Howdju — Introduction

Howdju combines statements with justifications for believing or not believing in the truth of those statements. Users vote on those justifications, and the best justifications rise to the top. The intention is to efficiently direct users to the information that best informs them to make a decision on the truth of a statement.

Howdju was created because people are capable of making the right decision so long as they have the right information. In an increasingly complicated society, however, it becomes increasingly difficult to find the information one actually needs. Inquiring individuals need a way to efficiently interconnect the information so that they can make up their own minds. Howdju fulfills this need by crowd-sourcing the justification of statements and presenting the justifications according to the votes of the users.

When people get their information from just one source (particularly corporate sources), their decisions are in danger of bias. Furthermore, people have a tendency to find the information that justifies what they already believe, rather than the information that gets at the truth. Howdju counters these dangers by allowing everyone to contribute and presenting together the best justifications for both believing and not believing a statement. These justifications cite their sources, and so a user can actively evaluate both sides of an arguments.

This page contains:

What Can You Do With Howdju?,
Tips, and
Pictures.

What Can You Do With Howdju?

The three things Howdju is specifically designed to help you do are to share facts, to evaluate opinion, and to present and to analyze argument.

Share Facts

Like other crowd-sourced news evaluators, Howdju accepts users’ links to the internet so that others can share in their discovery. As users vote content up or down, Howdju presents more popular content so that users can access the content most relevant to them.

When you visit Howdju’s home page, you will see a snapshot of users’ activity across the entire site. Visit an hour later and you will see new information that reflects activity since you were gone. Search for keywords and again the most relevant content is now limited to your search terms.

Unlike other crowd-sourced news evaluators, however, Howdju goes beyond mere presentation and provides simple yet powerful tools for analyzing opinion and argument.

Evaluate Opinion

Rely Upon the Evaluations of Howdju Users Before You

Someone made a claim but it didn’t sound right to you? Look it up on Howdju. Other users may have evaluated the same claim or one like it, complete with links directly to the evidence for its truth or falsehood.

Get Help from the Crowd to Evaluate Something New

Didn’t find the statement on Howdju? Put it up there yourself and include the justifications that have been given to you. Now other users can contribute to the debate and fill in the blanks where you were missing information.

Present and Analyze Argument

Present Argument

Have the answer to a pressing social issue all worked out? Present your argument on Howdju to persuade others.

Unlike commenting on an article where your arguments are buried underneath two pages of other users’ comments and archived away with the old article, Howdju statements are first-class citizens in the Howdju universe; they rise to the top based upon popularity (or controversy) and can be referenced in justification of any other statement, old or new, so they’re always relevant.

Unlike a wiki page that may drop your contribution in favor of another, your contribution to Howdju is permanent (although it may rise or fall in popularity.) Original research is okay, and will be evaluated by the community according to how well it is justified.

Authors also give up control over their arguments, however. If an alternative justification for your statement becomes more popular than the one you originally gave, it will rise above it in the results.

Analyze Argument

Ever skimmed an article wondering when the author will get to the point? You won’t do that on Howdju because argumentation on Howdju is different from in prose. Instead of building up to the conclusion (and forcing your reader to follow regardless of their background information on the subject), you present the conclusion right away and the reader digs down deeper when they need to. This lets a user rely upon their background knowledge in an area to avoid slogging through argument they already agree with.

Tips

Quote the explanation: when quoting a source, it’s better to quote the explanation of why the statement is justified as opposed to quoting the source as just stating the statement. The latter relies entirely upon the authority of the speaker whereas the former combines the authority of the speaker with their reasoning, allowing a reader to decide for themselves.

Rely upon the source as a whole: it’s not necessary to capture every detail in your quotation. Expect your reader to visit the article and discover the context of your quote. Your job is to best indicate the crux of the justification from the source rather than completely convincing a user.

It’s not necessary to be certain or even supportive of statements or justifications you create. Sometimes throwing something up will allow others to add the justifications that you ultimately find persuasive. More important is to record the fact that some people somewhere are convinced by a particular justification, so that it can be compared with other justifications and disjustifications.