Embedding democracy into digital governance

We help the world understand how to govern better by using civic technologies and how to make technologies more civic by adopting democratic principles in design, service delivery, and information sharing.

About Us

Our mission is to embed democratic values into the digital governance policies and statutes of nation states and the private corporations that operate the public squares of the 21st century.

In service of that goal, we bring good ideas in digital democracy to light, document who’s making a difference, and help codify what’s working to achieve maximum positive public impact. We believe democracy works best when we are best informed, so we seek to educate the public, press, and lawmakers about how and where disruptive technologies strengthen societies instead of dividing them. Learn more.

• The U.S. government’s “self-assessment” of its performance on open government suffers from opacity and omissionJune 21, 2024
  On June 10, we filed a response to the United States government’s request for comments on its mid-term self-assessment of the United States fifth National Open Government National Action Plan. It was posted on June 17 and can be downloaded as a PDF from Regulations.gov. We have reproduced the comment in full, below, with added …

  Continue reading “The U.S. government’s “self-assessment” of its performance on open government suffers from opacity and omission”

• An early assessment of the Biden administration’s record on open governmentJanuary 12, 2024
  In February 2021, we authored a coalition letter to the White House with open questions about open government. While then-Press Secretary Jen Psaki acknowledged receipt & shared with staff who work on public engagement and democracy, neither she nor they ever answered the questions. President Biden has not responded to a 2023 coalition letter on …

  Continue reading “An early assessment of the Biden administration’s record on open government”

• Public Comment: How to improve public participation in the rulemaking processApril 25, 2023
  In November 2022, the White House hosted a virtual public engagement session as part of the co-creation process for a new United States National Action Plan for Open Government for the Open Government Partnership. Unfortunately, the White House’s co-creation process was flawed and opaque, ignoring civil society priorities and undermining the Open Government Partnership, resulting …

  Continue reading “Public Comment: How to improve public participation in the rulemaking process”

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Image Credit: Sunlight Foundation