Civic Tech Reads of the Week #23
Good news! It’s Friday, and we have a new selection of must-reads hotter than this heatwave. Do happy citizens make for healthier cities? Can tech startups play a role in increasing citizens’ wellbeing?...
Citizen participation in Chile: a new partnership
Awareness about the value and importance of citizen participation is gradually spreading across the globe. And as a result, we’ve got some exciting news to share! CitizenLab is now collaborating with local partners...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #22
Welcome to our weekly reading list! As always, we’ve selected the hottest reads from the realm of civic tech. This week we’re talking about smart cities, digital authoritarianism, geriatric selfies,...
CitizenLab in 8 key numbers: this was 2019 so far
We’re almost halfway through 2019, and that’s always a good excuse to look back and reflect. The last six months have been a wild ride. That’s why we thought it would be interesting to look at at...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #21
If you read this, that probably means 3 things: 1) you’re not napping on some faraway beach, but 2) the weekend is almost here and 3) we’ve got a new selection of civic tech must-reads ready for you! If...
The barriers to citizen participation: why aren’t cities doing ‘more’?
Our cities are becoming increasingly more technological in nature, but somehow, digital participation isn’t always growing accordingly. What are the main barriers to citizen participation? Recently,...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #20
Welcome to this special edition of Reads of the Week! It’s our platinum anniversary! And as always, we’re happy to feed you the best bits of civic tech we could find. Feeling nostalgic already? Head to...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #19
It’s Friday, it’s summer, and there’s a fresh Reads of the Week-list: your weekend surely got off on the right foot. But let’s not beat around the bush too much, because it’s almost as...
5 ways to convince citizens to trust and use your platform
When setting up a participation platform, the matter of trust is something that pops up quite often. We live in an era where online privacy is a vague concept and citizen’s trust in their governments seems to...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #18
It’s Friday, and this week our must-reads from the realm of civic tech are taking us to all corners of the globe. Are you ready for a trip around the world? If you prefer to stay on familiar ground for now,...
Inclusion in e-democracy: 7 tips for setting up an inclusive online participation project
Setting up an inclusive participation project is easier said than done. Luckily, there are a few things that’ll get you on the right track in no time. For more advice on inclusivity, download our full guide...
How much does a citizen participation platform cost?
When it comes to citizen participation, cost is often the elephant in the room. It is often cited as one of the main barriers for cities and local governments hesitant to launch participation projects. Large scale...
‘Slacktivism’: Legitimate Action or Just Lazy Liking?
It sounds like a contradictio in terminis, like ‘sound of silence’ or ‘sensible Twitter debate’. But ‘slacktivism’, a contraction of ‘activism’ and uh, ‘slacking’, has become a widespread phenomenon that urges us...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #16
Only a few things in life are certain, and our weekly selection of must-reads is one of them. Every week, we gather our favourite reads on the topics of civic tech, democracy and data, and we share them with you in...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #15
Happy Friday to you, dear reader! Can you believe this is already the 15th edition of our recurring Reads of the Week selections? If you’ve been following us from the start, we’d love to thank you for such...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #14
Another week has flown by, and the weekend is so close we can almost touch it! Like every Friday, we’re here to cheer up your day with our hand-picked selection of interesting reads of the week. Everything you...
Our 5 take-aways from #govtech talks at Impact2019
Did you make it to the Impact conference? This annual event is about innovation and digital economy, with conversations about the future of health, finance, education, space… and of course governments....
How to increase engagement on a participation platform
The launch of a participation platform can have a decisive influence on the rest of the project, but it’s often overlooked for lack of time or resources. In order to reach as many citizens as possible and...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #12
It’s Friday again, and we’ve got a fresh catch of democracy, civic tech and smart city news ready for you! As you know (unless you’re new here, in which case: hi!), we craft a new selection of...
What’s the difference between deliberative and participatory democracy?
Deliberative and participatory democracy seem to be pretty similar. And they are, in ways: both are democratic systems that give citizens a role in governance. In both deliberative and participatory democracies,...
Applying artificial intelligence to citizen participation: the Youth4Climate case study
Youth for Climate used CitizenLab’s NLP technology to turn thousands of citizen contributions into concise and actionable insights. Here’s what we learned from analysing over 1,700 ideas. On August 20, a 15 year...
The human factor: helping governments tap into collective intelligence
Can natural language processing and machine learning technologies foster quicker political response to citizen views on digital democracy platforms? With the Nesta Collective Intelligence Grants Programme, this is...
Natural Language Processing at CitizenLab: how machine learning can transform citizen engagement projects.
This article has been written in close collaboration with the NLP experts at NLP Town, who supported us through our own NLP journey. Will robots take over the world? Probably not. However, NLP (or Natural Language...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #10
This Friday, we’ve got even more reason to celebrate than usual. Not only is the weekend rolling around and is your beloved Reads of the Week selection in your inbox, but it’s our TENTH edition! A true...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #9
The weekend is right around the corner, and that’s always a reason to be in a good mood. Well, let us add a little more joy to your day, because it’s time for our Reads of the Week! Every week, we hand-pick...
8 Steps to Effective Participatory Budgeting
Participatory budgets are a powerful tool for inclusive and accountable governance. They allow cities and towns to educate, engage, and empower their citizens along with strengthening their governance. This blog...
Offline vs. Online participation: A Case Study of Mol & Temse
Citizen participation may be hot and happening right now, but it’s not a new phenomenon. Besides heading to the ballot box every few years, citizens have been showing up to town hall gatherings or collecting...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #8
If you’re reading this, that means the weekend is almost here! Let’s dive right in, because like every week, we’ve hand-picked the hottest civic tech news for you. 1. “How Civic Tech can steer development and...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #7
What time is it? It’s not summertime quite yet, but something even better: time for our Reads of The Week! Every Friday, we share our weekly selection of interesting civic tech reads. If you missed some of our...
What is the Difference between Citizen Engagement and Participation?
Over the last few years, there’s been a shift from top-down governance to more horizontally organised types of government. This new political current includes all the stakeholders of public policy projects,...
Civic tech reads of the week #6
Friday’s here! Another week has flown by, and more sizzling civic tech news has rolled off the (digital) presses. And that means it’s time for our selection of the hottest civic tech reads of the week! In our list...
How to choose the right participation method
Survey, idea gathering, participatory budget… when launching a citizen participation project, there are many options to choose from. A survey will yield different answers and reach different audiences than a...
Our 7 key takeaways from TICTec 2019
We came, we listened, we learned : here are our 7 key take-aways from the TICTec conference . TICTec, the conference focusing on Civic technology and digital democracy, is now in its 5th edition. We attended the...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #5
It’s that time of the week again! Spend your Friday productively by diving into the depths of civic tech with us. And we’ve got quite the selection this week, ranging from the French gilets jaunes to the nature of...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #4
A special birthday, a computer game and great news for our hearts — we’ve got a really interesting selection of must-reads for you this week! You know the drill by now: Friday stands for compelling and...
Case Study: citizen participation in Kortrijk
Kortrijk, the Flemish city known for its textiles, medieval bravery and mayor Vincent van Quickenborne, kicked off its citizen participation project with ambitious plans. The West-Flemish town aims to become...
