Civic-Tech with Christopher Larraz pt. 1

Research at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy

The newest episode of theResearch at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracypodcast brings a first for this project, miniseries.

This particular miniseries on technologies and democracy will delve into the world of civic technologies throughout this, and future episodes.

Jerôme Duberry, Lecturer and senior Researcher at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy, who has focused his efforts on the intersection between digital technologies and collaborative governance leads us through this fascinating topic with the help of an array of guests.

In this episode Jerôme interviews Christopher Larraz, technologies and innovation advisor for the state of Geneva. Together they will explain what civic tech is, and how it can be applied concretely.

While technology may be the way of the future when it comes to government plans, we cannot forget that they require the people’s approval to exist. Teaching citizens and encouraging them to participate in these civic-tech innovations is at least half the battle. As Larraz points out, civic technologies are only tools that one can use to communicate with the public, genuine connection is built gradually and hinges on teaching the public how these technologies constitute an improvement to the democratic process.

Stay tuned for future parts of this series concerning the real world experiences with civic-tech, and how other countries have adopted the practices.

And subscribe to the podcast to receive all the latest conversations on research at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy.