Empowering civic engagement: leveraging Ushahidi for transparent and inclusive electoral monitoring and governance
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Hear Rhoda Omenya (Ushahidi) explain how Uchaguzi empowers citizens to report incidents during elections, enabling the monitoring of election-related events in near real-time.
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The current state of open government and digital transparency in the Netherlands
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In this TICTeC 2025 presentation, discover three of Open State Foundation’s most impactful pro-democracy projects in the Netherlands, including a search tool to make documents of all levels of government more findable; research on late responses to Access to Information requests; and open calendars of ministerial meetings that anyone can subscribe to.
Q&A for ‘Democratic transparency and parliamentary monitoring’ TICTeC 2025 session
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Question and answer session for the presenters of the following TICTeC 2025 presentations:
– The impact of the Promise Tracker tool – Gitungo Wamere and Caroline Gaita (Mzalendo Trust, Kenya)
– Impacts of parliamentary monitoring in Spain – Celia Zafra and Pablo Martín (Political Watch, Spain)
– Tainan City Council Watchbot: empowering informed citizens through AI – Billy Zhe-Wei Lin (Tainan Sprout, Taiwan)
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Q&A for ‘Tech for deliberation and participation’ TICTeC 2025 session
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Question and answer session for the presenters of the following TICTeC 2025 presentations:
– Waves: trialling a new AI-powered digital deliberation process to strengthen trust in local government – Miriam Levin (Demos, UK)
– Why consultation matters: the impact of 10 million voices – Louise Cato and Jessie Ashmore (Delib, UK)
– Polis: Updates and impacts – Colin Megill (Polis / The Computational Democracy Project, US)
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Pol.is 2.0 sneak preview
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Polis is a real-time system for gathering, analyzing and understanding what large groups of people think in their own words, enabled by advanced statistics and machine learning. Polis has been used all over the world by governments, academics, independent media and citizens.
Co-founder Colin Megill chose TICTeC 2025 to launch Polis 2.0 – find out more in this presentation.
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Why consultation matters: the impact of 10 million voices
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Public consultation is often seen as a bureaucratic exercise: a checkbox for government departments and public sector organisations to tick — but the reality is far more profound. Through Delib’s decades of experience of powering some of the biggest national conversations, they’ve seen how meaningful consultation fundamentally changes policy outcomes and strengthens democratic decision-making.
Hear more in this TICTeC 2025 presentation from Louise Cato and
Jessie Ashmore (Delib, UK).
Waves: trialling a new AI-powered digital deliberation process to strengthen trust in local government
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Demos is leading the largest trial of digital democracy in the UK. Waves is a €1 million project trialling new technology in local democracy to bring people together to tackle contentious local issues and strengthen trust in local government.
Hear more in this TICTeC 2025 presentation by Miriam Levin.
Dream Con: how civic tech puts citizens at the centre of constitutional reform
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Thailand has experienced 13 coups in 90 years, leading to 20 versions of constitutions, each tailored to the power-holders of the time. In response, the WeVis team — directly affected by the latest constitution — aimed to shift the dynamic by empowering citizens to actively participate in redesigning the constitution.
Find out more in Thanisara Ruangdej’s TICTeC 2025 presentation.
New Belarus: showcasing digital innovation to strengthen democracy, transparency, and civic participation
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In response to the 2020 Belarusian election crisis, New Belarus emerged as a digital ecosystem (mobile app + web platform), uniting Belarusians worldwide. Its mission transcends technology by building a resilient global Belarusian community committed to freedom and democracy, through an array of digital and civic tech initiatives.
Find out more in Pavel Liber’s presentation at TICTeC 2025.
Empowering young voters through Voting Aid Applications
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In times of increasing misinformation and declining voter turnout, particularly among younger generations, well-designed Voting Aid Applications (VAAs) can play a pivotal role in revitalising democratic engagement.
In this TICTeC 2025 presentation by Sofie Marien (Tree Company), gain insights into best practices for creating high-quality VAAs that increase (informed) voting and strengthen the electoral process and institutions, plus the latest research on the impact of such tools.
Scorecards volunteering increases climate knowledge
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From data to democracy: the role of DCinbox in shaping informed citizenship and government accountability
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Lindsey Cormack (Stevens Institute of Technology) presents DCinbox, an archive of every official e-newsletter sent from members of the United States Congress, with nearly 200,000 missives spanning more than 15 years. This data allows findings on political representation, public health information dissemination, propensities for legislators to emulate the style of the President, gendered communication, and more.
Moving from digital tools to digital public spaces: building infrastructures for digital citizen participation
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When thinking about digital technologies for participation as public spaces, the narrative can shift to promote a stronger role for public authorities in developing, deploying and monitoring such technologies. The Getting Civic Tech Right for Democracy work from the OECD helps suggest first recommendations towards a more holistic perspective for digital participation. Mauricio Mejia Galvan (OECD) presents these recommendations.
