Seeking examples of participatory digital governance
Over March 2025 we’re mapping out organisations and projects across the globe that are giving communities a voice in the governance of digital technology in public or private sectors as part of a rapid research project for the Open Government Partnership.
What is participatory digital governance?
Digital technologies play a pivotal role in shaping our economies, societies and public services. E-government infrastructures, communication platforms and rapidly changing artificial intelligence tools all play a role in governing our lives: but how are these technologies governed? And what opportunities are provided for communities affected by digital technology to have a powerful say in decisions about their design, operation or regulation?
Participatory digital governance is the process by which people affected by digital systems and policies have the opportunity to shape decisions about them.
This could take many forms, including, but not limited to:
- Public consultations on national digital strategies;
- Co-design of digital public services;
- Collective intelligence projects to influence the design of AI models;
- Public engagement in the procurement of new digital systems;
- Civil society oversight of digital public infrastructure;
- Public debate over the appropriate use of automated decision making;
- Deliberative dialogues to establish data sharing principles.
In short, anytime that members of the public are invited to input into, or share in, decisions about technology, this could be a case of participatory digital governance.
Why does participatory digital governance matter?
Despite the significant impact that digital tools, platforms and regulations have on societies across the globe, decisions about technology are often made behind closed doors, influenced by technical experts or industry players and with limited involvement of the different communities that those decisions will affect.
Participatory processes can bring a wider range of perspectives to the table, reveal possible unintended consequences of technical decisions, allow discussion of the trade offs between different approaches to the design or regulation or digital platforms, and provide pathways to secure a public mandate for, and trust in, digitisation. Meaningful participation should deliver an inclusive digital environment that operates in the public interest, and where decisions about digitisation are informed by, and accountable to, the public.
Mapping participatory digital governance
The Open Government Partnership’s Digital Governance challenge calls for national and local governments to commit to “strengthen transparency and public oversight of AI, automated-decision making, and data protection frameworks” including by “creating specific public participation opportunities”.
To support this, we’ve been commissioned to carry out a mapping of organisations that are developing and leading participatory digital governance activities, and to identify possible examples of participatory digital governance that might inspire new commitments and actions.
We’re intentionally starting with a relatively broad framework for thinking about participatory digital governance. We’re building on past work that has explored participation in digital and AI policy development to also pay attention to participation in the development, deployment and oversight of specific technologies (e.g. automated decision making), and participatory approaches to creating or operationalising regulations that govern digital technology in the private sector.
Complete our five minute mapping survey to share examples and organisations involved in participatory digital governance
Who are we looking for?
So far, we’ve been finding examples from:
- Government agencies facilitating public input into digital policy making;
- Civil society organisations advocating for public involvement in governance of digital technologies, or working to support particular communities to get involved in digital governance;
- Academics and researchers supporting co-design of technologies, or tracking participatory involvement in digital policy making;
- Social enterprises developing new models to support participatory approaches to technology development and governance.
But we’re not limited to those kinds of organisations and projects in the mapping. We’re particularly looking for organisations that might be able to support the development of future Open Government Partnership commitments.
Get involved
We would love your input to this rapid research project.
- Complete our five minute mapping survey to share brief details on participatory digital governance organisations, projects or processes that we should be aware of.
- Let us know on the survey if you would be open to taking part in a short interview for the project.
- Sign-up for information on an upcoming design lab workshop exploring potential open government commitments on participatory digital governance.
We’ll share more of the research findings here as they develop.