What is the project? Democratic Society have been working in partnership with The Data Lab and Scottish Government on public engagement for development of Scotland’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Strategy. Our aims are to increase knowledge and awareness of the strategy and AI, and to capture the views and ideas of different people across Scotland about […]
Category archives: Uncategorised
How to run a citizens’ assembly: Handbook from the Innovation in Democracy Programme
This report is aimed primarily at local authority officers or councillors who want to run a citizens’ assembly in their local area. It was developed as part of our work on the Innovation in Democracy Programme. But we also hope that it can be of use to others who are interested in deliberative democracy: process […]
What is Co-Production in 2020? Join our Public Square webinar as we explore ‘democracy in action’
Join Public Square and our panel of experts for our first event on Co-Production taking place on 8th July, 1500-1630 UK time. We’ll hear as they share how they’ve tackled issues of inclusion, empowerment and equality. We’ll explore why they believe Co-Production and greater participation may hold the answers to strengthening UK democracy whilst delivering […]
How will COVID change how councils work?
Our Anthony Zacharzewski (and the wider team here) have been putting to some thought to this big question over recent weeks. In the Local Government Chronicle article published today, Anthony shares how we think COVID presents us all an opportunity for reshaped engagement. Social distancing has seen participation processes at local and national level shift […]
Scotland’s Artificial Intelligence Strategy – Get involved!
Chat bots, driverless cars, Alexa- what do they all have in common? They all use artificial intelligence (AI). Working with The Data Lab, we have developed a range of ways for people to have their say: take part in our quizzes on AI, respond to our public consultation, or access our resources for educators. We […]
#demsoc10 Making a splash with deliberation
In today’s post in our series looking back at our first ten years of project work, Anthony revisits a research piece that asked questions still relevant today. After ten years of work, there are a lot of projects to remember. Some you keep at the front of your mind. Others you come across in some […]
#demsoc10 Zero Heroes
Looking back over ten years of projects, Anthony discusses an early project out and about in rural Sussex. Although it’s fair to say Captain Sussex never made it to the level of fame achieved by Captain America, he was quite often found in rural Lewes district during 2013. One of our bigger early projects was […]
#demsoc10 Le Agorà di Messina
Demsoc works across Europe, and very often also outside capitals and government buildings. One of the most striking projects in recent years was Le Agorà di Messina, which ran over the course of a year in Sicily and was entirely designed and executed by the citizens taking part, supported by Demsoc. Francesca Attolino and Ivan […]
#demsoc10 Collaborative Government in Scotland
The #demsoc10 post we planned for today has been slightly delayed by engineering works and Storm Ciara, so tonight Anthony looks back at our first project in Scotland. Demsoc started life in Brighton, and our first office and team was based there. Much of our early work was with local government, and we’ll share some […]
#demsoc10 How to spend a hundred billion euros
All this month, we are looking back at Demsoc projects from our last ten years. Today, Anthony looks at our 2018 report on how to involve citizens in decision making on research spending. Most of the work that we do at Demsoc is practical, in that we are asked to work and test things with […]