D•lab is a betterplace lab program where we support ideas from Ukrainian civil society for a better democracy in the digital age. At D•lab 15 selected Ukrainian based innovators come together in Berlin, Kyiv and digitally within the time frame of the project (May until September 2019) to collaboratively work on their ideas. They are supported by (external) input, a peer-learning format and an international network to help bring their ideas to the next level.
D•lab stands for “Digital Democracy lab” and is a program by betterplace lab, funded by the German EVZ Foundation (Foundation for “Rememberance, Responsibility and Future”.
At D•lab we want to bring together innovative minds that have an idea to foster democracy in a digitised world. The participants of D•lab will come together several times in the course of 2019 – in Berlin, Kyiv and digitally – to discuss, sharpen and scrutinize their idea for a better democracy through digital solutions.
D•lab will support the participants in the comprehensive fields such as innovative methodology (e.g. design thinking), in looking at the impact dimension of the respective idea and in discussing rather technological seeming questions (e.g. Human Centered Design). We pursue a collaborative approach throughout the program, providing a mix of expert input, peer-learning and constant feedback loops ensuring the program is catering to the needs of the participants.
D•lab serves as a space for further development, testing and reflection on the participants project idea – continuously creating a playing field for mutual inspiration and network building.
D•lab is a program focusing on an exchange of knowledge of Germany and Ukraine, however, all 15 participants of D•lab are based in Ukraine. We decided to scout participants from one of the two countries to provide similar working contexts, shape a local/national network and hopefully lay the foundation stone for further collaboration in Ukraine. Nevertheless, international collaboration is at the heart of the project, as betterplace lab is a Berlin-based nonprofit think-and-do-tank, our project partner 1991 Civic Tech Center is a Kyiv-based NGO and the foundation funding D•lab – EVZ Foundation (Foundation for “Rememberance, Responsibility and Future”.
Defining democracy in itself is not an easy attempt, providing a definition of digital democracy doesn’t seem to ease things up!
We believe, that the digital transformation challenges the way we exercise democracy today. Digital solutions provide a whole new set for participating in society and we find it’s time to make better use of these potentials – for a more inclusive creation of society!
But, back to the core: What do we mean by democracy?
First of all: democracy can be a lot. Ask 10 different people around you and we bet you’ll get 10 different answers!
We perceive democracy as: an institutional order, a form of government, a principle of majority rule. But even more so: democracy is a set of values, a cultural condition, a mindset. We believe democracy as a continuous negotiation process.
Democracy is the right for participation and the right to craft your own life. Thereby it is not only crucial to have the right to do so, but to be able to acquire the ability to act upon that right. Democracy starts at the point of forming an opinion and extends to the co-creation of a political decision. We understand it as what happens at the voting ballot at much as what happens before, between and after.
What part does digitalisation play for democracy?
Gone are the times where you’d divide the world into analog and digital. It’s quite puzzling, that politics seems to not fully make use of those (not so new) digital ways to enhance political processes or a more participatory society in general. Take the fact that most people make use of digitization in almost every sphere of their lives, but (political) institutions still predominantly remind of the their own foundation time.
We understand that despite different levels of digitalisation and its influence, digital can never be the solution itself, nor can it be a quick fix for deeply rooted (social) challenges. Still, we’d like to engage with the potentials that digitalisation offers for democracy, because we believe that digital tools can enrich democracy in its various spheres.
Digital democracy means the usage of information and communication technology (ICT) throughout the exercise of democracy. That entails (among other things):
These examples are taken from the “typology of digital democracy” by the British think tank Nesta. Find more detailed information in the report “Digital Democracy. The Tools Transforming Political Engagement”, 2017.
We’ve extracted these examples and aggregated the following categories of digital democracy:
To give you a few ideas, we’d like to share what topic areas came to our minds, emphasising that this list can by no means be exhausted. (As stated above, democracy can mean a lot and we are open to ideas that foster any of the respective spheres.)
We’d love to work with ideas that foster the areas of:
We are eager to learn what topic area of digital democracy is keeping you busy!
What kind of ideas are we looking for?
Ultimately it comes down to your creativity which (digital) way you’d like to pursue you wish to strengthen democracy! This can be using an existing infrastructure such as a social media platform to creatively campaign on a topic, building a “simpler” way such as a website or developing a tech-savvy platform.
Find more information in the selection criteria to better understand what we look for in your idea.
Basically, if you are engaged in the field of digital democracy, striving for a more open, inclusive society and have an idea that you want to bring about within D•lab. We strongly invite activists that are not aligned with any organisation, to apply (being part of an organisation/institution is not necessary to qualify for D•lab).
The program creates a safe space and is neutral to political spectrum as long as it is aligned with the German and Ukrainian constitution.
We would like to emphasize that we highly engage solutions for local contexts as much as national level to apply.
Also, we are highly encouraging for participants to apply regardless of their origin, age, religion, gender, disability and all people with a migration background and people of colour.
If all that sounds good for you, please apply here (Application form).
What’s in it for you?
Glad you asked! We’d love to give you a few arguments at hand why investing some time and brainpower at D•lab is definitely worth it:
What are the selection criteria?
We have identified relevant selection criteria (see below), which we, betterplace lab, and our project partner, 1991 Civic Tech Center, will apply to the applications to find the most 15 eligible participants for D•lab. The decision of selecting the participants is a shared process with our project partner 1991 Civic Tech Center. In case the applications exceed a certain number, betterplace lab reserves the right to generate a shortlist which we will then present to and discuss with the project partner.
To apply the selection criteria, we will rate every aspect with a certain number (from 1 to 5), 5 being the highest (translating to “Strongly agree”) and 1 being the lowest (translating to “Strongly disagree”). The full scale rating from 1 to 5 looks as follows:
The numerical assessment of the applications will help guiding the discussion with the project partner, the ultimate and final decision will be made in that discussion.
The following selection criteria and questions are guiding as orientation point for the numerical assessment:
Topic fit:
Potential impact:
Feasibility:
Sustainability
Innovation:
Digitisation:
What happens next?
betterplace lab is a Berlin-based think-and-do-tank striving for a digitization that benefits humanity through research, experiments and collaboration. As part of Europe’s largest donation platform betterplace.org we have relevant expertise in the field of social change. As part of betterplace.org, Germany's largest online donation platform (active in 127 countries), we carry out studies, disseminate our knowledge in innovation workshops, and work for the positive use of digitization worldwide. Further information can be found at www.betterplace-lab.org.
From the betterplace lab team Franziska Kreische, Katja Jäger and Oleksandra Bukharina are working on D•lab.
1991 Civic Tech Center is a dedicated hub located in the heart of Ukrainian capital to inspire civic tech startups and community with location, space, connections, acceleration programs, events and each other.
1991 Open Data Incubator is a non-profit, equity-free and the biggest incubation program in Ukraine. Being behind the successful Open Data reform, 1991 is supported by Ukrainian Government and helps to launch data-rich startups for anti-corruption as well as re-ignition of key sectors of the economy: infrastructure, energy, agriculture, public sector in a cooperation with the corresponding Ministries and industry leaders.1991 Incubator helps create startups and services based on large arrays of open data that will be useful for Ukrainian citizens, companies and public authorities.
From 1991 team Anastasia Sylenok Center’s Executive Director and Jane Klepa, Incubator’s Executive Director are working on D•lab.