With its open source software, DemocracyOS allows citizens to engage in proposing, deliberating and voting on policy issues that are relevant to them, providing the opportunity to engage in democratic discussions.
Note: the following entry is incomplete. You can help Participedia by adding to it.
Problems and Purpose
DemocracyOS is an open source software which allows citizens to:
- Propose - Get from zero to democracy in a click. Build proposals and be the change you want to see.
- Debate - Debate in a platform that rewards the best arguments and filters out unrelated content.
- Vote - With a clear deadline, get everyone on board to reach a decision and avoid endless debates.
Origins and Development
In April 2012, a group of activists, entrepreneurs, students and hackers got together in the city of Buenos Aires with a simple question in mind: What is democracy for the internet era? Many modern democracies still run the same way they did almost two centuries ago: citizens only get to interact with the political system once every few years. In an era where online access starts to become commonplace around the world, we are aware of how the internet changed the way we work, communicate and relate with each other. But politics and governments have changed little which is what this tool seeks to address.
The first step was to create an open source, free software with an easy user experience for citizens to get informed, debate and vote on every single bill presented in Congress. DemocracyOS evolved to become one of the most used platforms for collaborative decision-making and it got translated into 15 languages. It has been used in Tunisia to debate its national constitution; by the Federal Government of Mexico to develops its open goverment policy; by the youngest parlamentarian in Kenya to consult his constituency, and by the Congress of Buenos Aires, the first experience on digital democracy.
How it Works
Analysis and Lessons Learned
See Also
DemOS: Online Civic Participation in Buenos Aires' Legislative Debates
References
External Links
https://worldjusticeproject.org/our-work/programs/democracyos
https://www.wired.com/2014/05/democracy-os/
https://techcrunch.com/2015/04/17/democracyos-2/
https://www.americasquarterly.org/content/partido-de-la-red-and-democracyos
Notes
Lead Image: DemocracyOS http://tinyurl.com/y4rabmlz