What is The Commons? 

The Commons project was a response to the challenging political and social climate in the United States. Many people are observing and experiencing a decrease in constructive conversations, respect, and open-mindedness in their everyday interactions, in the media, and in politics. Among the different factors contributing to this are the ways that social media platforms, including Facebook and Twitter, are built and shape our communication and interactions. These platforms make it easier for us to surround ourselves with like-minded people, interact with people with differing views in ways that emphasise our differences, and generally deepen political divides.  

The core premise of The Commons is that we believe a majority of people in the USA are not actively driving polarisation. Rather, polarization ishappeningtous. Through the last decade, researchers working to understand the impact of emerging information and communications technology(ICTs) posit that political groupings have become siloed, increasing the polarisation of public discourse. Moving people from passively accepting a context that escalates conflict to constructively engaging in mediating dialogue in their society is an enormous challenge. In the USA, a plethora of initiatives that leverage ICTs to encourage constructive dialogue and engagement online have emerged over the past few years. However, many of these initiatives reach very few people, and mostly people who are already predisposed to depolarised behaviours.  

That’s the gap we are trying to fill: finding people who don’t realise polarisation is happening to them. The Commonsidentifies people engaged in political discussions about the USA on Twitter and Facebook, analyses the likelihood that they are at risk of polarisation, and organises a network of facilitators aided by automation to engage them in conversation. ​Our facilitated conversations seek to help people understand and make different choices in their interactions, online and offline, particularly around political differences, and offer skills and resources to promote constructive conversations, listening and respect.   The Commons is a project of ​BuildUp​, a non-profit that works to transform conflict in the digital age. The approach was piloted with funding from the City of The Hague in 2017, and an evaluation of the pilot is available ​here​. Throughout 2019, it was funded by the ​Omidyar Network​.