Enhancing Democracy through Science Communication with KT4D

Several days ago the European Research Executive Agency (REA) featured one of Trust-IT Services' projects - namely KT4D or Knowledge Technologies for Democracy - in an article on Science for Democracy. The REA discussed the strides these European projects are making to maintain and ameliorate democratic societies through scientific research and discovery.

KT4D is an example of a project linking research, AI, and integrating civic participation with software design. This year more than ever, we are talking about democracy and about how to uphold it despite the many challenges arising, including AI. As the REA recently highlighted in one of its LinkedIn posts, it is equally important to vote and to promote the truth, which is exactly the role of Citizen Science and Science Communication.

With the European elections approaching, the focus on reliable information and transparent voting systems is becoming stronger, and projects like KT4D - which aims to integrate cultural studies and humanities with participatory democracy and humanities, contribute enormously to this goal. In particular, KT4D offers tools, guidelines, and a Digital Democracy Lab Demonstrator platform. The outcomes of the project are tested across four different use cases in four European cities for validation, namely: Brussels, Madrid, Warsaw, and Dublin.

The project coordinates with other projects targeting the same topics and supporting the Horizon 2020 call “Europe in a changing world - inclusive, innovative and reflective societies” action by the European Commission, in a cluster named the AI, Big Data & Democracy Taskforce, to maximise the impact of its results.

Democracy is a given value for many of us residing in the European Community however, it is very important to not take it for granted and to continue checking on it, evaluating its health and the factors that might hamper its functioning. For this reason, science communication is so important in the strive for democracy, it keeps citizens updated on the evolution of technology and scientific discoveries influencing their lives, a commitment to which Trust-IT Services is very much dedicated in all its projects.

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Our role

Trust-IT leads the Work Package on Dissemination, Communication, Consultation, and Exploitation. It handles all types of communications including and especially scientific ones like the Policy Brief released in February, entitled ‘Culture's Role in Navigating Technological Change’ creating an impact on Policy in this area and ensuring that best open science practices are followed. This involves not only contributing to the writing of materials like the Policy Brief, but also the production of graphical content, and the organisation of physical and online events such as workshops, webinars, and meetings. Finally, within the project, Trust-IT carries out outreach and social media activities as well as managing the design, launch, and monitoring of the website.