About

The Digital Democracy Project is a nonpartisan organization that seeks 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, educating the public, press, and lawmakers on how and where disruptive technologies strengthen societies instead of dividing them.

The Digital Democracy Project was founded and directed by Alexander B. Howard. It is incubated within – but editorially independent from – the Demand Progress Education Fund, a nonprofit entity sponsored by the New Venture Fund.

Mission:

(1) Increase civic integrity and democratic resilience in the United States government through the promotion of civic technologies and oversight of sunshine laws

(2) Improve right-time public access to public information online, rebuilding public trust in institutions through participatory platforms. responsive governance, and open governance.

Activities:

• Engage the public, press, and parliaments to build support for democratic reforms and oversight of existing statutes relevant to good governance, particularly sunshine statutes, through strategic analysis and advocacy on a variety of digital platforms, media, and public events.

• Work in coalitions with stakeholders on reforms, from proactive disclosures to political ad transparency to ethics reforms to civics and statistical literacy, including organizing monthly transparency roundtables and writing letters and petitions to legislators, civil servants, and elected officials.
  
• Collaborate with organizations that monitor public access to open government data and conduct oversight of sunshine laws, policies and programs,  including digital records reforms at the National Archives, the 2016 Freedom of Information Act, the Open Government Data Act of 2019, the DATA Act, U.S. participation in the Open Government Partnership, OMB circulars and executive orders.