The People > Learn about civic tech > Books - (55)

A list of books exploring different issues like how civic tech can be used to meet challenges in the cities,  how to increase democratic participation, or what are the best ways to combat ethical concerns.

Showing 55 Results

Plurality

Plurality: The Future of Collaborative Technology and Democracy

Civic Tech Report 2025

Civic Tech Report 2025

Prague, Czechia

Hardcover book and online platform providing an overview of over 80 solutions from the European civic tech ecosystem

Politics Recoded: The Infrastructural Organizing of Code for America

By Aure Schrock. Out in September. The first detailed history of Code for America that examines how democratically designed government systems can collectively improve technology's impact on society.

Der Kampf um das Internet

Wie Wikipedia, Mastodon Und Co. Die Tech-giganten Herausfordern. by Stefan Mey

Wir holen euch ab!

Wir holen euch ab!

Germany (Deutschland)

Dabei haben sich Katharina Liesenberg und Linus Strothmann vom Team Es geht LOS einer jahrtausendealten, urdemokratischen Methode bedient: des Losens

What Makes an Assembly?

Weaving together the anthropological, aesthetic, and political aspects of assembly-making, What Makes An Assembly? explores the potential of assemblies to reimagine the way democracy is practised in contemporary societies.

Research Methods in Deliberative Democracy

Research Methods in Deliberative Democracy is the first book that brings together a wide range of methods used in the study of deliberative democracy.

The Wildcard Workbook

The Wildcard Workbook

758 8th Ave Suite 300, New York, NY 10036

The Wildcard Workbook: A Practical Guide for Jokering Forum Theatre is a resource for facilitators of all kinds looking for new ways to bring fun, creativity, and critical thinking into their work!

The Turing Way

The Turing Way

The Alan Turing Institute, Euston Road, London, UK

Community-led guides for data science and open research

The Propagandists' Playbook

The Propagandists' Playbook

United States of America (the)

How Conservative Elites Manipulate Search and Threaten Democracy, by Francesca Bolla Tripodi

Reorganise

Reorganise

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the)

15 stories of workers fighting back in a digital age

Artificial Intelligence in the City: Building Civic Engagement and Public Trust

A collection of essays edited by Ana Brandusescu and Jess Reia featuring essays from participants of the AI in the City: Building Civic Engagement and Public Trust symposium that took place remotely on February 10, 2022.

Breaking the Social Media Prism

A revealing look at how user behavior is powering deep social divisions online—and how we might yet defeat political tribalism on social media

Atlas of AI: Power, Politics, and the Planetary Costs of Artificial Intelligence

The hidden costs of artificial intelligence, from natural resources and labor to privacy and freedom What happens when artificial intelligence saturates political life and depletes the planet? How is AI shaping our understanding of ourselves and our societies? In this book Kate Crawford reveals how this planetary network is fueling a shift toward undemocratic governance and increased inequality

Close Up at a Distance: Mapping, Technology, and Politics

In Close Up at a Distance, Laura Kurgan offers a theoretical account of these new digital technologies of location and a series of practical experiments in making maps and images with spatial data.

Ask What You Can Do

Why local government needs more technologists and how you too can serve

Solving Public Problems (the book)

systemic racism, cannot be solved with yesterday’s toolkit. Solving PublicProblems shows how readers can take advantage of digital technology, data,and the collective wisdom of our communities to design and deliver powerfulsolutions to contemporary problems."

A New City O/S: The Power of Open, Collaborative and Distributed Governance

A New City O/S: The Power of Open, Collaborative, and Distributed Governance (Brookings / Ash Center Series, Innovative Governance in the 21st Century)

@CivicWhitaker Anthology

Three years of organizing, writing, and documenting in Chicago civic tech at the Smart Chicago Collaborative. By Christopher Whitaker Edited by Daniel X. O'Nei…

A City Is Not a Computer: Other Urban Intelligences

A bold reassessment of "smart cities" that reveals what is lost when we conceive of our urban spaces as computers, by Shannon Mattern

Community Rule's book

A free e-book covering common patterns in open project governance

Democracy Reinvented: Participatory Budgeting and Civic Innovation in America, by Hollie Russon Gilman

Democracy Reinvented is the first comprehensive academic treatment of participatory budgeting in the United States, situating it within a broader trend of civic technology and innovation.

Open Data Now

Open Data Now: The Secret to Hot Startups, Smart Investing, Savvy Marketing, and Fast Innovation [Joel Gurin] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers.

Rebuilding American Democracy in an Era of Crisis

The book looks at organizing models, civic tech, governance, citizen engagement and how to fund, staff, and train the next generation of leaders to revitalize democracy.

Opening the Government of Canada

Opening the Government of Canada

The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

The Federal Bureaucracy in the Digital Age. By Amanda Clarke

Ours to hack and own: the ride of platform cooperativism

Edited by Trebor Scholz and Nathan Schneider: Ours to Hack and to Own, the rise of platform cooperativism, a new vision for the future of work and a fairer Internet.

Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government

Democracy for Realists assails the romantic folk-theory at the heart of contemporary thinking about democratic politics and government, and offers a provocative alternative view grounded in the actual human nature of democratic citizens.

The CUTgroup book

Civic User Testing Group as a New Model for UX Testing, Digital Skills Development, and Community Engagement in Civic Tech By Daniel X. O’Neil and the Smart Ch…

Ghost Work

How to Stop Silicon Valley from Building a New Global Underclass

Fearless Cities: the book

In a world in which fear and insecurity are being twisted into hate, and inequalities, xenophobia and authoritarianism are on the rise, a renewed municipalist movement is emerging to defend human rights, democracy and the common good. Fearless Cities is the first book written by and for the global municipalist movement.

Beyond Transparency

This book is a resource for (and by) practitioners inside and outside government—from the municipal chief information officer to the community organizer to the civic-minded entrepreneur. 

Back to Top