Civic engagement in a digital age.

• Author: Scherer, Chelsea

Political knowledge--there's an app for that. In fact, there are many. But are they a truly effective way of engaging prospective voters? In this article, the author explores the trend towards creating digital applications designed to raise interest and understanding of our democratic systems. Commentators suggest that these applications will be most effective when widely promoted, and are only one part of broader engagement strategies which will focus on open data initiatives and fostering two-way communication between politicians, governments and the public.

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A growing number of digital developers are using their skills to create applications to foster greater engagement in politics among Canadians, and particularly among youth. Yet, while citizen engagement advocates agree that social media and emerging digital technologies can play an important role in reversing a decades-long decline in Canadians' interest and involvement the country's formal political institutions, it hasn't happened yet and may not happen for quite some time.

This hasn't deterred aspiring application inventors such as Allendria Brunjes, the co-founder of the Electr app, pitched as the "Tinder app of government quotes." (Tinder is primarily used as a dating app where people within close geographic proximity are connected in conversation if they both express mutual interest in each other's profile). Electr allows for users to agree or disagree with a quote unattributed but uttered by a federal, provincial or municipal politician; in this way they can achieve a better understanding of what their political stance is. After agreeing or disagreeing with the quote, users will have the option to see who said the quote and view when and where it was recorded. The app will also give users the ability to read the full speech or view the full interview from where the quote was taken to get more context.

"We would like to get youth engaged in political process in a format that they would recognize," says Brunjes, who left her full-time job in April 2015 to pursue the app's development. The main idea behind Electr is to make political statements easy to understand and access because, as she puts it, "there's a lack of easily accessible information out there." (See the side bar for a list of other apps that want to promote civic engagement).

Political scientist Tamara Small disagrees; she says that political information is ubiquitous on the Web but people within the 18 to...