[English] OXOpolitics

the Power of Data to the People

Bring the power of political data to the people

OXOpolitics is a platform that brings the power of political data to people.

Social networks have given people a platform to publicly express their opinions. Although everyday people are the producers of this important data, they don’t have the freedom to dissect and interpret this information in their own way. Only the powerful and wealthy have access to these resources which give them exclusive insights into the political process. Having access to the political data allows them to publish interpretations that are favorable to them and mislead public opinion.

However, the people, who are the creators of the data, do not have the opportunity to access data that would better inform them and help them make sound political decisions.

OXOpolitics is a website where people can anonymously express their political opinions and navigate aggregated data that provide greater political insights. OXOpolitics would provide people with the insights to make informed decisions instead of one based on their impression of a candidate at the moment.

OXOpolitics will also enable people to build political networks based on their views, which would encourage them to form new political associations that can diversify the spectrum. Currently, voters participate very passively in politics, choosing among a few options that might not represent their nuanced interests.      

A mockup for oxopolitics.com

How it works  

1. A topic card includes two OX questions. People provide their political views by answering OX questions for different topic cards.

2. OXOpolitics builds vectors from the OX answers, which act as inputs for data science tools.

3. OXOpolitics translates the answers to a vector: O to 1, X to -1, unanswered to 0.

Example:

User 1: [0, 1, -1, 0, 1]
User 2: [1, -1, -1, 1, 1]
President Trump: [1, 1, -1, 1, -1]

4. OXOpolitics aggregates the vectors and provides users with meaningful information including but limited to:  

Statistics of answers for each topic card.

Political distances between people. For example, OXOpolitics calculates the distance between User 1 and Trump to be 0.8 and that of User 2 to be 0.4. The greater the distance, the more their political views differ.

Political clusters on map.

The nearest political representatives.

Use cases  

Political Map: Instead of providing a one-dimensional political spectrum consisting of left and right, OXOpolitics projects political profiles on a two-dimensional map. This will encourage people to have insights not restricted by bipartisanship.

Find my representative: Using the political map tool, people can pinpoint which candidate best represents their ideas and interests. Eventually, users will be able to support these representatives by donating to their campaigns.

See outside of a political bubble: When a few people agree with your opinions, it is easy to mistakenly think that the majority of people would agree with you. Many people in 2016 believed that Trump had no chance of winning the presidential election, but many people learned that people outside of their political bubble have different ideas. Data can reveal the existence and size of these political bubbles and allow people to explore different views.

Keep track of my political views: By providing an aggregated view of answers and comments, you can see how you changed your political opinions over a long period of time. This helps you to make informed decisions based on what you have seen over years instead of the impression you have at the moment.

Meet my political tribe: The political map reveals the cluster of people who have similar political views and interests with you. You can create a group, become a representative, and even start a political party with them.

Milestones  

Add basic functionality for input (OX cards): 2019 (Targeted on South Korea)

Add a political map: 2020 H1

Add Representative feature: 2020 H2

Add diverse data view including time series: 2021

Internationalization: 2023

Launch paid membership: 2024

Add tribes: 2025

Limitations

Because of the sample bias that OXOpolitics has, OXOpolitics’s data won’t represent the actual percentage of the entire population. The nature of the sample population needs to be transparently communicated.