Archive · 18 conversations in Civic technology
Interviews and field notes from people building new forms of democratic practice.
Thomas Lorenz discusses Brief nach Berlin, an open-source, AI-assisted tool that helps citizens identify the appropriate political representative, draft a letter about a local concern and then copy it by hand. The conversation uses this practical project to examine how civic technology can lower bar
Olivier Schulbaum discusses how Platoniq and Goteo connect civic technology, culture, social innovation and democratic experimentation. He examines citizen assemblies through affective legitimacy, enclave deliberation and art-based methods, arguing that those most affected should help set the agenda
Ryan Koch, host of Civic Tech Chat, joins Alessandro Oppo for a cross-podcast conversation about how civic tech has evolved from volunteer networks into a professional field—and how AI is changing what people can build for the public good.
Kenobit, also known as Fabio, discusses why decentralized social networks and the fediverse are not just a technical alternative to commercial platforms, but a political issue. In this conversation, we talk about Mastodon, ActivityPub, algorithms, engagement, moderation, non-proprietary digital spac
Giovanni Di Sotto discusses electronic voting, security, and democratic innovation through the experience of Multicast. The conversation explores digital identity, usability, transparency, institutional trust, accessibility, and the tradeoffs involved in designing voting and assembly systems that are both practical and credible.
Cecile Green and Seth Frey discuss the Commoning Standard and the role of self-governance in democracy. The conversation explores commons, standards, collective rules, and how communities can document, compare, and improve self-governance practices without reducing democratic life to a single institutional model.
Sylvain Le Bon discusses Startin’blox, data spaces, democracy, and interoperability. The conversation explores open standards, decentralized digital infrastructure, civic technology, and how interoperable systems can give communities and organizations more control over data while supporting democratic collaboration across platforms.
Marcello Coppa discusses the Feel Community, the Govtech Forum, and how to accelerate public innovation. The conversation explores civic technology, public-sector reform, policy entrepreneurship, and the conditions that help new democratic and governmental tools move from isolated experiments into broader institutional practice.
Massimo Bugani reflects on the Rousseau platform as a democratic experiment and on what digital participation taught Italian political organizing. The conversation covers online voting, member engagement, institutional resistance, the limits of platform-based democracy, and the lessons that remain useful for future civic technologies and political innovation.
Matt Stempeck discusses the Civic Tech Field Guide and what can be learned from the success and failure of civic technology projects. The conversation looks at field mapping, reuse, funding, community needs, institutional adoption, and why democratic technology works best when it is connected to real practice rather than isolated prototypes.
Vir Sanghavi explains Tilt.vote and its approach to improving democratic debate. The conversation focuses on how structured argument, better incentives, and digital design can help people compare positions, reduce polarization, and make public disagreement more useful for collective decisions instead of turning debate into performative conflict.
Richard Bartlett discusses Loomio and the difference between horizontal decision-making and the habits of hierarchical society. The conversation explores facilitation, consent, group culture, online collaboration, and the practical work required for communities to make decisions together without reproducing domination or endless process.
