CitizenLab digital democracy platform

[jdaviescoates]

CitizenLab is a digital democracy platform that facilitates community participation and co-creation. Participants can post ideas, contribute to discussions, or choose to vote and prioritize community projects.

They have just open sourced the core of their platform (h/t @rmdes on Mastodon)

Code here:
https://github.com/CitizenLabDotCo/citizenlab

Docker here:
https://github.com/CitizenLabDotCo/citizenlab-docker

Install instructions here:
https://developers.citizenlab.co/start-deployment/

Demo here:
https://opensource.citizenlab.co/en/

(see also Decidim)

[timconsidine]

@jdaviescoates
I would find this very interesting as a Cloudron app

[seeker]

@jdaviescoates
I came here specifically to share this.... and of course you beat me to it. So I am instead saying thanks for sharing!

[timconsidine]

I tried to install this on a standalone non-Cloudron VPS
But I could not get it running

[timconsidine]

@timconsidine I have now got this running on its own VPS.
Not sure what I did wrong initially.

It's definitely a good resource to have.

[seeker]

@timconsidine
Thats great.

[girish]

@timconsidine is this more like a forum but fine tuned for "voting" ?

[timconsidine]

@girish not really in terms of how most users would see it, although I guess from a technical point of view there are similarities.

There's not much on my prototype site and the demos from the official site are better at this stage, otherwise I would share my prototype now.

It allows public users to create their own proposals and seek support for them, and also allows the "site owner" to publish proposals and gain feedback & input. I guess it's "value add" as a system is the guided management of those processes.

I'll share my prototype link as soon as it has meaningful content.

Some councils are using it as a "democracy exercise" for their constituents, although I see it as something more for those who feel disenfranchised to promote ideas, seek support, gain input. There could be similarities to a petition site (of which there are dozens), but with some added functionality, so hopefully the proposals will be more effective than sadly the fate of many petitions.

[robi]

@timconsidine so more like a uservoice capability with a bit more flexibility?

[timconsidine]

@robi definitely a user voice capability
with the concept that they have a starting point or platform to work within, and leverage, and be guided to some extent.
not just set up a website or petition of FB page.
"grass roots" democracy or cause-activism is f*** very hard work.

I'd like to say "apolitical politics" but that's a bit naff, so really most citizen voice.

I think the creators of CitizenLab have an eye on servicing the needs of councils etc who find it really hard to engage with their constituents. But they have been kind enough to open-source it, and I see a wider role for it, because the structure is open to multiple use cases.

I'm waiting for content contributions from others, but hope I can show it in working state "shortly" (very funny joke knowing most of my projects).

[robi]

@timconsidine This will be a huge benefit for humanity, as many countries and states are forming councils called Assemblies for the next generation of government.

This will be a great addition to help manage that framework.