Digital Democracy
Technology cannot fix the fact that freedom is an endless meeting, but it can make the meetings shorter and less painful with new collaborative tools and by automating the worst of the bureaucracy
The “De” In “Decentralization” Stands For “Democracy”
techdirt.comAnd Zachary Liscow, former Chief Economist at the Office of Management and Budget, proposes ample “front-end civic participation” in exchange for reduced back-end litigation. That is, do the democratic work upfront then get on a fast track, rather than use the fast-track to avoid the democratic work and then suffer the blowback.
Quantitative experiments, sometimes including tens of millions of individuals, have examined inclusiveness and efficiency in decision-making via digital networks. Their findings suggest that large networks of nonexperts can make practical, productive decisions and engage in collective action under certain (1) conditions. (2) These conditions... See more
Alex Pentland • Rediscovering the Pleasures of Pluralism: The Potential of Digitally Mediated Civic Participation — Digitalist Papers
However, most of these experiments have been failures. The trouble is that most of these platforms cannot keep the attention of the people who are supposed to use them. Too few of the platforms are designed to make online engagement compelling. So, figuring out how to make online engagement in government fun is actually a serious question for... See more
In Online Democracy, Fun Is Imperative
Rediscovering the Pleasures of Pluralism: The Potential of Digitally Mediated Civic Participation — Digitalist Papers
Alex Pentlanddigitalistpapers.com
Ultimately, the essential work of creating systems that genuinely work for everyone requires us to redistribute resources and grant power to those who have been denied it—something that deliberation can help to achieve alongside other political organizing. Deliberation alone will not create a more equal society, and the outcomes of such processes... See more
Addressing Power Imbalances in Deliberation
News articles breathlessly heaped praise on the country’s democratic vibrancy, often citing its groundbreaking foray into digital democracy with vTaiwan. But in reality, the momentum of vTaiwan—and of the country’s digital participation revolution—had fizzled out years earlier. The platform hasn’t been used for any major decisions since 2018, as it was seen as difficult to use and people lost interest, vTaiwan co-creator and former Taiwanese legislator Jason Hsu told The Daily Beast. Since the government is not mandated to adopt recommendations coming from vTaiwan, “legislators don’t take it seriously.”