Bridging Systems
Bridging systems is a term from Aviv Ovadya and Luke Thorburn's research on how to design systems that work against polarisation rather than amplifying it. The project's own definition: "Bridging systems increase mutual understanding and trust across divides, creating space for productive conflict, deliberation, or cooperation."1
The idea covers both software and in-person practice. The authors "give examples of bridging systems across three domains: recommender systems on social media, software for conducting civic forums, and human-facilitated group deliberation."2 Their particular interest is bridging-based ranking: ordering what people see by whether it finds support across groups that usually disagree, instead of by engagement. In their words, they "focus particularly on the potential of bridging-based ranking to bring the benefits of offline bridging into spaces which are already governed by algorithms."3
It overlaps closely with consensus mapping, which surfaces agreement in large-scale deliberation. The paper's acknowledgements thank Colin Megill for insights from his work on Pol.is.4 Thorburn has also worked with Australia's newDemocracy Foundation on technology for convening deliberative mini-publics.5
Further reading
- Bridging Systems: the project site, with concept notes and proposed signals and metrics
- Bridging Systems: Open problems for countering destructive divisiveness across ranking, recommenders, and governance: the full paper, Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University (preprint)
- Bridging-Based Ranking: Ovadya's earlier policy paper, Belfer Center, Harvard Kennedy School
- How to redesign social media algorithms to bridge divides: a short explainer by the authors in The Conversation (2023)
See also
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"Bridging systems increase mutual understanding and trust across divides, creating space for productive conflict, deliberation, or cooperation." Bridging Systems, Aviv Ovadya and Luke Thorburn. ↩
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"We give examples of bridging systems across three domains: recommender systems on social media, software for conducting civic forums, and human-facilitated group deliberation." Bridging Systems, paper abstract. ↩
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"We focus particularly on the potential of bridging-based ranking to bring the benefits of offline bridging into spaces which are already governed by algorithms." Bridging Systems, paper abstract. ↩
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"We thank Tim van Gelder and Colin Megill for sharing information and insights from their work on YourView and Polis, respectively" Bridging Systems, Acknowledgements. ↩
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"has worked with the newDemocracy Foundation on technology for convening deliberative mini-publics" Bridging Systems, Who? ↩