I just sent an email to Anil Dash to invite him to coffee. Not just because his blog was one of the first I read when I was a teenager. Not just because I was inspired to work on the web because of his work. I want to buy Anil coffee because I want to chat about the role interaction design might play in the digital future of democracy.

So here are my notes for what I want to talk to Anil about. I believe these are important questions, and so whether I get to talk to Anil or not, I thought I would share them with you so we might ponder them together.

I loved this talk Anil gave at GEL 2011. You should go watch it, I’ll wait. He talked about “New Tools, Better Networks,” and the exciting opportunities we now have to affect change today. This is why I am in New York to study interaction design, because I want to play a part in building tools and forming networks that amplifying people’s voices and augment their capabilities.

I wonder about the processes and culture that are beginning to form on top of these tools. Constructive processes like open source software development and distributed learning platforms (e.g. Khan Academy) are truly exciting; but destructive processes like the London flash riots are quite troubling. These networks are not going away, the question is how we should leverage them.

We have new tools and better networks, but it is clear that our processes and cultural norms haven’t caught up. The tech savvy are busying exploring and leveraging the power of these new tools to create new movements. Incumbents in various industries and in government are busy trying to protect their status quo against the onslaught. The rest of mainstream society however, doesn’t seem to quite know what to do with their new tools. We have tools and networks, but a cultural understanding of networks hasn’t quite arrived.

But just imagine what a truly network-literate society can do! I dream of a new way of practising democracy that operates over the internet, that leverages the tools and networks we have in service of good ideas.

My suspicion though is that the way forward doesn’t necessarily involve more tools, or better tools. I suspect the way forward is through building a culture around these tools. I think design has a role to play here.

So what I want to talk to Anil about the role of design in fostering a culture for networked democracy. How can I as a designer and a technologist better tell the story of networks? How can design show people that they can do more than “like” campaign videos and retweet fragments of slogans? How do I paint a believable future for an effective, networked democracy?

What is the role of interaction design in the future of democracy?