Combining online mass-consultation with a citizens’ assembly for effective participation
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Learn from Dr. Dominik Hierlemann and Stefan Roch from Bertelsmann Stiftung about the “Forum against Fakes”, a nationwide debate on the topic, run by Bertelsmann Stiftung with the German Ministry of the Interior. A multistep process combined online consultation with a citizens’ assembly, with the deliberate aim of combining the strengths of both.
Show and Tell: GONG on Data Visualisations
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A Show and Tell from Sara at GONG about their learnings from their data visualisations mentorship with ForSet in Georgia
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Using Access to Information to Support Social Change
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A look at how organisations which support marginalised communities use and request information from public bodies, what the information unlocks and how to better support this use of access to information.
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CE UK and mySociety are using people power and Freedom of Information to bring transparency to local climate action
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A small charity was able to gather significant data around councils and carbon reduction, by sending mass FOI requests and using volunteers’ help to analyse them.
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Our COVID consultation journey: from a small initiative to the desk of the president
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What should the post-COVID world look like? Civocracy wanted to find out about the hopes and dreams of the French public — but also, what they were willing to sacrifice to make the change happen.
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Understanding the small hurdles that block community engagement, with behavioural design
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Across South Africa, municipalities recognise that community engagement in local policy-making is crucial for effective governance, but they nonetheless struggle with low and unrepresentative participation.
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It takes two: when citizens and Congress Members deliberate online
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Researchers invited 150 constituents that were representative of the district to a week-long, single topic, online forum with their Member of Congress.
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Leave no-one behind: overcoming hurdles to online citizen assemblies
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FutureGov was commissioned by Blackpool Council to deliver a neighbourhood assembly on climate change. But Blackpool’s population is in the top 10% most deprived in England, and they had to recognise that there were significant barriers to online participation.
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Engaging for the future: what do the public want from engagement, and how can digital deliver?
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What are the barriers preventing people from engaging in planning? How do people want to participate? What does good and effective engagement look like?
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#PlanTech and the geospatial ecosystem
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Citizen Space Geospatial incorporates interactive mapping and geospatial data throughout the digital engagement process — and it will have broad-reaching implications for the field of public participation.
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What are the effects of OpenStreetMapping on the mappers themselves?
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Generally, contributing to OSM’s mapping is regarded as a form of volunteer service. However, recent analyses suggest that experience of mapping could be as important as the data contributed.
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Visualising the future: how 3D imaging helps residents understand proposed changes
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One of the key barriers to housing development is public understanding of development proposals and the true impacts these might have. Improving understanding of development proposals is as important as improving the user experience and opportunity to participate in the planning process.
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Future of tech and democracy at the city of Reykjavík
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Sigurlaug Anna Jóhannsdóttir is a Democracy advisor at the City of Reykjavik Council in Iceland.
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How we failed to build an online deliberation tool: experience from Taiwan
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g0v began as a hacktivist group, and went on to shape Taiwan’s digital policy. One project sought to increase online civic participation. Who could be better positioned to do this work? But things didn’t go as smoothly as anticipated.
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What does the African feminist future of civic technology look like?
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Women and sexual minorities are frequent victims of online gender-based violence. But we are yet to fully understand the impact that this has on women across Africa, and on how they access civic technology.
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Pledge trackers as catalysts for accountability
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Transparency International UK’s Promise to Practice project tracks and advocates for the implementation of governments’ anti-corruption commitments made at the 2016 London Anti-Corruption Summit.
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From citizens to data points: the datafication of citizen engagement
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Technologies such as constituent databases are helpful for collecting, storing, and analysing constituent communication, but they promote the datafication of citizen information.
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How volunteers engage with government
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Volunteers drive a large proportion of civic tech activity around the world. The community organisation efforts of the Code for America network have exponentially increased the influence and impact of civic tech ideals and reshaped public expectations and government culture.
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Questioning impact: what if you find it lacking?
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What happens when a seemingly successful initiative starts to question its Theory of Change?
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Inclusive governance: bringing all voices on board for the design and delivery of policies and public services
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Technology has brought many opportunities to change the way that governments and citizens can interact – but it has also brought challenges.
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Fostering democractic societies to fight platform populists: the Brazilian experience
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The keynote of TICTeC 2019 and an inspiring look at what citizen-led activism and direct engagement can achieve – even when things look hopeless.
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Participatory budgeting in Paris
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Every year, the city of Paris puts aside 100 million Euros to fund projects chosen by its own inhabitants.
