Who are we?
We are a collective of UBC Political Science students creating a resource for the voters of British Columbia. This website is the creation of POLI308D, a class of forty-five 3rd and 4th year students in the Political Science department.
We have created this website to be neutral on the issue of electoral reform. We are not taking sides.
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Whats the idea?
We’re keeping an eye on BC’s media outlets and social media to check out what British Columbians are saying about the referendum.
​We're analyzing and ​fact-checking all the claims made on all sides of the debate.
We're providing clear descriptions of the proposed PR systems and we've got a set of case studies on how they have worked in the countries that use them.
Our ​annotated media coverage page will share articles and editorials on all sides of the referendum. We’ll also be checking out what people are saying on social media.
​Our Class Constitution
We, the class of Political Science 308, ​will ​create a safe and inclusive classroom environment for the purpose of creating an ​public website. We will produce an evolving, non-partisan resource for the public on the topic of the 2018 BC Referendum on Electoral Reform that will aid voters in making an informed decision.
Goals
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Our goal is to create a ​comprehensive website on the issues surrounding electoral reform in BC.
We aim to make the website as accessible as we can given the constraints we face.
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We strive to provide content and analysis that is unbiased and faithfully represents the arguments on all sides while also confronting those arguments with peer-reviewed scientific research.
​Throughout the course, we will grow, learn new skills, and complete this project with a better understanding of referendums and electoral reform.
Commitments
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We commit to extend learning beyond the classroom​ for the public good.
We will manage our expectations, communicate with each other, and deliver a finished website that encompasses the vision our class. Our website will be created with the intention of making a real world impact in regards to the 2018 BC Referendum on Electoral Reform.
We will acknowledge inequalities in our society while creating the website.
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​We will consider the public’s oral, written, and language abilities while creating our website. We will use a wide variety of tools for communication and to pass information to each other and to the public.
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Principles
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We believe that citizens have a right to accurate information free from bias.
We intend to use, value, and celebrate a variety of skills while creating this website.
We believe that decisions, while not necessarily unanimous, must be made while consulting everyone involved and with a majority agreeing to the course of action.
We accept, as political science students of UBC, that we have a certain perspective relative to others that may produce a biased opinion regarding the referendum, but nevertheless, we will do our best to not let this hinder our efforts in creating a non-partisan website resource for the public.
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