Acta is a mobile and web platform that helps to display more diverse views on the social media platform for all to see and discuss.
Traditional news and social media applications profit through ad revenue and 'clicks' this means that their suggestion algorithms are wired to be based on the consumer's previous choices, inadvertently causing polarisation on any and every topic as people are fed a stream of information agreeing to their views, no matter how misinformed or illogical these views are. Our social and educational platform bridges this divide by suggesting sources with varied perceptions, in order to broaden perspectives and encourage discussion between those who may hold polarised opinions.
Acta is a social forum and news application, created so that people with different opinions are able to talk to one another and educate themselves about a range of different topics . Our newsfeed suggests a variety of highly trustworthy sources which all hold different biased perspectives, compiled to encourage people to think about viewpoints other than their own. Our forum allows discussion about any and all topics within the realm of reason, it is designed so that people from a range of backgrounds interact and talk about their views without being judged or shamed for their opinions but rather civilly debated.
Compassion for others is integral to preventing violence, and understanding of logical and scientific ideas limits and reduces the spread of misinformation. If we can encourage both compassion and an understanding of logic and reason, then we can reduce the threats that both extremism and misinformation pose on a local, national and international level. Consider this, if the people who genuinely believed their election was stolen from them, and that democracy had failed them were allowed to freely debate their reasoning, a majority of these individuals could have been swayed to not commit the egregious act that occurred, with a forum such as Acta, we could have potentially quelled this threat before it even began.
- The user is able to visit the "News" section and read diverse trending news that are happening in the world
- The user is able to find the date, the author, and the article source of the news article
- The user is able to create a post about any current event and talk about it with others
- The user is able to visit the "Discussions" section and see what people are discussing
- The user is able to comment under the discussions or leave a comment
- Front End: HTML, CSS, ReactJS
- Back End: Python, Kivi, NewsAPI, Firebase