Book Launch: Digital Technology and Democratic Theory

May 6th, 2021 - 10:00 am to 11:00 am PDT

Join the Ada Lovelace Institute, Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics, and Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS) for a special book launch of Digital Technology and Democratic Theory.

One of the most far-reaching transformations in our era is the wave of digital technologies rolling over—and upending—nearly every aspect of life. Work and leisure, family and friendship, community and citizenship have all been modified by now-ubiquitous digital tools and platforms.

Digital Technology and Democratic Theory looks closely at one significant facet of our rapidly evolving digital lives: how technology is radically changing our lives as citizens and participants in democratic governments.

To understand these transformations, this book brings together contributions by scholars from multiple disciplines to wrestle with the question of how digital technologies shape, reshape, and affect fundamental questions about democracy and democratic theory. As expectations have whiplashed—from Twitter optimism in the wake of the Arab Spring to Facebook pessimism in the wake of the 2016 US election—the time is ripe for a more sober and long-term assessment. How should we take stock of digital technologies and their promise and peril for reshaping democratic societies and institutions? To answer, this volume broaches the most pressing technological changes and issues facing democracy as a philosophy and an institution.

Live (real-time) captioning will be provided for this event, if you have questions or request for access, please contact: hkitcher@adalovelaceinstitute.org.

Speakers

• Lucy Bernholz - Director, Digital Civil Society Lab at Stanford PACS; Senior Research Scholar at Stanford PACS
• Archon Fung - Winthrop Laflin McCormack Professor of Citizenship and Self-Government, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University
• Bryan Ford - Professor, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL); Director, Decentralized/Distributed Systems Lab, EPFL
• Hélène Landemore - Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Yale University
• Seeta Peña Gangadharan - Associate Professor, Department of Media Communications, London School of Economics