pol.is

{{Short description|Open-source software}}

{{Infobox software

| title = Polis

| developer = The Computational Democracy Project - a 501(c)3 nonprofit

| license = AGPLv3 (open-source)

| website = https://pol.is

}}

Polis (or Pol.is) is wiki survey software designed for large group collaborations.{{Cite news |last=Soper |first=Tyler |date=April 17, 2014 |title=Startup Spotlight: Pol.is uses machine learning, data visualization to help large groups spur conversation |url=https://www.geekwire.com/2014/startup-spotlight-polis/ |work=GeekWire}} An example of a civic technology, Polis allows people to share their opinions and ideas, and its algorithm is intended to elevate ideas that can facilitate better decision-making,{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=Carl |author-link=Carl Miller (author) |date=2020-09-27 |title=How Taiwan's 'civic hackers' helped find a new way to run the country |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/27/taiwan-civic-hackers-polis-consensus-social-media-platform |access-date=2024-02-27 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} especially when there are lots of participants.{{Cite web |date=2023-07-19 |title=British political candidate uses artificial intelligence to draw up election manifesto |url=https://apnews.com/article/artificial-intelligence-britain-election-c98e0eed6808c3a0c172a838e3ff838f |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=AP News |language=en}}

Polis has been credited for assisting the passage of legislation in Taiwan.{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=Carl |author-link= |date=November 26, 2019 |title=Taiwan is making democracy work again. It's time we paid attention |url=https://www.wired.co.uk/article/taiwan-democracy-social-media |access-date=2024-02-27 |work=Wired UK |language=en-GB |issn=1357-0978}} Pol.is has also been used in America, Canada, Singapore,{{Cite news |last=Narayanan |first=Darshana |date=March 22, 2019 |title=Opinion: Technology and political will can create better governance |url=https://www.economist.com/open-future/2019/03/22/technology-and-political-will-can-create-better-governance |access-date=2024-05-04 |work=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}} Philippines,{{Cite web |last=Ranada |first=Pia |date=2020-10-10 |title=Pasig uses online tech to consult residents on 'open streets' proposal amid pandemic |url=https://www.rappler.com/philippines/pasig-city-uses-polis-consult-residents-open-streets-proposal/ |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=RAPPLER |language=en-US}} Spain{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Khari |date=2020-07-04 |title=How AI can empower communities and strengthen democracy |url=https://venturebeat.com/ai/how-ai-can-empower-communities-and-strengthen-democracy/ |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=VentureBeat |language=en-US}} and other governments around the world.{{Cite web |last=Thorburn |first=Luke |last2=Ovadya |first2=Aviv |date=October 31, 2023 |title=Social media algorithms can be redesigned to bridge divides — here’s how |url=https://www.niemanlab.org/2023/10/social-media-algorithms-can-be-redesigned-to-bridge-divides-heres-how/ |access-date=2024-07-17 |website=Nieman Lab}}

Pol.is was founded by Colin Megill, Christopher Small, and Michael Bjorkegren after the Occupy Wall Street and Arab Spring movements.

In Taiwan, pol.is has been "one of the key parts" of vTaiwan's suite of open-source tools for its citizen engagement efforts arising out of the Sunflower Student Movement.{{Cite web |last=Horton |first=Chris |date=August 21, 2018 |title=The simple but ingenious system Taiwan uses to crowdsource its laws |url=https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/08/21/240284/the-simple-but-ingenious-system-taiwan-uses-to-crowdsource-its-laws/ |access-date=2024-02-27 |website=MIT Technology Review |language=en}} vTaiwan claims that of the 26 national issues related to technology were discussed on the platform and 80% led to government action. Pol.is is also utilized by "Join," a national platform for online deliberation run by the Taiwanese government.{{Cite news |last=Tang |first=Audrey |author-link=Audrey Tang |date=2019-10-15 |title=Opinion {{!}} A Strong Democracy Is a Digital Democracy |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/15/opinion/taiwan-digital-democracy.html |access-date=2024-05-04 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite news |last=Tang |first=Audrey |date=March 12, 2019 |title=Opinion: Inside Taiwan’s new digital democracy |url=https://www.economist.com/open-future/2019/03/12/inside-taiwans-new-digital-democracy |access-date=2024-05-04 |work=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}} Megill credits Audrey Tang and CL Kao, a cofounder of g0v, with convincing him to open-source pol.is.{{Cite news |last=Leonard |first=Andrew |date=July 30, 2020 |title=How Taiwan’s Unlikely Digital Minister Hacked the Pandemic |url=https://www.wired.com/story/how-taiwans-unlikely-digital-minister-hacked-the-pandemic/ |access-date=2024-05-04 |work=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028}}

In 2023, Megill advised OpenAI on how to facilitate deliberation at scale in a way that was more efficient that Polis, which still required significant human labor and analysis at the time. He helped to award $1 million in grants to teams working on solving the problem of deliberation at scale.{{Cite web |last=Perrigo |first=Billy |date=2024-02-05 |title=Inside OpenAI's Plan to Make AI More 'Democratic' |url=https://time.com/6684266/openai-democracy-artificial-intelligence/ |access-date=2024-11-14 |website=TIME |language=en}}

Reception

Andrew Leonard, The Financial Times, and VentureBeat describe Pol.is as a possible antidote to the divisiveness of traditional internet discourse by gamifying consensus.{{Cite news |last=Warrell |first=Helen |date=2021-07-13 |title=Time for AI to pull up a chair to the negotiating table |url=https://www.ft.com/content/8f2f5a9f-ddca-4a53-8091-f6ec3b88af4b |access-date=2024-11-11 |work=Financial Times}} Audrey Tang agreed saying, "Polis is quite well known in that it's a kind of social media that instead of polarizing people to drive so called engagement or addiction or attention, it automatically drives bridge making narratives and statements. So only the ideas that speak to both sides or to multiple sides will gain prominence in Polis."{{Cite web |last=Richman |first=Josh |date=2024-02-27 |title=Podcast Episode: Open Source Beats Authoritarianism |url=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/02/podcast-episode-open-source-beats-authoritarianism |access-date=2024-07-14 |website=Electronic Frontier Foundation |language=en |quote=Polis is quite well known in that it's a kind of social media that instead of polarizing people to drive so called engagement or addiction or attention, it automatically drives bridge making narratives and statements. So only the ideas that speak to both sides or to multiple sides will gain prominence in Polis. And then the algorithm surfaces to the top so that people understand, oh, despite our seeming differences that were magnified by mainstream and other antisocial media, there are common grounds...}}

Carl Miller praised the technology as having "gamified finding consensus."{{Cite news |last=Miller |first=Carl |date=2019-10-25 |title=Crossing Divides: How a social network could save democracy from deadlock |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-50127713 |access-date=2024-07-06 |work=BBC |language=en-GB}}

Darshana Narayanan, in an op-ed in the Economist, argues that open-source machine-learning-based tools like Polis can help to bypass the influence of special interests or experts.{{Cite news |last=Narayanan |first=Darshana |date=March 22, 2019 |title=Opinion: Technology and political will can create better governance |url=https://www.economist.com/open-future/2019/03/22/technology-and-political-will-can-create-better-governance |access-date=2024-05-04 |work=The Economist |issn=0013-0613}}

Jamie Susskind cited polis and vTaiwan as a model for democracies, particularly around digital policy issues.{{Cite book |last=Susskind |first=Jamie |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/on1259049405 |title=The digital republic: on freedom and democracy in the 21st century |date=2022 |publisher=Pegasus Books |isbn=978-1-64313-901-2 |location=New York |chapter=Chapter 20 |oclc=on1259049405}}

See also

References