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

• Academia
• Fieldwide resources
• Reports

With branches at Stanford University and ETH Zurich, IPL is an international community of scholars dedicated to innovation in immigration policy.

• immigration
• refugees

• Research and policy centers
• Academia

The Journal of Deliberative Democracy (formerly the Journal of Public Deliberation) is an open access journal publishing articles that shape the course of scholarship on deliberative democracy.

• Participatory democracy
• Learn about civic tech
• Academia

LocalView is a database co-created by Soubhik Barari and Tyler Simko to advance the study of local government in the United States. It is the largest dataset of local government public meetings — the central policy-making process in American local government — as they are captured on video.

• YouTube

• Participatory democracy
• Archives
• Communicating with the people

The Initiative on Cities serves as a hub for urban related research and teaching across Boston University. We engage with urban leaders, policymakers, academics, and students from around the world to work toward sustainable, just, and inclusive urban transformation.

• city
• Sustainable cities and communities

• Research and policy centers
• Academia

The Federal Innovation Council seeks to build a culture of innovation and experimentation in government by enabling and empowering federal employees to meet the challenges of 21st century governance.

• Govtech
• Digital transformation
• Roundtables

The certificate in Smart Cities is an interdisciplinary program designed for working or aspiring professionals and upper-level students interested in expanding their knowledge-base in the fields of emerging urban technologies, data science, sustainable design, and public-private partnerships.

• Learn about civic tech
• Smart Cities and sensors
• Online courses

A research article in the Journal of Deliberative Democracy by Espen Leirset

• Academia
• Communicating with the people
• Peer-reviewed research

In this groundbreaking work, Haochen Sun analyzes the ethical crisis unfolding at the intersection of technology and the public interest.

• books

• Ethical tech and responsible tech
• Books

This brief is the compilation of the findings from of a series of workshops on creating a vision for how our [US] government can build and foster a culture of innovation over the next 20 years.

• reports

• Govtech
• Digital transformation
• Reports

PolicyLab Africa uses Human centered design to imagine sustainable futures.

• Build something
• Civic apps outfits

Report and share Violence Incidence in Nigeria directly on this platform.

• preventing election violence

• Voting and elections
• Crowdsourcing
• Election observation

An inactive wiki guide to e-consultation

• guides
• wikis

• Engagement tech
• Participatory democracy

Deploying Open Data to Enable Kenyan Households & Communities Conserve Fresh Water Resources, including civic literacy campaigns and IoT monitoring of water supply and quality

• Clean water and sanitation
• Climate action

• Civic data
• Smart Cities and sensors
• Environmental data

Out in Tech is the world’s largest non-profit community of LGBTQ+ tech leaders.

• LGBTQI

• Meet the others
• Peer networks

Out in Tech Digital Corps provides web services to LGBTQ+ activists and social entrepreneurs around the world.

• LGBTQI
• Wordpress

• Pro bono and volunteer
• Help out

We provide resources to reimagine project-restricted giving

• Get funding
• Playbooks and design principles
• Foundation initiatives

A series of articles interrogating the concept of rigor in the context of impact evaluation in our work, by Keira Lowther

• Evaluate impact
• Fieldwide resources

The Digital Rights Job Board features diverse opportunities from organizations, grassroots networks, companies and other types of entities from 130+ countries working at the intersection of technology, human rights, and social justice

• Find a job or hire someone
• Digital rights
• Job boards

We foster and nurture communities throughout the world working on digital rights

• Adjacent Fields
• Meet the others
• Digital security and privacy

A report: How can stories help us change systems?

• reports

• Media
• Narrative tech

A report by the UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub

• reports

• Emerging tech
• Disaster response and humanitarian tech
• Satellites

Aim: to improve outcomes for people affected by humanitarian crises by identifying, nurturing and sharing more effective and scalable solutions.

• Adjacent Fields
• Disaster response and humanitarian tech

The UK Humanitarian Innovation Hub (UKHIH) will promote and support strategic and focused collaborations across government, science, private and humanitarian actors to drive urgently needed innovations and technologies in humanitarian responses to disasters and conflict.

