A report for lawmakers, governments and policymakers at national and European level, 2023

• reports

• Engagement tech
• Participatory democracy
• Fieldwide resources

Connect Humanity published the State of Digital Inequity Report in partnership with TechSoup. The report is based on a survey of 7,500+ civil society organizations (CSOs) from 136 countries who answered questions about the barriers that they, and the communities they serve, face when it comes to digital equity.

• reports

• Adjacent Fields
• Connectivity

Newsgradient highlights the differences in media coverage of important events. It enables users to easily follow the daily news and observe it on the political spectrum. The media are arranged on the left-right axis and classified according to their bias and credibility.

This [Canadian] report includes the following: Importance of ethics in AI and government, Understanding the impacts of AI on society, Balancing AI-driven efficiency with privacy and security concerns, and Cyber-security and digital trust.

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• Govtech
• Artificial Intelligence
• Ethical tech and responsible tech

The findings from our study are intended to provide insights to developers and designers to improve the accessibility and inclusivity of digital platforms from the perspective of language.

• reports

• Foundational layers
• Translation and linguistic representation

A Playbook for learning about funding and financing options for the African civic technology community.

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• Build something
• Get funding
• Fieldwide resources

A Brief but Actionable Primer for Founders

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• Adjacent Fields
• Build something
• Ethical tech and responsible tech

Every year, we track innovations and changes across the political tech space, recognizing the need to capture the developments in this fast-changing industry. This report focuses on the historic 2022 midterm cycle.

• reports
• partisan

• Advocacy tech
• Organize campaigns
• Fieldwide resources

Municipal governments are riding a volatile wave of economic, ecological, and social change. But one thing is constant—the accelerating spread of digital technologies. More specifically, municipal governments are learning how to use software to measure, analyze, and optimize service delivery. But even as cities rely more on software to function, they struggle to obtain and maintain software. Traditionally, code is procured from the private sector, or—less often—produced in-house by cities. But both of these approaches are slow, costly, and often fail to deliver innovation. Software vendors often fill in these gaps, locking in costly dependencies on inflexible products. Open Source Software (OSS) presents a possibility for cities to fulfill their software needs. It also offers the potential for greater autonomy and lower cost. However,OSS requires enormous effort to create, and even more to deploy and maintain. These processes are just as important as the final product. The growing base of code and processes are the basis of a specialized class of digital infrastructure, known as municipal digital infrastructure. A report by Written by Nneka Sobers and Dr. Anthony Townsend.

• reports
• case studies

This white paper seeks to unpack the use of Indigenous or non-majority language in the existing digital landscape.

• reports

• Adjacent Fields
• Translation and linguistic representation

A report by International Republican Institute "synthesiz[ing] core challenges and lessons learned from practitioners, funders and government to help answer the questions of why civic and govtech initiatives struggle long term and what can be done about it."

• reports

• Fieldwide resources
• Reports

This report from Katharine Lusk and Azer Bestravos of Boston University evaluates of the state of the field across the 43 academic institutions that make up the Public Interest Technology University Network as of the summer of 2021, providing insight into the ways in which PIT-UN members are investing in its five priority areas, and sheds light on the state of the field more generally.

• reports
• students

• Fieldwide resources
• Academia
• Public Interest Tech

A report: How can stories help us change systems?

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• Media
• Narrative tech

A report by the UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub

• reports

• Emerging tech
• Disaster response and humanitarian tech
• Satellites

After the 2022 midterms, the Cooperative Impact Lab published initial findings for the Digital Innovation Fund, telling the story of how, in just four months, we stood up and administered one of the most extensive research-grant programs focused on TikTok’s uses for progressive politics and social good.

• TikTok
• reports

• Advocacy tech
• Media and social media analysis
• Creators and Influencers

Brookings report: Using a combination of analytical methods – including natural language processing, machine learning, and manual classifying – this research provided the first overarching assessment of the role that popular political podcasting plays in spreading unsubstantiated and false claims.

• reports

• Media
• Fight disinformation
• Media and social media analysis

All Tech Is Human’s Tech & Democracy report addresses key issues and best practices in the field, and highlights a diverse range of individuals working in the field (across civil society, government, industry, academia, and entrepreneurship).

• reports

• Fieldwide resources

What builders in Germany, India, Kenya, and the United States need to know when experimenting with new approaches to data governance

• reports

• Build something
• Ethical tech and responsible tech
• Data governance

This NDI report includes a list of interventions that technology platforms, governments, civil society organizations, and the media can take to make meaningful progress towards ending online violence against women in politics.

• reports

• Adjacent Fields
• Digital security and privacy

Democratic Society (Demsoc) was commissioned by the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (ALLIANCE) to identify and share best practices and evidence on including people with lived experience in health and social care policy and practice in Scotland.

• reports

• Participatory democracy
• Citizen Engagement

The OECD Guidelines for Citizen Participation Processes are intended for any public official or public institution interested in carrying out a citizen participation process.

• reports

• Participatory democracy
• Citizen Engagement

A COVID-era research project into emerging technologies and their use for the public interest

• reports

• Emerging tech
• Emerging Tech report
• High-tech COVID Interventions

Measuring the state of data for the public good

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• Civic data
• Open government data
• Benchmarks

Report by Ada Lovelace Institute

• reports

• Social media

Lessons from 5 African countries

• reports

• Procurement

What is a more ambitious vision for data use and regulation that can deliver a positive shift in the digital ecosystem towards people and society?

• reports

• Working groups
• Ethical tech and responsible tech
• Algorithmic transparency

Over the past decade, alarms have sounded the need for the humanitarian sector to start seriously considering the impacts of technology and how it should be used. This paper aims to raise another but different alarm: The time for theorizing is coming to an end. The need for action has arrived.

• reports

• Disaster response and humanitarian tech

The Index is the most comprehensive study of the state of nonprofit news.

• reports

• Media
• Fieldwide resources
• Nonprofit newsrooms

NewsMatch is the largest grassroots campaign to support nonprofit news in the U.S. Since 2016, the campaign has helped raise over $100 million to jumpstart emerging newsrooms and support independent media outlets that produce fact-based, nonpartisan news and information.

• Media
• Get funding
• Nonprofit newsrooms

European Institute for Participative Democracy

GROUNDBREAKING JOURNALISM. AWARD-WINNING FILMS.

• Advocacy tech
• Watchdogging and transparency
• Government transparency

• Advocacy tech
• Watchdogging and transparency
• Government transparency

Zenysis is an interoperability platform built to accelerate global development goals and improve lives everywhere.

An incubator for radically disruptive public service ideas, designed, owned and delivered by the public sector for public impact. An endeavour from FutureGov.

• Govtech
• Supporting specific public sector efforts from outside government
• Partner networks

• Advocacy tech
• Watchdogging and transparency
• Government transparency