From Consumer to Creator: Experiencing Digital Democracy in Schools
Democracy Technologies: With the aula project, you implement digital participation projects at schools. What is the motivation behind doing this digitally? Marina Weisband: I would say that the digital app is a means to an end – that as many students as possible get involved. For that, digital tools are useful on several levels. Firstly, […]
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Finding Shelter, Voting on Petitions and More – The Kyiv Digital App
In 2018, city leaders agreed on an ambitious plan to digitise Kyiv. A twenty-one-point transformation plan was created, including everything from cyber security to big data. The Kyiv Digital app was part of this broader push to digitise, aimed specifically at increasing accessibility for citizens. To date, the app has over 2 million downloads out […]
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By the Youth, for the Youth – Barcelona’s Democracy Experiment
Barcelona has a dedicated citizen’s assembly and has had a specialist team within the city council, Active Democracy (Democracia Activ), for the last 8 years. Democracy Technologies spoke with two members of this team – Orlando Blasco Aleu and Inma Rodriguez Sanchez. Both of whom were involved in the youth participation process, Barcelona Youth Forum. […]
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Casting the Net Wider: Urban Planning in Vienna
“They have to get rid of the cars.” For one passerby in Vienna’s Gumpendorfer Straße, interviewed on local TV station WTV, the key to solving the street’s problems is clear. Lined with cafés, bars, cinemas, and shops, Gumpendorfer Straße cuts a jagged course east to west through the lively sixth district, an area known for […]
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Bringing Private Sector Innovations to Government
Michael Mascioni recently published his book "Reinventing Government Through Political Entrepreneurship and Exponential Innovation". He talked to us about how innovation strategies and tools could be adapted from the private sector to the public sector, why he uses the term crowdsourcing rather than participation, and about gamification in government.
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Will Strategic Trolling Affect Digital Participatory Democracy?
Disinformation has long infected discourse in digital spaces. But with the digitisation of participatory processes, is there a risk that this affects democratic outcomes directly?
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Climate Democracy – Can Participatory Approaches Help Tackle the Tough Decisions Ahead?
Climate change policy requires citizen participation. The Climate Democracy Action (CDA) by People Powered seeks to prepare its participants to make that happen. Clara Bois, Program Manager at People Powered explains how.
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Citizens’ Assemblies: Not Made to Legislate?
Ireland has used citizens assemblies to initiate constitutional reform on issues including abortion and same-sex marriage. But how much power do the assemblies really have?
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What Collective Intelligence can do for Democracies
Interview | Stephen Boucher talked to us about how people can be smarter collectively than indivudually and what that means for Democracy.
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Challenges in Digital Participation Across Europe
Our team has been speaking to leaders and professionals from across Europe. We asked them to describe some of the challenges they’ve faced in implementing participatory processes using technology. Answers included mobilising the population, engaging different age groups and getting politicians to take action.
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Democracy Technologies in Action Across Europe
We asked leaders and professionals from across Europe to give us an example of a citizen participation process supported by digital technologies that has been implemented in their municipality or area of work.
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World Bank Expert Talks About Digital Divide in Participation
Interview with Tiago C. Peixoto | The existence of a digital divide does not automatically lead to unequal outcomes in digital participation processes.
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Politics on the Blockchain
So-called Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) are now forming Political Parties, and even attempting to form States. Here’s why that deserves our attention.
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Participatory Budgets Alone Aren’t Enough
Participatory budgets are all the rage. But the City of Paris is moving to expand its participation formats in new directions.
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This Week in Democracy Technology: 260,000 Euros Allocated in 2 Participatory Budgets
A round up of news from the world of democracy technology from the week 16 - 21 October.
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