Rethinking News and Media System Design Towards Positive Societal Implications

2025-04-12

AI Summary

Information overload, algorithmic polarization, and filter bubbles are eroding public rational judgment and cross-ideological dialogue capacity, thereby threatening democratic foundations. To address this, we propose—drawing on social science theory and HCI practice—a novel design paradigm centered on *cognitive openness* and *dialogic accessibility*, instantiated in a prototype supporting reflective reading and structured deliberation. Our methodology integrates explainable recommendation algorithms, participatory design, and computational social science methods for empirical validation. Key contributions include: (1) a design framework for media systems that enhance democratic resilience; (2) seven actionable, theory-grounded HCI design principles; and (3) empirically validated educational interventions, tested across interdisciplinary, cross-cultural workshops. Collectively, these advances provide both theoretical grounding and technical pathways for rebuilding digital public spheres that resist polarization and foster inclusive civic engagement.

Technology Category

• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Humans and AI: Intelligent User Interfaces
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction

Application Category

• Social Networks and Social Media: Media and governance, opinion dynamics, filter bubbles, polarization
• Responsible Web: Algorithmic accountability and transparency on the web
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics for personalization

Abstract

Since this century, the speed, availability, and plethora of online informational content have made it increasingly difficult for humans to keep an overview of real-world situations, build a personal opinion, and sometimes even decide on the truth. Thereby, personal opinion-making and public discourse became harder - two essential building blocks that keep a democratic society alive. HCI thus needs to rethink news, information, and social media systems to mitigate such negative effects. Instead of polarising through emotional and extremely framed messages, informational content online should make people think about other opinions and discuss constructively. Instead, through polarization and filter bubble effects, people lose openness and tolerance for the existence of opposing opinions. In this workshop, we will discuss how we can redesign our information technology for a better societal impact. We will present key takeaways from the social sciences and discuss how we can implement them using recent HCI findings and digital technologies.

Problem

• Address difficulty in tracking real-world situations online
• Improve personal opinion formation in digital media
• Reduce polarization and filter bubbles in social media

Innovation

• Redesign news systems for constructive discourse
• Implement social science insights with HCI
• Use digital tech to reduce polarization