Undebates: Tech for Better Democracy

We create online tools that enable constructive cross-partisan democratic processes at scale. As cultural polarization and sensationalism continue to threaten civic discourse, we see a technological opportunity. Our tools provide an alternative or complement to traditional and social media, fostering person-to-person connection in a way that we believe can ultimately drive better decision making. 

Our first offering, Undebates, was designed to help voters hear directly from candidates in their own words, in a neutral context. Undebates allows simple, scaled, asynchronous online recording and viewing, giving candidates a direct voice to voters, and voters easy, on-demand access to candidate perspectives.

Undebates was used in a pilot program at UCLA, and is currently in use at Ballotpedia.com under the brand “Candidate Conversations.” As a Ballotpedia feature, our technology is positioned to reach a potential 25.3 million voters nationwide in support of efficient, effective democratic engagement

See Undebates in action here.

Scalable and simple to use

Undebates web-based technology allows candidates to self-record and upload their content simply by clicking a link and following on-screen instructions. Voters, in turn, can watch on demand on Ballotpedia or other hosting platforms, easily navigating directly to their topics of greatest interest. 

While other technologies for creating and sharing video recordings exist, Undebates is unique in its seamless, one-link process for recording and automated upload. This is our key to scale, as it allows hosting platforms to efficiently engage an unlimited number of candidates and voters. 

Poised for large-scale civic innovation

Undebates technology informs several additional products in the works, including tools to help citizens share their voices with government representatives, and scalable systems for constructive citizen-to-citizen dialogue. We anticipate expansion beyond government processes into academic and community activity in the future.