Shifting Landscapes

Introduction
About mySociety and TICTeC What is pro-democracy tech? What this report covers
The arms race: approaches to defensive pro-democratic tech
Digital threats to pro democracy actors Use of technology in anti-corruption Use of AI technologies Limits of technology New challenges Conclusion
The new wave: Constructive democratic tech
Deliberative approaches to democracy The gulf between civic tech and deliberative
democracy Democracy as difference - the Polis approach Use of LLMs in deliberation Polis the organisation vs Polis the idea Intersection with wider conflicts Conclusion
Access to Information as democratic infrastructure
ATI and algorithmic power: making automated
decisions legible Measuring ATI: from legal compliance to lived
experience Crowdsourcing and community-led ATI: rebalancing
power ATI, journalism, and the politics of public
impact Conclusion
Supporting global democratic transparency
Democratic transparency Routes to impact Supporting technical innovation Application of AI technologies to democratic
transparency Conclusion
Digital infrastructure: foundations for democratic futures
What is infrastructure? Digital Public Infrastructure Democracy into the base layer Democratic DPI services The civic democratic stack Making the argument for funding infrastructure Measuring impact Democracy from top to bottom
Distributing democracy: having impact through reaching mass audiences
The rise and fall of the open web Approaches to video and AI Becoming the influencer Influencing the influencers Building instant messenger chatbots Influencing the big chatbots Ignore and do something else Conclusion
Evaluating and understanding AI
AI technologies AI (the tool) vs AI (the phenomenon) Questions to ask Is AI the right fit for a project? Evaluating the right model for a project Evals as scrutiny Conclusion
Sustainable tech: balancing ease of development with user experience
User device resource constraints Use of lower-level languages Software for low-resource/locked down computers Low-resource use of LLMs Improved analytics approaches - DuckDB Conclusion
Acknowledgements

About this publication mySociety.org mySociety Research

Shifting Landscapes

Contents
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Introduction
The arms race: approaches to defensive pro-democratic tech
The new wave: Constructive democratic tech
Access to Information as democratic infrastructure
Supporting global democratic transparency
Digital infrastructure: foundations for democratic futures
Distributing democracy: having impact through reaching mass audiences
Evaluating and understanding AI
Sustainable tech: balancing ease of development with user experience
Acknowledgements
About this publication
mySociety.org
mySociety Research

Shifting Landscapes

A practical guide to pro democracy tech

by Alex Parsons, Julia Cushion, Gemma Moulder

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Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. The arms race: approaches to defensive pro-democratic tech
Chapter 3. The new wave: Constructive democratic tech
Chapter 4. Access to Information as democratic infrastructure
Chapter 5. Supporting global democratic transparency
Chapter 6. Digital infrastructure: foundations for democratic futures
Chapter 7. Distributing democracy: having impact through reaching mass audiences
Chapter 8. Evaluating and understanding AI
Chapter 9. Sustainable tech: balancing ease of development with user experience
Chapter 10. Acknowledgements