SNF Digital Democracy

Contact Person: Professor Dirk Helbing

Duration: 01/05/2020 - 30/04/2024

Funding: SNF NFP 77
Project number 187249

Website: external page https://www.nfp77.ch/en/portfolio/trust-and-legitimation-in-the-digital-democracy/

Description: Trust and legitimation in the digital democracy

Supported by a smartphone application, citizens can help shape political decisions. This project identifies the factors that determine whether users of such an application perceive decisions as trustworthy and legitimate.

This project is part of the smart-city strategy development and the ongoing reorganization and redesign of the "Zukunftsraum Aarau", in which the city of Aarau will merge with four neighbouring municipalities. In this context, selected citizens will be included in a political decision-making process by means of an application. The participants will be interviewed before and after the so-called field phase between May and October 2022, in which they will use the app on their smartphones. We will investigate how the use or characteristics of the app affect trust and legitimacy as well as the users’ competences.

Background: In order to meet today's complex, dynamic and interdependent challenges, we need a resilient society, such as one based on collective intelligence and co-evolution. Involvement of different perspectives can be a means to reach legitimate and trustworthy political decisions. This is in line with the current theory of democracy, which emphasises the involvement of all citizens.

Aim: Our aim is to investigate if and how a political decision-making process supported by an application has an impact on trust and legitimacy. As to the application, we plan to develop some of its features. Finally, we will emphasize the importance of value-based development, which means that the software must be designed so that its use reflects the basic values of society.

Relevance: Our goal is to guarantee the legitimacy and the trustworthiness of political decisions that are in part made with the help of digital technologies. We also hope that our results will lead to innovation and to a higher awareness of value-sensitive design. In addition, our project aims to open up new perspectives for successful urban development.

Original title: Decision-making process supported by a participatory platform: Consequences on trust, on legitimacy of the political decision, and user skills

Project leader:
Prof. Regula Hänggli, Departement Gesellschaftswissenschaften, Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaft, Universität Freiburg
Prof. Dirk Helbing, Computational Social Science, ETH Zürich
Dr. Evangelos Pournaras, School of Computing, University of Leeds, Leeds Yorkshire, United Kingdom

Contact:
Prof. Regula Hänggli
Departement Gesellschaftswissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaft
Universität Freiburg
Boulevard de Pérolles 90
1700 Fribourg
+41 26 300 83 96