EVENT

Why Do We Need the Civic Tech Project and Community Handbook to Save Our Democracy in Crisis? Find out What Our Panellists Said at our Release Event!

On May 29, we invited experts from around the world to join the online release event for the Civic Tech Project and Community Handbook, which was co-developed by g0v Jothon, us, and all the contributors. The experts analysed the current crisis of democracy and explained why the handbook can inspire action to tackle it:

It Scales Up and Connects Our Actions

Global democracy is now under attack. Funding for democratic initiatives has been cut, and networks and communities dedicated to democracy around the world are dissolving as a result. Extremism and authoritarianism are on the rise, and control over speech is tightening. In response to this crisis, Matt Stempeck, the curator of the Civic Tech Field Guide and one of our panellists, recommended this handbook, saying: “I think it[the Handbook] arrives at a really important moment in this crisis of democracy that we're facing because many of us sought out to reform and improve our democratic institutions and they're now being eroded and attacked quite aggressively.” He argued, if we want to save democracy or replace disappointing institutions, “We need to shift from inspirational examples and single one-off apps to projects that address the acute urgency and rapid response needs of our world today.” Stempeck elaborated that we need to build communities or fix and expand existing ones in order to scale up more civic tech initiatives for democracy. We also need to connect people inside and outside our community in order to innovate solutions and establish more collaboration. This is exactly what the Handbook shows us how to do. Chapter 2 of the handbook—Community Partnerships and Network Development— demonstrates how to build a civic tech community and establish connections with governments, civil society and various sectors, step by step.

It Reminds You: Openness Helps to Tackle Crises

Democracy is in crisis, but Sonja Fischbauer, Community Strategist and Organisational Development Specialist at the Open Knowledge Foundation Germany, who is also one of our panellists, shared a quote from her friends: “Never let a crisis go to waste.” She emphasised, it is because of so, “Now is a good time to demonstrate our resilience and following the leading example of what civil society is doing in Taiwan and sharing stories from across the globe.” These stories and their recipes for success can be found in Chapter 4 of the Handbook: Current Status of Civic Tech Projects and Communities in Other Countries and Chapter 5: The Digital Citizenship Literacy Framework and Relevant Practices Across the World. Openness is the most important element in the success of these best practices, and it includes releasing code under an open-source licence, adopting and advocating open data and open government, and sharing and releasing civic tech initiatives. Fischbauer stressed that such openess enables civic tech communities to successfully tackle crises and inspire innovations and connections in Germany, Taiwan and around the world, and that is exactly the resilience to navigate the current challenges of global democracy.

It Shows You How to Incentivise Citizens

Many people consider politics and democracy to be serious and boring things that they would rather avoid. While people are free to think this way, it may not help to tackle the current democratic crisis. As Isabel Hou, who is the co-founder of g0v sch001 and initiated this handbook, put it, “I think it's very important to keep g0v events interesting because I think we're competing with things like shopping or hiking, not just different political opinions. If it is not fun, people will not do it in the first place”.

So what should we do? Hou offered g0v’s methodologies as recommendations. Firstly, tasty food prepared at Hackathons could be as an 'appetiser' to incentivise people. The organisers of g0v will always select refreshments that are not necessarily luxurious, but that will definitely make participants feel at home to create a relaxing and comfortable environment.

Secondly, Hou also mentioned, that we should build a newbie-friendly environment by making everything, such as proposals or meeting records, as open-source and accessible as possible, so newcomers can easily find out which projects they can join and will not feel excluded.

Hou elaborated that there must be an institutionalised encouragement and appreciation mechanism for beginners, encouraging a culture of attributing work as a way of thanking anyone who contributes, establishing online courses with project pitching competitions and mentorship programmes such as g0v sch001, and periodically hosting on-site hackathons to create a sense of belonging. You can find more details in Chapter 2 of the Handbook, Community Partnerships and Network Development.

It Rebuilds Trust

One of the causes of the current democratic crisis is people losing faith in democracy. People become disillusioned when they feel that their voice is not being heard over a prolonged period. Even if they are invited to express their views afterwards, they are often reluctant to do so because they have lost trust in the government or the political system.

Having experienced such a political atmosphere, Sungeun Lim, our Deputy Head of the Korea Office and  speaker, said: “In this context, I believe that the Civic Tech and Community Handbook, which we are proudly launching today, offers a powerful way to address such democratic challenges.”

She explains that, since many civic tech initiatives are based on open data and aim to facilitate citizens’ access to information, they enhance government transparency and reduce panic in times of crisis. A good example from the handbook is the Coronavirus mask map in South Korea. Additionally, the bottom-up, citizen-led nature of such successful civic tech projects convinces people that they are not helpless and that they can initiate impactful change themselves. Finally, such initiatives can provide a concrete basis for citizens to invite the government to collaborate with them, such as the example of the Map of Gazette. Trust will be rebuilt among citizens and between citizens and the government through active collaboration.

Pimrapaat Dusadeeisariyakul, another panellist and our Thailand Office Programme Manager, also echoed Lim’s observation based on her observations about democracy in Thailand. She further emphasised that the culture of civic tech community will make young people regain their incentive and faith in democracy, for it encourages citizens from all the disciplines to contribute expertise and collaborate with each other. Young people can have a place to develop their initiatives instead of feeling too small to make any changes.

We are grateful to our panellists for recommending the Handbook. Please watch the video recording of our launch event, download the handbook and share your thoughts on safeguarding democracy with us!