Project 1
Student id: l17
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Title: Project 1-Annotated Bibliography
Author: Sam Lazer
Date:
In the US, every ten years states redraw the boundaries of voting districts to conform with the most recent census data. Gerrymandering is the intentional and strategic drawing of voting district boundaries to diminish your political rivals' influence. This can be done by either "packing" a district by relegating a large group of demographically similar people into only a few districts where they make up a majority, or by "cracking" a group by dispersing them between many districts so they never constitute a large enough portion of a constituency to win. This practice deliberately undermines our intended system of representative government. However, with the advent of the computer and the compilation of detailed demographic information into digital databases such as GIS (geographic information system) the use of what are conventionally engineering methods has been suggested as a way to mitigate this. Through the marriage of data optimization with the political process steps can be taken toward depoliticizing a task that should simply be an unbiased and mundane piece of housekeeping to keep our democracy functioning properly.[i.n.]
(2016, June). Brian Olson: Engineering Elections Without Bias [Video file]. Retrieved from http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/engineering-elections-without-b
Olson is a software engineer at PatientsLikeMe. He has been working on redistricting software for over a decade.
, & (2011, January). The dawn of do-it-yourself redistricting? Online software puts redistricting tools in the hands of the public . Campaigns and Elections [2010], 32(1), 38+.
Published in a periodical for professional political consultants.
Instructor Note
I think that this problem is well selected and defined has the potential to yield both topical and methodological sources pertinent to it. Obviously this bibliography is still very much in the beginning stages of development, but I would stay the course, complete the research, and see what approach you might take to this interesting and important problem.