[liberationtech] Can Technology Support Democracy?

[Doug Schuler]

Just found this in my drafts folder... Maybe I sent this out earlier and
maybe it's less relevant given the pandemic but here it is ... Thanks!

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I thought I'd share my new article. It came out yesterday in Volume 1,
issue 1 of the journal
Digital Government: Research and Practice (DGOV).  Just so you could get
the gist I included the abstract below. Here's the url* just in case*...
https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3352462

Thanks!!!


Can Technology Support Democracy?

The utopian optimism about democracy and the internet has given way to
disillusionment. At the same time, given the complexity of today's wicked
problems, the need for democracy is critical. Unfortunately democracy is
under attack around the world, and there are ominous signs of its retreat.
How does democracy fare when digital technology is added to the picture?
Weaving technology and democracy together is risky, and technologists who
begin any digital project with the conviction that technology can and will
solve “problems” of democracy are likely to be disappointed. Technology can
be a boon to democracy if it is informed technology. The goal in writing
this essay was to encourage people to help develop and cultivate a rich
democratic sphere. Democracy has great potential that it rarely achieves.
It is radical, critical, complex, and fragile. It takes different forms in
different contexts. These forms are complex and the solutionism promoted by
the computer industry and others is not appropriate in the case of
democracies. The primary aim of technology in the service of democracy is
not merely to make it easier or more convenient but to improve society's
civic intelligence, its ability to address the problems it faces
effectively and equitably.



-- 
Douglas Schuler
douglas at publicsphereproject.org
Twitter: @doug_schuler

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Creating the World Citizen Parliament

http://interactions.acm.org/archive/view/may-june-2013/creating-the-world-citizen-parliament

Liberating Voices!  A Pattern Language for Communication Revolution
(project)
     http://www.publicsphereproject.org/patterns/lv
<http://www.publicsphereproject.org/patterns/>

Liberating Voices!  A Pattern Language for Communication Revolution (book)

 http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11601
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