discoursenew

Discoursenew is a fictional online platform created as a model for structured public discourse. It envisions enabling civil, evidence-based debates on public policy and societal issues, with emphasis on transparency, accessibility, and verifiability of sources.

Its core features include threaded debates organized around issues, claims and counterclaims linked to citations, an argument-mapping interface to visualize reasoning, roles for participants (contributors, moderators, validators), and a reputation system that rewards fact-based sourcing.

The governance model is described as open-source software maintained by a non-profit research collective. Decisions are made through community participation and transparent decision logs, and content is moderated under stated policies designed to balance free expression with safeguards against misinformation.

Discoursenew originated in early 2020s civic-tech discussions and released beta prototypes to pilot communities addressing local policy topics. As of the latest update, it remains in pilot phases with limited adoption and ongoing refinements.

Reception has been mixed. Proponents argue that Discoursenew can improve deliberation quality and accountability, while critics warn of scalability constraints, potential moderation biases, and the digital divide that may limit access for some communities.

See also: online deliberation, argument mapping, civic technology.