Playing with Politics: Challenging Polarising Online Environments With Play

This workshop presents playfulness as a method of empowering political agency and media literacy among voters and citizens - especially in response to polarising online environments.

Participants will engage with play, both in theory and practice. We will establish principles of playfulness and connect their relevance to common issues with online political engagement. We will demonstrate the principles through tried-and-tested playful activities that can be used both offline or in online workshops. Participants will experience the principles in action, have a chance to develop their own political values further, and in particular evaluate their relevance to political, media, and digital literacy contexts. The workshop is based on Tactical Tech's Influence Industry Project, led by Dr. Amber Macintyre, a specialist in political participation, technology, and play.