Complex mediation in the formation of political opinions

Yubo Kou, Bonnie Nardi

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Internet plays an important role in the formation of political opinions by supporting citizens in discovering diverse political information and opinions. However, the echo chamber effect has become of increasing concern, referring to the tendency for people to encounter opinions and information similar to their own online. It remains poorly understood how ordinary citizens use the Internet in the formation of political opinions. To answer this question, we conducted an interview study with 32 Chinese citizens. We found that participants used complex strategies to coordinate personal networks and technologies in specific ways to better understand political events. To analyze this phenomenon, we draw on Bødker and Andersen's model of complex mediation which describes how multiple mediators including people and artifacts work together to mediate an activity. We discuss how complex mediation supported participants in informing their political opinions. We derive design implications for supporting people to form political opinions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationCHI 2018 - Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Subtitle of host publicationEngage with CHI
PublisherAssociation for Computing Machinery
ISBN (Electronic)9781450356206, 9781450356213
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 20 2018
Event2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2018 - Montreal, Canada
Duration: Apr 21 2018Apr 26 2018

Publication series

NameConference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings
Volume2018-April

Other

Other2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI 2018
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityMontreal
Period4/21/184/26/18

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Software
  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Complex mediation in the formation of political opinions'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this