Forming an Opportunity Belief

I believe that majority of the voting population is uneducated about the platforms of party candidates on the local, state, and federal levels.

Unfortunately, politics is a hard topic to bring up in any conversation. Many people are dogmatic in political discussion and, aside from their stubborn demeanor, I believe it is due to the lack of knowledge that individuals have regarding all platforms of candidates and policies that are at stake for the upcoming terms. Even worse, when it comes to voting on state or local officials that impact the immediate community, such as judge and county commissioners, most people are not even aware of who the candidates are at all.
In our fast-paced technological society, political platforms are not so easily accessible or reader-friendly, and they don't always speak to the general voting public. Campaign websites don't appeal to the younger app-trained generation and pose as troublesome for the older, less technologically savvy. While newspapers and news reports serve as additional sources for information, they are very subject to bias and do not provide a full snapshot of the candidate or a stark comparison against the promises of his or her opponent. Sometimes, information simply isn't available or provided by a campaign's team and their voter pull is solely reliant on how many yard signs they can get on major highways.

This need for resource accessibility and political education for American citizens has been in existence, and is becoming a larger issue as technology pushes our society away from long text investigations and radio resources and toward the convenience of breaking news and Facebook updates. Due to this technological shift, people are trying to meet their needs for political education through more readily available sources of information such as Twitter and Snapchat, where candidates are reveling in their timelines, submitting snippets of their campaign promises and maintaining their vast network with the American people and organizations. I'm very sure in my belief that there is a great opportunity for improvement in facilitating sufficient political information through social media platforms and engage citizens in politics.


Iteration No. 1 - Reflection

When I introduced my thesis to a colleague, they were very passionate about the topic and agreed that there is a need to provide more, unbiased, easily accessible political information. With the upcoming election well underway and our recent membership to the voting body of the nation, this need is very clear and prominent. My interviewee recognized that they have never been so politically involved until he had gained the right to vote. With that civic duty being endowed upon him, he felt the obligation to become educated. We discussed that this phenomena of political engagement is only at large when presidential terms or federal seats are at stake, every two or four years. Furthermore, when I asked what he knew about the platforms of each of the candidates he readily admitted that he didn't know much beyond what he followed on Twitter or what had popped up on his Facebook timeline. What surprised me most about this conversation was the stress this individual placed on political bias. My colleague felt as though he was gaining insight as to what was being debated on but never felt as though he had a clear understanding of the policy or provisions from the candidate's platform, as he recognized many of his sources were skewed with bias. Despite his political passion, he hasn't sought out each candidate's political platforms, and had not set out for any of the primaries' platforms because he "never got around to it" and saw the task as "too time consuming". He is not satisfied with obtaining all of his political knowledge through social media: although it is highly accessible, he does not think it is sufficient enough to form a full opinion on any of the candidates.


Iteration No. 2 - Reflection

When I introduced my idea to my father my opportunity belief was further justified: he had little to no current political knowledge regarding candidates. While I was embarrassed to find that he hasn't voted for years, my distress was somewhat palliated to know that he didn't feel comfortable voting without knowing who or what he was voting for. He stressed that his schedule simply rarely permitted him to engage and keep up with the political conversation, so he disengaged and caught up with the passing Facebook posts that his friends and family would share on his news feed. My father's concern for politics was minimal and fleeting, but he did agree with the concepts I introduced. As passionate as I am about this belief, I was surprised at my own acceptance of my father's political evasiveness and disregard. Speaking to someone of a different age range and lifestyle made me wary of a demographic that relies solely on mediums such as Facebook, which are easy to read and access, due to their demanding day to day routines.


Iteration No. 3 - Reflection

When I introduced this unmet need to the student I mentor in high school, I was not surprised to find that she had little concern regarding politics and her perspective was limited to discussion she overheard from her parents and Facebook. Although she did not feel a need to expand her political knowledge since she is not near the age to vote, she is aware of the need for herself and others. My mentee has only recently recognized this need due to the recent primaries and upcoming presidential election that inundates news feeds in social media. While she affirms that the need exists, she has no intentions or passions to address them and is currently satisfied with remaining out of touch with political happenings and the future of our government. Her immediate exposure to politics is limited, and while she receives some information from her parents regarding candidates and what they believe, her parents are also contently out-of-the-loop when it comes to elections at all levels, even though they do participate in voting in elections (being so passionate about educated voters, I couldn't help but cringe at that). While I bluntly stated at the beginning of this blog that many voters truly are uneducated in policy and platforms, being in the presence of a lackadaisical group of voters opened my eyes to the true obstacle I am facing: engaging unwilling apathetic voters to educate themselves.




After interacting with prototypical customers, I did undergo a bit of a reality check. Even if I successfully created a mobile platform that readily connected voters to topics on the table, candidate platforms and websites, and campaign events in their local areas, I am unsure how eagerly it would be received. No matter how accessible, interactive, or straightforward the information provided may be through the mobile application, the trueth is, some will still parade that it is a biased or insufficient source, while others will continue to lack the political enthusiasm to the information provided.
This doesn't entirely discourage me though, as I am still convinced that the original opportunity is still there and waiting for me to pursue. I believe that although I can't connect everyone in the nation to the platform or convince everyone of its ease of use and resourcefulness, I do believe that this is an easy way for me to reach a large amount of voters and engage people all across the nation in political conversation.
Customer feedback is crucial when it comes to improving your service or product, and can be the turning point in your business or company. After interviewing my potential customers, it is clear that my platform must be extremely user friendly and engaging. Further customer reviews will have to be conducted throughout the entire process of the launching of the application in order to improve, but that's even more opportunity that I believe I can take advantage of and flourish in.


"We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge." - John Naisbitt