LAB Metadecidim

>>> The Metadecidim LABs are back with a debate and a workshop on deliberative democracy in Decidim!

Decidim aspires to be a democratic project for the future. For this reason, in this session of the metadecidim LAB, we want to discuss possible improvements in one of its facets or fundamental possibilities: the deliberative one. The session is based on the idea that Decidim should incorporate and promote deliberative democracy, defined by authors such as Gutmann & Thompson (2004) as a form of governance in which free and equal persons (and their representatives, if any) justify their positions through processes in which mutually acceptable and generally accessible reasons are given, with the aim of reaching decisions that are binding on all but are open to amendment in the future.

The objective of this session is to invite the Decidim community to deliberate on deliberation, on the incorporation of new functionalities (operational elements of the Decidim design) that help to better articulate debate and dissent, as well as consensus and collective decision. Functionalities that feed knowledge and mutual recognition between different actors, the development of individual and collective reasoning and, ultimately, dynamics that transform and enrich the perspectives of the participants (eg, the positions from which they are identified and discussed common problems, proposed solutions, etc.).

The program for this session is divided into two parts. The first includes talks by experts and an open debate to reflect on the relationship between deliberative democracy and Decidim based on specific cases, approaches and methodologies. The second part, which will feature two practical workshops, will address two complementary issues: a) how to improve Decidim-supported deliberation through (and beyond) the current redesign of the platform; and, b) how the Citizen Assemblies can contribute to said deliberation supported by the platform.

Some questions that will guide this session are:

-How do we understand or should we understand deliberation, especially in Decidim? What concepts and metrics can help us study and improve it, on the platform and beyond?

-What existing functionalities, linked directly or indirectly to deliberation, can be improved? How could it be done?

-What new deliberative functionalities can be added? What specific aspects would you try to improve these functionalities?

-What deliberative platforms and/or experiences can serve as a reference to improve the possibilities and forms of deliberation in Decidim? How can the Citizen Assemblies in Decidim contribute to quality deliberation?

-Beyond technological development: how do we guarantee or promote that the use of new functions for deliberation are used and used well? What are the technopolitical principles that should govern deliberation in Decidim?

Program

10:00 - 11:30 First part: presentations and debate

-Oliver Escobar (Universidad de Edimburgo). Debate, Diálogo y Deliberación: ¿Cómo se diferencian y por qué importa en el diseño de espacios participativos digitales? 

-Rosa Borge (UOC). La capacidad y la calidad deliberativa de las plataformas participativas: el caso de Decidim

-Yago Bermejo (Deliberativa). Asambleas deliberativas y Decidim. Cómo convertir Decidim en la plataforma que las asambleas deliberativas necesitan.

Zero Row Discussion:

-Maite López Sánchez (UB) 

-Marta Cambronero (UOC) 

-Carol Romero (Decidim) 

-Emmanuele Cozzo (UB)

11:30 - 12:00 Break

12:00 - 14:00 Second part. Workshop: Decidim and Deliberation

Notes:

*In the next few days we will publish a debate on deliberation in Decidim, motivated in part by the proposal made by a participant in the community.

*Unfortunately there will be no streaming this time :-(, but the session will be recorded and published later.

*Admission is free with prior registration. The language will be Spanish/Catalan, with some intervention in English.

*Literature included in the full program (PDF)