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,...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #17
Another week has flown by, and another batch of hot civic tech and democracy content has hit the worldwide web. And like every week, we’ve made a selection of our favourite reads. Settle down with some...
‘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...
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....
Renewing European democracy in a digital world
The 21th Century and the Information Age have changed our lives. We are now more connected than ever before. People sharing the same ideas but living worlds apart can suddenly be in touch. We can now raise our...
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 #13
Welcome, civic tech and democracy enthusiasts! It’s Friday and you know what that means — we’re back with the weekly reading list that’ll brighten up your day. This week, we’ll talk about citizen engagement, AI,...
CitizenLab raises 2.1 million euros to develop its e-democracy platform across Europe
Official communications – 15 May 2019 CitizenLab has just raised 2 million euros to accelerate the international roll-out of its citizen participation platform. These new funds will fuel the company’s...
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...
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...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #11
Happy Friday, dear readers! May your mood be breezy, your colleagues well-rested and your coffee steaming hot. To make this Friday even more blissful, we’ve gathered the most interesting civic tech, govtech...
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...
8 Civic Tech Newsletters to Keep Up With
If finding sizzling civic tech news online is silver, getting it sent directly to your inbox is definitely gold. Long live the civic tech thought-leaders that gather everything there is to know in the field, then...
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...
4 reasons why digital participation is easier than you think.
If you’re reading this post, chances are you’re probably already convinced that citizen participation is a good thing. However, what you might not be so convinced about is that involving citizens in decision-making...
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...
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...
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...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #3
Another week has flown by and we’re back with our famous — we’re famous by now, aren’t we? — weekly list of must-reads! It’s time for your favourite updates from the world of digital participation, and this...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #2
It’s Friday again! And you know what that means: we’ve made another selection of this week’s must-reads in the realm of digital democracy and civic tech. If you missed last week’s selection, there’s plenty of...
Civic Tech Reads of the Week #1
It’s Friday afternoon and — just making assumptions here — we bet you’re almost ready to leave the office. But don’t drop everything just yet, because we’ve gathered our favourite civic tech reads to wrap up...
FREE DOWNLOAD: The Beginner’s Guide To Digital Participation
Innovation and new technologies are changing the way governments foster participation and connect with their citizens. Citizens today have the whole world at their fingertips, and it has made them more empowered...
Recap: 5 Memorable E-Democracy Cases of 2018
The year is quickly drawing to a close. That brings along a sense of warmth and family, along with the pleasant prospect of lots of food and bubbles. But it’s also the perfect moment to reflect on the year that...
✨ Your CitizenLab participation platform is getting a facelift! ✨
At CitizenLab, we never stop improving our product. Based on our daily experience and continuous research with both customers and end users. After extensive research, we decided to give the homepage of each...
Idea Sourcing to Solve Housing Crisis in Vancouver: A Case Study
In tackling the challenges of affordable housing, the Canadian city of Vancouver put the decision-making power where it belongs: with its people. The 2,530,746 Vancouverites were encouraged to share their ideas on...
What if citizens set the city budgets?
It’s not a fantasy, it happens in an ever growing number of cities, both small and big. By 2015, citizens of over 1,500 cities worldwide were helping to decide on what their city budget should be spent. This is...
