Project partners – The Democracy Machine

The “Democracy Machine” is a metaphor for a fully developed system of civic tech supporting a democratic system. This research project studies nonprofits and companies that aim to build such technology to test the impact of different design choices implemented in diverse contexts.

Below is a list of the current corporate/nonprofit partners in this effort, along with this project director’s “hot take” on each one. Our project has no financial tie to these organizations. Instead, we exchange ideas with them, contribute to their design refinements, and analyze data as it becomes available.

Civic Bell is designing a civic engagement platform to improve the connection and communication between Americans and their government. Dr. Gastil has met with them bi-weekly for months. Hot take: Two Stanford M.B.A. students secured angel funding to launch this startup and have Silicon Valley-sized goals to create a top-shelf public engagement system.

Civic Genius seeks to build a stronger civic culture that bridges political divides to take decisive and effective action on the most important issues in the U.S. Dr. Gastil serves on their Advisory Board. Hot take: This organization aims to fuse its experience in traditional advocacy organizing with new technology for mass public engagement.

CitizenLab has created a community engagement platform that has been adopted by governments across the globe. It aims to use a simple, largely asynchronous design to invite maximum participation. Hot take: It’s extremely challenging to sustain a business in this field, but CitizenLab has done just that with an international staff and tremendous persistence.

The Every Voice Engaged deliberation platform helps citizens, governments and other nonprofit organizations solve problems that benefit from effective civic engagement. Dr. Gastil serves on their Advisory Board.  Hot take: This organization has a unique digital tool that visually represents the discovery of common ground during deliberation.

Unify America creates interactive experiences to help people bust out of their bubbles, build civic muscles, and work together to tackle our country’s biggest challenges. Dr. Gastil meets with them bi-weekly. Hot take: A successful game designer and entrepreneur created this organization to disrupt conventional online engagement platforms through humor and emotional hooks.