are issue clarifiers, and why do we need them?

Posted on May 3, 2013

This is an excerpt from a chapter to appear in a volume edited by Margaret Simons on “new media entrepreneurs”.  What is the bare minimum a citizen needs to know in order to have a reasonable, informed opinion on a … Continue reading →

Posted in Democracy, Issue clarifier, YourView | Leave a comment

Are Australian voters mis-aligned? How badly?

Posted on March 5, 2013

A recent survey in the US presented voters with three different plans with regard to the looming “sequestration“, without telling them which political party was behind each plan.  47% of Republican voters preferred a plan called The Balancing Act.   This … Continue reading →

Posted in Alignment, Democracy, Polling | Leave a comment

Aristotle on collective wisdom

Posted on July 16, 2012

Aristotle: when diverse groups “all come together… they may surpass – collectively and as a body, although not individually – the quality of the few best… When there are many who contribute to the process of deliberation, each can bring … Continue reading →

Posted in Deliberation, Quote | Leave a comment

Renewing Credibility

Posted on June 14, 2012

YourView is undergoing continual refinement behind the scenes.  Sometimes this is catching and fixing outright errors.  Other times we’re substantially improving the algorithms – particularly those crucial algorithms which determine a participants’ credibility. Having made a number of fixes, we … Continue reading →

Posted in Credibility, YourView | Leave a comment

Virtual democracy inevitable?

Posted on June 7, 2012

A key member of Australia’s Inner Commentariat, Rob Burgess, recently wrote a column Should Australia try Democracy.  To which one Frank Aquino responded: Back in the day, it was the obvious approach to take give that we couldn’t all fit … Continue reading →

Posted in Deliberative democracy, Democracy, Polling, Voting, YourView | 3 Comments

Thinking about YourView…

Posted on June 3, 2012

Two interesting reflections on YourView in the past few days.   First, this dialogue in the fictional Fog Island Tavern: Hey Abbé Boulah, I’m glad to see you here — I have  a question for you. And a good evening to … Continue reading →

Posted in Argumentation, YourView | Leave a comment

Zealots welcome too…

Yesterday’s Australian carried this: Boyer’s address to the Radio in Education Conference, January 1946: THERE seem to me to be two types of mind in any community. The first and the most numerous are those who are frankly indifferent to … Continue reading →

Aside | Posted on May 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

Democracy is strongest when…

Posted on May 16, 2012

From an editorial in today’s Age: “However strongly people in power might resent the right, citizens should not be denied free expression. Democracy is healthiest when contending views are exposed to debate and rebuttal. A politically constrained and uninformed ”debate” … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment