Policy Lab: Democracy and Technology

(1 Credit Hour) · Undergraduate

This course explores the relationship between democratic governance and technological innovation. From the printing press to artificial intelligence, technology has transformed how societies deliberate, mobilize, surveil, and govern. We will examine the positive and negative impacts of technology on democratic practice. The course will begin with lectures covering the negative impacts of technology on governance by fueling disinformation, deepening polarization, amplifying prejudices and hate speech, enabling surveillance and algorithmic manipulation, enabling foreign election interference, eroding trust in institutions, concentrating corporate power, and weakening the capacity for collective deliberation. Next, the course will build on this understanding to explore how the design of technology platforms relate to these harms and what prosocial tech design looks like. Students will learn to use at least four different "democracy technologies" also known as "deliberative technologies" to support "Participatory, Reflective, Impactful, Meaningful Everyday Democracy." The main project will be designing and carrying out a PRIMED project on campus using these democracy platforms to foster campus deliberation. Students will work with campus organizations to develop the project into a policy brief that meets the needs of the ND community.