Selinger, Evan. "Nudge, Nudge: Can Software Prod Us Into Being More Civil?" The Atlantic, July 30, 2012.
From the blog: "The closer we get to the presidential election, the more
concern gets raised about how divided the country is and how acrimonious our
discussions are over fundamental issues. Attack ads aren't the only problem.
The comments sections on web pages and blogs are overflowing with bitterness.
The mood expressed there shows such heightened signs of technological
influence, it seems ripped from the pages of the Marshall McLuhan playbook: the
medium of communication is influencing the messages people send and receive.
The best solution, then, might be for magazines, newspapers, and blogs to
address the root problem by hacking the source: re-designing the structure of
the forum to encourage civility. Before considering whether we want to go
there, let's quickly review why the medium matters." Read more
