Can EurHope Involve 1 Million Young People in EU Politics?
EU Public Affairs Manager, Nahr, is upbeat in spite of the polycrises Europe currently faces as it looks towards next year’s European elections. “The good news is that destiny is in our hands – we’re not doomed, there is space for hope and destiny”, he says. Nahr is referring to the EurHope project that launched […]
Read more
What If Participation Was More Like A Game?
If you’ve recently spent time on Duolingo, claimed airmiles or downloaded an exercise app like Zombies, Run!, you’re familiar with the basic elements of gamification. Commercial enterprises have used features that we typically associate with games – goals and challenges, point scoring, personalisation and rapid, visible feedback for decades to increase consumer engagement. But what […]
Read more
From Clicktivism to Hacktivism
New technologies provide a range of different participation levels that may favour a broadening, rather than a deepening of engagement. Yet this, according to Dr. Bas Baccarne, senior researcher at imec-MICT-Ghent University, is not necessarily a bad thing.
Read more
What Makes Participatory Budgeting Work in Rybnik?
DT: What motivated you to start Participatory Budgeting in Rybnik? Piotr Kuczera: Participatory Budgeting in Rybnik started in 2013. But the initial idea came in 2009-2010 when a local NGO – the Social Initiatives Development Centre (CRIS) – implemented an innovative citizen participation project aimed at two very different districts of Rybnik. The goal of […]
Read more
Building a Resilient Community in Valongo
The Portuguese city Valongo has developed a programme called 'Switch to Innovation' that fosters citizen engagement and creates a cohesive community through the use of technology.
Read more
Doing Deliberative Democracy Right
What does good practice in deliberative democracy and open government look like, in practice? Democracy Technologies took the OECD’s 11 point checklist of Good Practice Principles and checked them against the Barcelona Youth Forum.
Read more
Why Open Source is a Must for Digital Participation Platforms
Public interest needs to be at the heart of every decision we make regarding democracy technologies. Our democracies depend on the trust of voters and their faith in the democratic process. The best way to cultivate trust is through openness. That’s why open source is the natural fit for digital democratic solutions.
Read more
Antwerp’s 10 Conditions for Good Participation
The City of Antwerp has developed training materials to guide less experienced city employees through the process of setting up their first participation projects. The "10 conditions for good participation" are part of this guide, and serve as a checklist for anyone starting a new participation project.
Read more
How Cascais includes elderly people in digital participation
Governments are digitalising fast, but not everyone is online. Elderly people are often excluded from online participation. International institutions and governments are aware of this problem and are acting on it. One example is the Portuguese city of Cascais.
Read more
“We use AI to empower citizens”
Robert Bjarnason and his team build participation platforms with the goal of improving democratic infrastructure. In this interview, he talks to us about the role of Artificial Intelligence in democracy, and explains what the Citizens Foundation does for platforms for governments around the world.
Read more
Putting Citizens First
Not everyone is happy with how the UK's next Prime Minister is being chosen. But seen as part of a broader trend towards digital democratic participation, it is an important step in the right direction.
Read more
A Digital Agora For Citizens To Meet
Interview with Wietse van Ransbeeck, Co-founder and CEO of CitizenLab | With offices in Belgium, the UK and the United States, CitizenLab makes decision-making more inclusive, participatory and responsive.
Read more
Agenda-Setting in Germany and Beyond
With 20 million users, openPetition is a leading platform in Europe for online petitions. Founder and director Jörg Mitzlaff talks to us about the future role of such technologies.
Read more