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Digital democracy as a response to the gilets jaunes
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French MP Paula Forteza joins the dots between the discontent shown by the gilets jaunes demonstrators, and the increased empowerment fostered by participatory democracy tools.
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The state of civic tech and gov tech in France
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The influences and tensions that shape the civic tech ecosystem, using local governments as a case study to see how tools are used and perceived by public institutions.
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The impact of civic technology in Latin America
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Panel discussion. With examples from Latin America used as a starting point, insights are applicable for civic tech practitioners around the world.
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Civic tech to empower democracy and increase civic engagement: local examples from the US
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Learn how US civic tech organisations are deploying a variety of means to get citizens engaged.
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Enabling local people to participate in the design of civic and public life
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Looking at two projects which used civic tech to better engage with public: design services to be used by local people; and collecting opinions about autonomous vehicles. A notes document.
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Taking back control: why community power matters to our economy and society and what gets in its way
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Looking at four intersecting crises hitting deprived areas of the UK. A slide deck.
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Design principles for re-engaging disaffected citizens
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This paper assesses the impact of a design process to understand root causes of anti-government populism, and the means of reversing its spread.
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WriteToThem: an analysis
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This paper argues that mySociety’s contact-your-representative service seems not to generate high levels of interactivity between citizens and the elected; and is often used for purposes not intended by its makers nor necessarily appreciated by the elected.
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Civic tech in Nigeria: what works?
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Before you build internet-dependent civic tech, makes sure your intended audience has good data coverage – and other learnings from Nigeria.
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Civic tech for governmental change
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The appropriation by the government of civic tech tools created a dynamic of change inside government which was largely unexpected.
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The results matter: assessing technology for service provision
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A platform that allows citizens to send free, anonymous messages to local government officials, reducing the cost and increasing the efficiency of communication about public services.
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Two heads are better than one: working with governments
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Governments have a wealth of knowledge about the needs of their citizens. Civic tech organisations often have innovative technologies that can meet those needs.
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Exploring sense of community for online citizen engagement
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What value is created through online citizen engagement by using the community psychology Sense of Community theory to examine the behavioural aspects of eParticipation?
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Strengthening civic participation in Paraguay through online technology
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Lessons learned from implementing civic engagement processes using web-based platforms for citizens to share ideas for innovating public services and urban plans.
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Five years of Citizen Budget: an impact assessment
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With over 120 Citizen Budgets implemented across North America, Open North have undertaken research on the impact of the tool in different cities.
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Citizen participation in Rome
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Roma Capitale expects not only to boost innovation policies at local level but also to improve the civic approach to the city.
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The Consul project for citizen participation
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Consul’s participation software is used by 90 governments in 18 different countries, giving citizens a voice in decisions about their own neighbourhoods. Slide deck.
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Media coverage and elections: tracking news stories on politicians
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First findings from a project to bolster trust in the political system and mainstream media, through the use of transparency.
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Political matchmaking online: changing the electorate?
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Research into the impact of voting advice applications, which help citizens choose which candidate to opt for, by offering an explicit ranking of viable options.
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Increasing voter knowledge of the ballot with Facebook
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Members of Facebook’s Civic Engagement team run through their democratic bolt-on to the social media site, Voting Plan. A slide deck.
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Look who’s talking
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The Open Government Partnership is perhaps the most prominent international effort to connect citizens and governments through the use of technology.
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A democracy of feelings: revolutionising government through digital
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Audrey Tang, Minister for Digital, oversaw Taiwan’s transformation into one of the most open and participatory administrations in the world.
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Discussions and decisions on Decidim: data analysis of Barcelona’s participatory democracy
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Using Decidim Barcelona’s Open Data API to analyse the political process of participatory democracy in the city.
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Designing for digital democracy
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EngageTech, not just online engagement, is critical for representative democracy. How are governments now designing for digital democracy? Slide deck.
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Creating new avenues
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Exploring the use of Bootlegger, a synchronous participatory media tool, to capture everyday stories, contributing to the production of a neighbourhood plan.
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WhatsApp for better public service delivery
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Governments seeking to harness existing communication trends also must grapple with the additional constraints that come with adapting to these rather inflexible platforms.
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The interested bystander, in context
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The interested bystander is an individual who is civically aware, but not civically active.
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How can civic tech reach more people? How can civic tech be more inclusive?
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Examples of technology projects that tackle digital exclusion. As a community, coders and activists must ensure that tools genuinely benefit the communities who need them most.
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Participatory city planning with open data and Minecraft in Berlin
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In 2016, the Berlin City Senate released its official 3D city model as Open Data.
The Ideation Lab converted the model to work within Minecraft, a computer game especially popular with children and young adults.
