Technopolitical Transitions: Expectations and Promises in Decidim

A proposal by Becoming with Holon and Tecnopolitica (IN3-UOC)

Description:
Socio-technical and eco-social transitions toward more sustainable and democratic societies require specific postures and mindsets, new ways of designing, theories of change and visions for transitions.

Decidim is the result of an ever-extending community of practice, a participatory governance infrastructure, a design and organizational culture, and the crystallization of visions of desirable futures.

This session is oriented to test a toolkit that allows to elicit, explore, and expand such visions. Considering Decidim as a prefigurative technopolitical project (and movement) made out of matter and meaning, this toolkit aims to design with expectations for technopolitical transitions. Expectations are semiotic-material and political forces. They are collective visions of the future that coordinate behaviour, meaning and affect in the present.

Objectives:

1. Understand what kind of promises and expectations are managed within the Decidim community
2. Stimulate promises and expectations of technopolitical transition

Methodology:

Introduction (15 minutes)

• Welcome and introductions
• Overview of the project and brief introduction to sociology of expectations and promises

Toolkit testing (60 minutes)

• Identify socio-technical promises and expectations within Decidim community
• Understand how these promises and expectations are sought to be realised
• Find what are the limitations of these promises and expectations
• Use fiction to stimulate promises and expectations to challenge assumptions and objectives
• Designing actions to shift the promises and expectations from the niche of the Decidim community to other areas of society

Wrap-up and conclusion (15 minutes)

• Key highlights and takeaways
• Evaluation and improvement proposals

Duration: 1,5 hours

Target audience

• All kinds of audiences are welcome
• Participants involved in the development of Decidim will be especially welcomed

Language

• English with Catalan or Spanish translation if needed

Logistical needs

• Projector or screen
• Sound

Maximum of participants

• 30

Numer of facilitators

• 1