20 December 2023
From a Digital Services Act to major elections; from festivals celebrating democracy tech, to podcasts that question our tendency to lean on tech at all: here are the media and events which inspired the Democracy Technologies team and our colleagues at the Innovation in Politics Institute in 2023 – as well as a preview of what the future might hold.
Raphaëlle Bres, Marketing Freelancer
What was your favourite content / book / podcast of the year?
Saving Time, by Jenny Odell. Odell has a masterful way of weaving together art, philosophy, politics, and personal stories to describe the crises of our time – in this case the climate catastrophe – and suggest new visions.
What was a Political or tech news story that gave you hope?
The implementation of the EU Digital Services Act in August 2023. Working in marketing, I’m often shocked by the amount and quality of data available to target consumers online. I’m relieved to see that the EU is committed to regulating big tech companies and protecting consumers. Hopefully, this attempt will prove as impactful and successful globally as GDPR has been.
What was your favourite piece on content on our site this year?
This article on preventing green backlashes exposed the inequalities that are at the root of much of the resistance against environmental policies. It also provided ideas and success stories to inspire a way forward with meaningful, democratic socially just climate policies.
Laura Giesen, Editor in Chief
What was your favourite content / book / podcast of the year?
I listen to a lot of podcasts but it is hard to find any that strike a good balance between being excited about tech for democracy and cautious enough about its potential negative effects. So I listen to both perspectives. Pivot, is relatively optimistic, too business-focused for my taste, but very fun to listen to. Tech Won’t Save Us is almost the opposite, not as pessimistic about tech as the name might suggest, and still fun to listen to. More bureaucratic but also more in-depth in many ways is the Digital Government podcast by the e-Government Academy.
What was your favourite piece on content on our site this year?
The article “Making Political Primaries More Democratic” is definitely one of them just because it is so baffling to me how the specific voting methods put in place a long ago still have such a negative impact on democracy.
What are you watching for in 2024?
The sobering up process of the AI Hype. I think that entails that more and more people are getting better at identifying false promises of new AI applications as well as misplaced alarmism and evaluating which tools work for which purposes and with which precautions. Of course, we want to contribute to that when it comes to the applications for democracy.
Maddalena Landi, Researcher
What was your favourite content / book / podcast of the year?
From the Crooked Media constellation, this year I particularly enjoyed “Offline with Jon Favreau”. Former Obama’s speechwriter and podcast veteran, Favreau brings in awesome guests (I particularly suggest the episodes with Contrapoints and Naomi Klein) to discuss how technology and the internet are impacting our society. And speaking of Contrapoints, I can only wholeheartedly recommend her YouTube channel. Part visual essay, part feature-length commentaries, her videos are a masterclass in philosophical analysis, especially exploring topics such as the rise of fascism in the internet space, cancel culture, and all sorts of social and political phenomena.
The literary department has been somewhat lacking this year. However, I have found this reading particularly compelling: “Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protests”. As my research focuses on the creation of citizens’ assemblies under the push of social movements, I found Tufekci’s analysis of misinformation and censorship particularly relevant.
What was your favourite piece on content on our site this year?
I feel strongly about the need for a fair process of AI regulation. Our editor-in-chief’s article aptly asks, is a nominally “democratic” deliberative process enough?
What to watch for in 2024?
Our next report!
Daniel Macksack, Product development lead & editor
What was a Political or tech news story that gave you hope?
It may not be directly related, but in the midst of all the chaos, the announcement of a new treaty to protect the world’s oceans back in March was a big deal. What’s more it seemed to come out of nowhere. Obviously negotiations had been going on for ages and it was probably still decades later than it should have been, but still. It was an international binding agreement on something deeply important. Hope – more please.
What was your favourite moment / conference / event of the year?
Being my first full year with the IPI, this was also my first Innovation in Politics Awards and it was fantastic. Such a great celebration of all the right energy and ambition to do good or better, in business, civil society and at all levels of government. Awesome.
What to watch for in 2024?
Progress on an EU Digital Identity. Council and Parliament reached an agreement in November. Effective implementation would be a huge step forward in enabling digital democracy. Besides that – the ‘elephant’ in the room (an expression with added meaning in reference to US elections). Every time we hear people say “there’s never been a more important election” but it’s hard to question that assessment this time round. Watch for…the result I guess?
Fingers crossed.
Graham Wetherall-Grujić, Deputy Editor in Chief
What was your favourite moment / conference / event of the year?
Attending Decidim Fest 2023 in October together with our regular contributor Eduardo Veciana was a great experience. I’ve been following the work of the Decidim community in Barcelona & beyond for a long time now, so it was a thrill to catch up with some of the people behind it. I also conducted two of my favourite interviews of the year, with Xabier E. Barandiaran and Rayén Jara Mitrovich, while Eduardo caught up with Carla Bezerra.
What was a Political or tech news story that gave you hope?
On Monday this week, the EU launched proceedings against X (formerly Twitter) under the 2022 Digital Services Act over their failure to counter illegal content & disinformation. Overall, I think we have seen the EU taking a more proactive approach to regulating tech in the last year. The EU AI Act may not be likely to take effect any time soon, but there is space for cautious optimism that legislators might do a better job of staying ahead than they did with social media.
What to watch for in 2024?
I’ve been following calls for deliberative processes on the topic of AI very closely – run either with the involvement of AI developers, or by states or civil society actors. There have been some interesting experiments in 2023, though none of them yet meet the standards required for quality deliberation. If these processes are really going to get off the ground & start producing tangible results, it needs to be in 2024 – otherwise, they are just going to be playing catch up.
On a more personal note: the UK is due to hold a general election by January 2025 at the latest, and the campaigns will begin in earnest in 2024. There have already been incidences of AI deepfakes. I’ll be following it closely.
