Democracy
Should
Be
Fun.

Overview

Our qualitative research consisted of semi-structured interviews that helped us learn from local student experiences engaging with local community, politics, and political information tools. Our analysis of these findings, aided by the use of affinity mapping, grounded our understanding of the obstacles to local political engagement and current student preferences for consuming related information. The results of our analysis informed a solution that would deliver a reliable, fun and engaging political information experience.

Semi-structred Interviews

The interviews were organized into three sections that corresponded to our research questions. We probed participants' experiences with local community and politics to gain a more comprehensive understanding that would facilitate the best chance of identifying themes across all participant interviews. The final section consisted of two activities in which 1) students were asked to interact with different media posts regarding local current events occurring within People’s Park to observe how students interact with political information and 2) a voting activity designed to encourage participants to simulate and reflect on how city council members voted on previous legislation. This structure aimed to directly observe participants' responses relative to their stated views and experience, as well as their political sense-making process. 

Key Findings

General Engagement != Political Engagement, but one can lead to the other. Many students consider themselves “engaged” if one tries to be “aware,” in an ongoing manner, of what’s happening around them.

‍“I think I'm more engaged generally than I am engaged politically. The funny thing is I'm probably more engaged generally here than I ever was in my hometown [even though I was very politically active back at home]. I wouldn't say I’m politically engaged here just by the fact that I don't vote here.”

Local Community/General Awareness Occurs as a Byproduct of Exploring Hobbies Outside the University Bubble

Local Politics is “Gladiator Combat” Mixed with “Soap Opera.” Participants who are familiar with local politics point to its "gladiator combat" dynamics as "fun to watch," and mention "it almost feels like there is more [city politics] than anywhere else," because there are so many "emotional conflicts" like a "soap opera"

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Important Considerations

Students feel a sense of transience and thus question their right to participate
Students have limited time
Student’s level and type of political interest is “seasonal”

The Five Major Student Personas