[Air-L] Aspen Tech Policy Hub Launches Projects on Improving Democracy Through Technology

[Betsy Cooper]

Dear AoIR Listserv,

It is my pleasure to introduce the fourth set of projects from our 2020
Fellowship class.

The projects, focused on [1]Improving Democracy Through Technology, provide
engaging tools to combat electoral disinformation, promote better
communication between elected officials and their constituents, and build
policy and design principles for automated advocates. We released the
projects at our webinar yesterday; you can watch a video of the event
[2]here.

I invite you to read more about the projects below, and to check them out
on our website: [3]Aspen Tech Policy Hub Projects. Please also join us by
RSVPing for our next webinar, August 19 at 9am PT/12pm ET, on [4]Disaster
Tech: Preparing for Unprecedented Crisis, focused on how tech policy can
combat the climate crisis and provide new solutions for coordinated
disaster response. The fellows will be joined by keynote speaker Carlos J.
Castillo, FEMA's former Acting Deputy Administrator for Resilience.

Warm Regards,

Betsy Cooper

Director, Aspen Tech Policy Hub

Projects on Improving Democracy Through Technology

[5]Combating Election Disinformation by Shining Light on Dark Ads

Every day, tens of millions of Americans view political advertisements on
social media that are disguised as unpaid content, also known as “dark
ads.” According to researchers from New York University, between May 2018
and June 2019, more than half of Facebook pages that displayed U.S.
political ads concealed the identities of their backers. The $1.1 billion
spent on political ads on Facebook in that period makes plain that some
political organizations are eager to sway the public’s vote without
disclosing that they are paying for advertising. This project proposes two
solutions: a series of actions that the Federal Election Commission (FEC)
and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) could take to make online political ads
more transparent and a game that educates potential voters about dark ads.

[6]People Powered Policy

City governments often struggle to obtain real-time feedback from their
constituents on impending policy decisions. At the same time, constituents
from disenfranchised communities often struggle to get the attention of
elected officials to drive policy change. People Powered Policy (P3) is a
website and strategy that encourages two-way communication between city
governments and their constituents. Communities will have a place to share
stories, thoughts, and questions about topics they care about, and the
platform gives them a direct line to city staff. The platform also allows
city officials to solicit input on policy questions and create feedback
loops throughout the policymaking process. P3 is being piloted with the
City of Oakland, and the project team hopes the model can scale across city
governments.

[7]Using Automated Advocates To Provide Legal Services at Scale

The United States faces a crisis in its civil courts, where more than 80%
of low-income households lack adequate legal representation. A promising
new class of technology tools (“Automated Advocates”) can help close that
gap, but regulatory complexity about who may practice law make it difficult
for companies to build these tools and for regulators to distinguish good
actors from bad. This project paves the way for the development of
Automated Advocates by coalescing the field around a common definition and
set of principles for Automated Advocates. It also recommends that
regulators include and incentivize Automated Advocates in any state and
national regulatory sandboxes.

[8]Learn More

CONTACT US
[9]Twitter [10]Website [11]Email Address

References

1. https://www.aspeninstitute.org/events/aspen-tech-policy-hub-demo-day-improving-democracy-through-technology/
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVgOdhaywW4&feature=youtu.be
3. https://www.aspentechpolicyhub.org/projects/
4. https://www.aspeninstitute.org/events/aspen-tech-policy-hub-demo-day-disaster-tech-preparing-for-unprecedented-crisis/
5. https://www.aspentechpolicyhub.org/project/combating-election-disinformation/
6. https://www.aspentechpolicyhub.org/project/people-powered-policy/
7. https://www.aspentechpolicyhub.org/project/automated-advocates/
8. https://www.aspentechpolicyhub.org/projects
9. https://www.twitter.com/AspenPolicyHub
10. https://www.aspentechpolicyhub.org/#/
11. mailto:aspentechpolicyhub at aspeninstitute.org
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This message was sent to air-l at listserv.aoir.org from betsy.cooper at aspeninstitute.org

Betsy Cooper
The Aspen Institute
2300 N Street, NW
Suite 700
Washington, DC 20037