Discourser

Discourser is a discussion framework, useful for debates, arguments, pro & con lists, or discussions- any conversation centered on a disputed central statement. It was designed from the ground-up to encourage opinion convergence among debate participants.

The app makes it easy to list arguments and sources, but also to track a robust conversation about each of those arguments and sources. Discourser’s tree framework organizes statements like branching roots of a tree: where a central disputed statement like, “Caleb should vote for Emily next month” would have an arbitrary number of supporting or dissenting child statements: either links to sources, or more logic like, “Emily is very experienced” to be supported or dissented in turn by more logic or sources. This recursive organization of sources is necessary these days as arguments often hinge on demonstrating the relative reliability of two conflicting sources, a process which can have an arbitrarily large number of fact-checking layers. This also allows users to at any time present changed or new logic for or against any statement that has been made at any point in the conversation.

By tracking each users’ opinion on each statement with a 7-point scale, the app is able to better direct you to the statements in a conversation that are most contested for new support or dissent. By forcing the categorization of support vs. dissent, Discourser is also able to keep both such types of discussion active and visible. Finally, having a separate mobile app allows users to rely on push notifications to enable extended debates.