The challenge, according to Jack Fuller in the Summer 2010 Edition of Nieman Reports, is ‘to induce people to want what they need’. In this way journalists – and I’d say content producers by extension – can go some way to improve engagement in dialogue with other members of our community, including those with opposing views. This will form part of my argument in this blog strand that increased engagement is good on a community level, and furthermore on a political level.

The role of the web in creating dialogue

The beauty of the modern Web is that is allows users to choose what news they receive, and filter out what they don’t want. Unfortunately, this means that it is too easy to only ever be exposed to those views you agree with.

For this reason there is an argument for making sure that demand (what people want) is ‘right’ (what they need, including conflicting viewpoints). Of course, we don’t want to be paternalistic about this, so it should be an opt-in system. But at the same time we should be encouraging people to do just that: opt-in.

It’s this encouraging of people to expose themselves to opposing viewpoints which I will be exploring in this section of the blog. I’ll also be looking at the technology which will help, as I think the web is a great tool for this, and is one of my primary interests.