What would politics be like if we thought about the way citizens experience it?
We have all had the experience of a clunky website or technical gadget that was difficult to use. Typically, the experience prompted us to look elsewhere. Perhaps it’s time to consider the “user interface” design of political systems that lies at the heart of a functioning (or broken) democracy.
The “user experience” is vital to long-term public support of social policies that must stand the test of time. In the past, I’ve called this the Cognitive Criterion for Public Support:
An effective policy must be popular if it is to stand the test of time and it must be popular for the right reasons, namely because it promotes the right long-term values in the minds of citizens, reinforced through the lived experience.
While at the Rockridge Institute, this criterion was applied to a comparative analysis of two legislative proposals for dealing with global warming. The core element of my analysis was an insight from the field of cognitive linguistics that meanings arise through the structure of experience. This has developed into a foundational theme for “cognitive” policies – the frames, values, modes of thought, and worldviews that make sense of a public policy, reinforced through the lived experience.
(Learn more about cognitive policy here.)
This perspective evokes the idea that “usability” and “user design interfaces” can transform the policy-making process and promote widespread engagement in solving societal problems – a sort of Open Source Solution to Social Problems. I am seeking out innovators who work in this area to contribute to the development and implementation of this far-reaching and potentially transformative approach to solving social problems.
Want to join the discussion? Contact me or add comments in the thread below.
Best,
Joe Brewer
Founder, Cognitive Policy Works
Joe, I posted this comment on my Facebook profile when I shared this article.
We have CPAs, certified public accountants, who help us measure our private wealth. We need CSAs, certified service accountants, who help us measure our common wealth.
CSAs would facilitate common enterprise entrepreneurs, commonly called elected officials, community organizers, etc. In states like Ohio, where the lowest level of elected service is the elected precinct leader, CSA could help fund this public servants work.
Neighbors who wanted to get involved with starting a party or reforming their party would not have to be intimidated by complex campaign finance laws. The CSA would help precinct startups to faciliated neighborhood dialogue to build common wealth that pays strong and rising common dividends.
Hi Wade,
Some very good ideas in your thoughts. I agree that “user friendly” would be a lovely descriptor for a political system that is easy to engage people with. Isn’t it interesting that we don’t hear more discussion of how to make politics “user friendly”?
Sure seems like we could do better moving forward than we have in the past.
Best,
Joe
Your question prompts me to think of terms of “user friendly.” The avenue to civic engagement needs to be easy and comfortable. One way to achieve this goal is for friends, neighbors, and relatives to invite people they know to regular house meetings at which they can nurture solid friendships and support one another in their civic-engagement efforts.
Another mechanism could be monthly open-ended Community Dialogues with Public Officials that would be carefully structured to provide constituents a fair and reasonable opportunity to ask questions and make statements to their representatives.
Those are some quick, brief thoughts about the user interface between politics and citizens.
Hi Hammer,
Your point about targeting the user is well taken. I agree that there is not a single, monolithic experience of government that people have – nor should there be in a complex and pluralistic society like ours. What’s interesting to me is how values, modes of thought (especially what cog/sci geeks like myself call “cognitive models”), and moral worldviews are shaped by experience.
One important difference between user design for something like a website and user design for politics is how the “user” (a.k.a. citizen) can switch among many different roles through various experiential contexts… yet have motivations that stem from a common set of core moral values.
This allows for a higher level of complexity that creates a space for cultivating civic engagement over time – by promoting pro-social values that underly democratic participation.
Of course, there is a lot to unpack around this idea. I hope this comment is a stimulating starting point for discussion.
Best,
Joe
Very smart way of approaching policy. However the first part of Interface Design is identifying your target user. In the case of government, the end user is such a wide and varied group of individuals that it is a pointless task. It also goes back to the old phrase “You can’t please everybody”. Also the risk of the tyranny of the majority, that is common in democracy…
I’ve got theories on government structure that are based on the town hall model scaled up. But just theories.
it is an important thought process, and legislators should always be aware of the experience the “user” will have with any policy decision. Infact, I would like to hear more on this idea.