Design Against Populism

Political populism has become increasingly prevalent in the United States. Join OpenIDEO DC and UXPA DC in an interactive workshop to frame this issue. During this pilot event, we will draft personas, empathy maps and problem statements to lay the groundwork for future solutions and action plans.

The long-term goal is to combat an “us versus them” mentality and encourage more nuanced thinking and open dialogue in our society. If there is interest, we will turn this event into a series.

What is Populism?

Populism can be applied to any political ideology. For the purposes of this event, we will use Jan-Werner Müller’s definition from his recent book, “What Is Populism?”. From Amazon: “Müller argues that at populism's core is a rejection of pluralism. Populists will always claim that they and they alone represent the people and their true interests. Müller also shows that, contrary to conventional wisdom, populists can govern on the basis of their claim to exclusive moral representation of the people: if populists have enough power, they will end up creating an authoritarian state that excludes all those not considered part of the proper ‘people.’”

More thoughts about populism:

What is Populism? (http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2016/12/economist-explains-18) (The Economist)

Why Populism is Rising and How to Combat It (https://www.forbes.com/sites/iese/2017/01/24/why-populism-is-rising-and-how-to-combat-it/#367533aa1d44) (Forbes)

How Populism Helped Wreck Venezuela (https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/06/venezuela-populism-fail/525321/?utm_source=atlfb) (The Atlantic)

Videos (https://vimeo.com/ixdab) from a related event (https://medium.com/ixda-berlin/a-recipe-for-designing-against-populism-45630e612b4e) organized by IxDA Berlin

Ticket Fee

$10.00, nonrefundable. We do not want to turn anyone away, however so please contact treasurer@uxpadc.org if this fee will cause you personal hardship or if you encounter a personal emergency and cannot attend.

Agenda

6:00-7:00 PM: Registration, dinner and networking
7:00-9:00 PM: Workshop

The front door locks at 6:00 PM. Volunteers will be available to admit participants until 7:00 PM.

Note that while the front lobby of 1515 N.Courthouse is currently under construction, you may enter through any door that is not blocked off.

Sponsoring Organizations and Event Host

UXPA DC (http://www.upa-dc-metro.org) and OpenIDEO DC (https://www.meetup.com/OpenIDEO-DC/). Thank you Sapient Consulting, Public Sector (http://publicsector.sapientconsulting.com/) for hosting us!

https://secure.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/e/9/2/0/600_462959680.jpeg

UXPA DC Code of Conduct

The UXPA DC code of conduct is intended to cover situations commonly encountered by user experience (UX) practitioners. Membership and attendance of any UXPA sponsored events includes acceptance of this code. Read the full UXPA code of conduct (https://uxpa.org/resources/uxpa-code-professional-conduct) for more information.

• Act in the best interest of everyone

• Be honest with everyone

• Do no harm and if possible provide benefits

• Act with integrity

• Avoid conflicts of interest

• Respect privacy, confidentiality, and anonymity

• Provide all resultant data