• United Kingdom (government)

• Adjacent Fields
• Disaster response and humanitarian tech

The Public Technology Leadership Collaborative (PTLC) is a new peer learning collective of scholars, researchers, and government leaders committed to addressing the social and cultural implications of data and technology.

• Research and policy centers
• Academia

While the Open Treasury portal hosts all federal daily treasury reports, GOVSPEND.NG, a platform powered by BudgIT, simplifies the treasury report for citizens and Civil Society Organizations to access, monitor and understand federal government’s real time expenditure.

• Advocacy tech
• Watchdogging and transparency
• Budget explorers

"Here’s a real-time map of the hundreds of protests taking place across Israel as the pro-democracy movement there hits its ninth week of massive participation. An estimated 400,000 people turned out across the country last weekend; that’s five percent of its population" - Micah Sifry, The Connector

• Advocacy tech
• Mapping
• Civic maps

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
• partisan

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

Founded in 2018, Cooperative Impact Lab is a space to experiment with approaches and strategies to build progressive power.

• partisan

• Advocacy tech
• Organize campaigns

Armed with user research and no-code tools, we strive to make the world a better place.

• Webflow

• Build something
• Social impact design firms
• Building in the private sector

The Biden Administration's approach to human-centered design to re-orient government around a core set of "life experience" personas

• United States (federal government)

• Govtech
• Access social benefits
• Design

The main objective of this action is to develop a European network of actors focusing on the development of collaborative economy models and platforms and on social and technological implications of the collaborative economy through a practice focused approach.

• Govtech
• Ethical tech and responsible tech
• Research and policy centers

A Reuters special report investigating global supply chains and sustainability programs

• Apple
• sustainability

• Media
• Smart Cities and sensors
• Investigative journalism tech

Madagascar Initiatives for Digital Innovation est une association à but non lucratif régie par l'Ordonnance n°60-133 du 03 octobre 1960. L'objectif est de promouvoir l' E-Democracy - l'Open Data et le Datajournalisme à Madagascar.

• Civic data

Mapping the thinking tool landscape with collective intelligence.

• Adjacent Fields
• Decentralization
• Report cards and audits

Open data platform in Madagascar

• Civic data
• Open data publishing portals
• Open government data

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

The digital department of the Italian government

• Govtech
• Digital transformation

We equip every individual with the tools they need to live a safe, protected, and informed digital life.

• Adjacent Fields
• Digital security and privacy
• Ethical tech and responsible tech

IT for Change’s Namma Mahiti Kendras are ICT-enabled information centers that aim to break down the barriers to citizens’ right-claiming processes.

• place-based

• Engagement tech
• Access social benefits
• Communicating with the people

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

We aim to translate activist power into political power by changing how we develop campaign leadership.

• trainings

• Advocacy tech
• Fellowships

IT for Change is an NGO based in Bengaluru, India. IT for Change aims for a society in which digital technologies contribute to human rights, social justice and equity.

• Gender Equality
• Quality education

• Information & Communication Tech for Development (ICT4D)
• Internet governance

UN Mappers is a community of mapping enthusiasts collaborating to collect, validate and disseminate geospatial open data in areas where the United Nations carries out field operations with the goal of supporting the decision-making process with more accurate location-based data.

• OpenStreetMap
• United Nations

• Mapping
• Disaster response and humanitarian tech
• Pro bono and volunteer

The Energia Foundation's work centers around organizing large-scale demonstrations, experiences, and proof-of-concept installations that can easily translate into organized institutions to create long-lasting, sustainable change.

• methodology

• Advocacy tech

Free Law Project is the leading nonprofit using software, data, and advocacy to make the legal ecosystem more equitable and competitive.

• Legal tech
• Justice tech
• Investigative journalism tech

"Journalists and bloggers in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan can enter this contest." - International Journalists' Network

• Media
• Get funding
• Awards and prizes

Pushing the Boundaries of Scientific Innovation to Create a Smarter, Sustainable, and Resilient Future for Communities

• Govtech
• Foundation initiatives
• Public Private Partnerships

Boston Review’s Black Voices in the Public Sphere Fellowship  is designed to prepare and support a more diverse generation of  journalists, editors, and publishers.

• Media
• Fellowships

We are building an infrastructure for digital academic credentials that can support the education systems of the future.

• Quality education

• Adjacent Fields
• Open science