Additional Resource
How A.I. Can Be Good For Democracy
In a recent guest essay for The New York Times, Allen Lab Democracy Stack Fellow Beth Noveck argues for putting A.I. behind every public servant.
Policy Brief
Plural Publics
The authors highlight why we believe the problem of “plural publics” to be a core challenge of data governance, discuss existing tools that can help achieve it and a research agenda to further develop and integrate these tools.
By:
-
![]()
Divya Siddarth
-
![]()
Glen Weyl
-
![]()
Shrey Jain
Programs
Issues
Data governance is usually conceptualized in terms of “privacy” v. “publicity”. Yet a core feature of pluralistic societies is association, groups that share with each other, privately. These are a diversity of “publics”, each externally private but with the ability to coordinate and share internally. Empowering them requires tools that allow the establishment of shared communicative contexts and their defense against external sharing outside of context. The ease of spreading information online has challenged such “contextual integrity” and the rise of generative foundation models like GPT-4 may radically exacerbate this challenge. In the face of this challenge, we highlight why we believe the problem of “plural publics” to be a core challenge of data governance, discuss existing tools that can help achieve it and a research agenda to further develop and integrate these tools.
Related Resources
Media Release
Allen Lab launches new Digital Civic Infrastructure Initiative to help governments strengthen democracy through technology
The new initiative combines municipal partnerships, digital tools, and research to help communities improve transparency, civic participation, and public service delivery.
Open Access Resource
Open Book: Open-Source Budget Transparency for Municipalities
With a majority of municipalities publishing their budgets as PDFs, Open Book offers a free alternative that towns own and run themselves.
Additional Resource
How A.I. Can Be Good For Democracy
In a recent guest essay for The New York Times, Allen Lab Democracy Stack Fellow Beth Noveck argues for putting A.I. behind every public servant.
Media Release
Allen Lab launches new Digital Civic Infrastructure Initiative to help governments strengthen democracy through technology
The new initiative combines municipal partnerships, digital tools, and research to help communities improve transparency, civic participation, and public service delivery.
Additional Resource
Massachusetts Municipal Leader Guide: Open Meeting Law in the Digital Age
As public officials increasingly turn to digital tools, this guide helps Massachusetts municipal leaders navigate Open Meeting Law and their everyday digital practice while safeguarding transparency.