Bridging the Generational Gap in American Politics
By Shirley Cao, Jessica Lee, and Annie Zhang
Abstract. Polarization in U.S politics has been growing in recent years. The "generation gap" between youth and older adults in American society reflects these widening divisions in political viewpoints and media consumption. Even within a family, these gaps between parents and children have the opportunity to cause conflicts and create communication siloes. With our scrollytelly visualization "Bridging the Generational Gap", we attempt to find common ground in both the news different generations have lived through and the news sources they consume. Using media trend data from Pew Research and headlines from AllSides.com, we also highlight the various media biases and political leanings of many news sources. Our final visualization encourages people to learn from others by allowing users to choose from various demographics to build a real reader, step into their perspective, and explore their newsfeed. Though division has become a defining feature of American Politics, our goal is to create a story with interactive visualizations to help each side talk with and understand one another.
Read the full paper here.
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