DemTech: Our Blog

We're Hiring!

By NDI Tech | Nov 28, 2018

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Passionate about using the right tech for human rights? Interested in innovative ways to connect governments and citizens? Got ideas how social media could actually support democracy rather than fuel the current dumpster fire? See uses for…

Throwback Thursday: Bringing Design Sprints to NDI

By Priyal Bhatt | Nov 08, 2018

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As the Technology Innovation team at NDI, we are always looking for new approaches to build impactful platforms. One of our recent pilot projects—DemGames—offers our partner organizations an opportunity…

Introducing the Democracy Notary: An Experiment in Information Integrity

By Chris Doten | Oct 24, 2018

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A look at the DemocracyNotary.org home page

“Who you gonna believe” – as the comics say – “me, or your lyin’ eyes?” When it comes to politics, cognitive bias has always given citizens a strong push to believe “their side,” whatever the evidence to the contrary suggests.

As…

Launching Data Storytelling Course for Civic Technologists

By Priyal Bhatt | Oct 24, 2018

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Civic organizations, government, and activists are becoming more adept at using digital technologies to engage on community issues, participate in public discourse, and stay connected. This civic technology-- such as online petition platforms,…

Weekly Roundup 10/12/18

By Julia Rhodes | Oct 12, 2018

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Good news! California just passed a law requiring all Internet-of-things (IoT) devices to have unique, secure password.…

Weekly Roundup 10/01/18

By Julia Rhodes | Oct 01, 2018

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Last week, Cloudflare announced it would support Google’s Roughtime, a protocol that (roughly) keeps the internet’s clocks in synch. Accurate time is critical for cybersecurity,…

Weekly Roundup 9/21/18

By Julia Rhodes | Sep 21, 2018

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On September 9th, Swedes took to the polls to vote for a new prime minister and members of parliament. Studying a sample of Twitter posts in the run-up to the elections, researchers at the…

Weekly Roundup 9/14/18

By Julia Rhodes | Sep 14, 2018

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Last week, the 172-year-old Associated Press (AP) announced a collaboration with the little over twelve-month-old Civil Media Company, a…

User Experience Testing

By Ben Lynch | Aug 30, 2018

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As anyone who has spent time in tech knows, “designing good software” is as complicated as the term is simple. It’s easy to come up with ideas and improvements for your products. But the actual implementation is full of pitfalls that…

Citizen-Centered

By Noble Ackerson | Aug 22, 2018

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“We shape our tools and, thereafter our tools shape us…”  — John Culkin (1967)

It’s amazing what humanity can do with the right tools. If you’ve ever looked up the work of …