I had not come accross this particular use of technology to seek and generate political consensus before, but v-Taiwan looks to be making tangible moves towards better societal engagement on policy decisions without degenerating into the usual on line shout fests we see. If anyone has any more information on it they could share?
"The platform's first test was to regulate Uber.
The ride-hailing service was expanding quickly in Taiwan, angering the traditional taxi industry as the US firm did not require its drivers to have a professional licence or the same type of insurance, and was not paying the same taxes as local firms. Customers, however, enjoyed cheaper fares and added convenience.
To break the deadlock, vTaiwan invited groups from across the debate to join its online space.
[Pol.is](http://Pol.is) lifted everyone out of their echo chambers. It churned through the many axes of agreements and disagreements and drew a map to show everyone exactly where they were in the debate.
A number of different groups, with different attitudes, emerged. Taxi drivers, Uber drivers, Uber passengers, and other passengers formed four poles in the corners of the map.
There was no reply button, so people couldn't troll each other's posts. And rather than showing the messages that divided each of the four groups, [Pol.is](http://Pol.is) simply made them invisible.
It gave oxygen instead to statements that found support across different groups as well as within them."