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An analysis of ‘g0v’ for collaborative participation
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g0v is a distributed, civic hacker community in Taiwan. Its members collaborate to bridge the information gap between the government and citizens — and to enlighten and empower citizens to oversee the government.
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Digital skills training for better citizen participation in France
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Video footage of TICTeC@Taipei conference session by French Digital Agency, a governmental agency overseen by the Ministry for the Economy.
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Taiwan Open Government report release forum
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This discussion, in Chinese, was livestreamed and can now be watched as a video.
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Q&A for “Technology for civic participation/engagement”
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Audience questions for the sessions in this section of TICTeC@Taipei, covering participation tech for Taiwan, France and Hong Kong.
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Q&A for “Civic tech for better communities and improved service delivery”
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Over to the audience for questions across the five sessions that made up this strand of TICTeC@Taipei.
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The digital divide: why civic tech leaves 3 billion people behind
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The chasm between the digital haves and the have-nots has never been more evident. Are we all missing the point?
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Opportunity and threat: experimenting with Mzalendo
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Research on how to obtain more users, what information appeals to those users, and how to prompt them to engage with their institutions and politicians on issues that matter to them.
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It starts with a click
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Civics through the lens of efficacy. What can individuals do to influence their communities, their societies and their nations?
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The Viewpoint project: engaging a disenfranchised community with street tech
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What can you do when residents are suffering from ‘consultation fatigue’, with a low sense of efficacy due to lack of change? A slide deck.
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The sociodynamics of online political behaviour: the case of lapetition.be
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When 90% of a petition site’s users are ‘lurkers’, it is harder to claim outcomes are representative. Slide deck.
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Lessons from Mexico: what works in public sector innovative and civic technology
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How do you make the Mexican government become a platform for innovation? Running through Reboot’s theory of change and outcomes. A slide deck.
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Congreso Interactivo, Elegilegi and DEMOS
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Three cases of citizen participation through technology and three different research methods used to understand impact. A slide deck.
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The haves and the have nots: is civic tech impacting the people who need it most?
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The digital divide means that a lot of people never even see those fancy civic tech interventions. Looking into the data behind the impact claims.
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It’s there for you now use it: making sure young people see the point of civic tech
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Slides from the Accountability Lab, looking at the challenges around getting young folk to adopt civic tech initiatives.
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Mapping slacktivism: patterns of low-threshold civic participation on the internet
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Looking more deeply into the impact of low-cost, low-risk online actions. A slide deck.
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ICT and governance in East Africa: preliminary study findings from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania
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A look at civic tech that has facilitated two-way interaction between representatives and citizens. A slide deck.
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Chilean institute harnesses digital platform to engage young people as change agents
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Produced thanks to a TICTeC Labs grant, this case study documents how the Chilean government’s National Youth Institute used a digital platform, CitizenLab, to get young people involved in policy making.
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In China, popular social media platform is harnessed to increase participation
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Produced thanks to a TICTeC Labs grant, this case study documents how China’s Participation Center developed a “mini app” for the popular WeChat platform, and grew the number of participatory budgeting users in Chengdu city to more than 3 million.
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Digital platform and training boost participation in rural Kyrgyzstan
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Produced thanks to a TICTeC Labs grant, this case study documents how the World Bank worked with the government to empower local communities to make decisions, facilitated by a digital platform.
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Technology for civic participation/engagement: Q&A
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Questions from the floor for this TICTeC@Taipei session’s panelists.
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Civic Tech for better communities and improved service delivery: Q&A
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Questions from the audience, answered by the panel at TICTeC@Taipei.
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Creating a live map of empty commercial spaces in London & findings from ‘Act Local: Empowering London’s neighbourhoods’ research
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Putting the capital’s unused commercial properties to use as ‘meanwhile spaces’. Slide deck.
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Unlocking civic tech impact: reflections on TICTeC Labs
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An online event featuring presentations from TICTeC Labs subgrantees on the work produced thanks to the programme, and how these have met the needs identified in the Civic Tech Surgeries and Action Labs.
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How you’ve been using our services to help the climate
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Some examples of how to leverage mySociety sites, including WhatDoTheyKnow, to help fight the climate emergency.
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FOI and the Irish border issue
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Prior to Brexit, one person used FOI to understand more about plans around the Irish border – something that did, indeed, prove to be a big problem after the event.
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Commission on Freedom of Information oral evidence: making a case for public disclosure
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Discover the arguments made in favour of FOI – they might be applicable elsewhere.
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What happens when you restrict Freedom of Information? Experiences from around the world
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Examples from nine countries of the effects of restricting Access to Information.
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The Third Sector and Online Citizen Empowerment: the Case of mySociety
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Surveys across all mySociety’s sites, including WhatDoTheyKnow, allowed these researchers to better understand the habits and motives of their users.
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