Democracy Lab

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Democracy Lab    |    International Conference    |    Speakers    |    Venues          << REGISTER >>


The week begins with a four-day Democracy Lab (23-27 May, Medialab-Prado) delivering workshops, hackathons and open sessions to develop, think and design tools, processes and strategies for democratic participation.

As part of the week we are holding an Open Call for sessions on Wednesday and Thursday. Apply to get involved.

 

Dem Lab registration

 

Monday 23rd

10:00 – 14:00 (Room 1)

Creating a Democratic Commons Network

Hosted by: Xabier Barandiaran (Faculty of Social Work, University of the Basque Country; IAS Research Centre for Life, Mind and Society; and Wikitoki); Yago Bermejo Abati (LaboDemo).

Taking place each morning from Monday to Thursday, this series of workshops will gather people from across Spain and abroad to develop a new Democratic Commons Network. Open to individuals and groups working around open source policy making, participation and direct democracy, the network will help share experience, coordinate efforts, and support the implementation of new democratic innovations involving technology and new values.

Days 1-3 will be run in Spanish. Day 4, focussed on developing the network internationally, will be run in Spanish and English. Attendees are encouraged to attend as many days as they can.

Day 1 of 4: Purpose and objectives for a Democratic Commons Network. Creating a Foundational Document.

Register here

 

 

Tuesday 24th May

10:00 – 14:00 (Room 1)

Creating a Democratic Commons Network

See description above

Day 2 of 4: How to organize a horizontal, transparent and collaborative network. A model for active work.

Register here

 

10:00 – 19:00 (Room 2)

Data Journalism with Decide Madrid

Hosted by: Pablo Aragon (Universitat Pompeu Fabra; Eurecat); David Cabo (Fundació Civio) and Eva Belmonte (Fundació Civio).

In collaboration with Fundació Civio, this datathon will share datasets of networks from Decide Madrid and demonstrate how to explore them with ONODO: the network visualisation tool developed by Civio and Eurecat within the CHEST project http://onodo.org/en/. This is an open session but will be tailored towards citizens engaged in data science and data journalism.

The session will be run in Spanish and English. Please register for the morning, afternoon, or the full day.

Register here

 

16:00 – 19:00 (Room 1)

Direct Democracy: Legal strategies for local implementation

Hosted by: Juan Carlos Madroñal (Más Democracia); Francisco Jurado (Andalucian Parliament); Juan Moreno Yagüe (Andalucian Parliament); Gregorio Plancheulo (Madrid City); and Amaia Aguirreolea (City of Donostia).

What are the legal barriers to direct democracy? How can new governments overcome them? This roundtable will gather legal experts from across Spain to study the possible implementations of direct democracy mechanisms in local governments.

This session will be run in Spanish.

Register here

 

 

Wednesday 25th May

11:30 – 14:00 (Room 1)

Creating a Democratic Commons Network

See description above

Day 3 of 4: Pilot network projects: Collaborative Open Source Development for Democracy.

Register here

 

11:30 – 21:00 (Room 2)

Coding Democracy: Ruby on rails hackathon

Hosted by: Consul Team, Madrid City Council

Coding Democracy is a hackathon to contribute to the biggest open source participation platform in Spain; Consul (https://decide.madrid.es/). Experts from the Madrid City Council team will be leading this all-day workshop. Experience using the Ruby on Rails framework is required.

This session will be run in Spanish and English.

Register herePlease book for the morning, afternoon, or the full day.

 

10:00 – 11:00 (Room 3)

Digital Democracy: D-CENT, citizen engagement and economic empowerment

Hosted by: Francesca Bria (D-CENT); Xabier Barandiaran (Faculty of Social Work, University of the Basque Country); Yago Bermejo Abati (LaboDemo.net); and Irina Bolychevsky (Redecentralise.org)

Acting as an introduction to the activities at the Democracy Lab, this session will provide an overview of the D-CENT project and the work of the international organisations currently involved in transforming democracy.

This will be an accessible and stimulating introductory session for anybody with an interest in the changing face of 21st Century democracy.

Attendees are encouraged to stay at the Medialab and participate in the “unconference” that follows. This session will be run in Spanish and English.

Register here

 

11:30 – 20:00 (Room 3)

Initiatives for open democracy and a decentralised Internet (Unconference)

Hosted by: D-CENT; Redecentralise.org; and Labodemo.net

Initiatives for open democracy and a decentralised Internet is a two-day “unconference” looking at privacy-aware, open source democracy tools and citizen empowerment through bottom-up participation.

We’re inviting technologists, activists, journalists, policy-makers, civil servants, academics, lawyers, designers and startups to come together to showcase their work, demo products, debate and plan.

The event will be run in an “unconference” format and will include lightning talks, hands-on workshops and presentations selected and scheduled by attendees on the day.

See www.dcentproject.eu/open-call for full details and to participate in our open call for content.

This session will be run in Spanish and English.

Register here

 

 

Thursday 26th May

10:00 – 14:00 (Room 1)

Creating a Democratic Commons Network

See description above

Day 4 of 4: Growing the network internationally

This session will provide an overview of the previous three days and focus on the steps needed to develop the network internationally. Participants from across Europe are invited to share their insight and contribute to the development of the network in their home nations.

This session will be run in Spanish and English.

Register here

 

10:00 – 20:00 (Room 3)

Initiatives for open democracy and a decentralised Internet (Unconference)

Hosted by: D-CENT; Redecentralise.org; and Labodemo.net

See description above

See www.dcentproject.eu/open-call for full details and to participate in our open call for content.

This session will be run in Spanish and English.

Register here

 

10:00 – 21:00 (Room 2)

Coding Democracy: Ruby on rails hackathon

Hosted by: Consul Team, Madrid City Council

Coding Democracy is a hackathon to contribute to the biggest open source participation platform in Spain; Consul (https://decide.madrid.es/). Experts from the Madrid City Council team will be leading this all-day workshop. Experience using the Ruby on Rails framework is required.

This session will be run in Spanish and English.

Register herePlease book for the morning, afternoon, or the full day.

 

Friday 27th May

 

 

18:00 – 19:45 (Room 3)

Workshop: Making Modern Direct Democracy Work

Hosted by: Bruno Kaufmann (Initiative and Referendum Institute Europe); and invited guests.

While the idea of a more participatory democracy is gaining ground on all political levels across the world, the concrete steps towards more practical use of direct democracy tools and procedures are facing a host of challenges, hurdles and opposition.

Intended to continue the debate begun at the Direct Democracy session of the International Conference, this workshop will address the principal, procedural and practical issues in a world café setting, offering participants the opportunity to share and learn from experts and co-practitioners.

The workshop aims to produces a short-list of concrete practical steps towards making modern direct democracy work at the local, regional, national and transnational level.

This session will be run in Spanish and English.

Register here

 

 

 


Commons technology and the right to a democratic city is organised with the support of the following organisations:

DCENT      NESTA      MEDIALAB      REINA      Madrid      BARCA

@dcentproject  |  #DCENTMADRID

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