Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ORBIS (Augmenting participation, co-creation, trust and transparency in Deliberative Democracy at all scales)
Reporting period: 2023-02-01 to 2024-07-31
ORBIS addresses the disconnect between ambitious ideas and collective actions at a socio-technical scale, responding to the lack of dialogue between citizenship and policymaking. It provides a pragmatic solution for a more inclusive, transparent, and trustful Deliberative Democracy in Europe. The project supports new democratic models through deliberative processes, emphasizing a socio-constructive approach where deliberative democracy is a collective process.
ORBIS offers ways to facilitate participatory democracy models, delivering: (i) a methodology for deliberative participation; (ii) AI-enhanced tools for diverse settings; (iii) a socio-technical approach that connects deliberative processes with institutions; (iv) evidence-based democratic models from citizen deliberation; and (v) measurable impacts of these innovations. The project leverages AI to develop a sustainable digital solution, validated through six use cases addressing contemporary issues and involving diverse stakeholders.
ORBIS offers ways to facilitate participatory democracy models, delivering: (i) a methodology for deliberative participation; (ii) AI-enhanced tools for diverse settings; (iii) a socio-technical approach that connects deliberative processes with institutions; (iv) evidence-based democratic models from citizen deliberation; and (v) measurable impacts of these innovations. The project leverages AI to develop a sustainable digital solution, validated through six use cases addressing contemporary issues and involving diverse stakeholders.
In the first reporting period of the ORBIS project (M1-M18) the activities progressed in accordance with the planned framework outlined in the Description of Action.
WP1, focused on coordination and supporting dialogue and mutual learning. The team achieved key milestones, including a comprehensive administrative structure that facilitated collaboration among consortium members. Stakeholders’ engagement was prioritised, with numerous events organised to foster communication among partners. WP1 also established an External Advisory Board and fostered synergies with other projects, as well as with the AI, Big Data and Democracy Task Force.
WP2 focuses on defining the socio-economic context, concepts, and conditions relevant to the ORBIS project, making significant progress in understanding user requirements and co-creating solutions. WP2 successfully identified theoretical and practical foundations, functional, structural, and technical components crucial to the development of the ORBIS solution. The team grasped needs and expectations from pilots’ communities, defined requirements for use case scenarios, orienting the design of a scalable and modular architecture.
WP3 analysed the theoretical foundations of deliberative democracy, its scaling potentialities, and gaps in existing policies. WP3 has explored the importance of citizen engagement and deliberation in policymaking. Several workshops and follow-ups have been conducted to gather insights on scaling dynamics in deliberative democracy, aimed at improving policymaking outcomes. The WP has also studied the potential models for institutionalising deliberative democracy, providing a robust theoretical framework to inform the project's overall activities.
WP4 aimed to structure and represent relevant knowledge, facilitating analysis and interpretation by multiple stakeholders. The team defined key elements for data annotation and structured analysis of discussions, provided by deliberative debates ran in WP2, enhancing models' ability to identify discussion dynamics and produce comprehensive analyses for newcomers. The development of an intuitive user interface for participants was also prioritised, ensuring that stakeholders can contribute meaningfully to evidence-based deliberation.
WP5 focused on synthesising knowledge to develop a roadmap for ORBIS’s implementation. The team successfully established pipelines for knowledge graph enrichment, enhancing the project’s ability to analyse and visualise data effectively. Preparatory meetings were held to align scenarios initially designed in WP2 with the project’s technical capabilities, ensuring that the work addresses end-user needs while maintaining technical feasibility.
WP6 defined and designed the activity plan for six use cases, mapping them against scaling interpretations derived from earlier WP2 and WP3 workshops. The entire consortium cooperated to define pilots’ journeys and detailed activities, translating multiple and transdisciplinary inputs in operational directions to experiment for testing AI-enhanced deliberation in pilots as real-life environments¬¬. Six different demonstration plans were co-designed, also informing the design of an assessment framework to analyse the ORBIS use cases, gathering insights and evidence about the effectiveness and meaningfulness of both the methodological approach and technical solution developed.
WP1, focused on coordination and supporting dialogue and mutual learning. The team achieved key milestones, including a comprehensive administrative structure that facilitated collaboration among consortium members. Stakeholders’ engagement was prioritised, with numerous events organised to foster communication among partners. WP1 also established an External Advisory Board and fostered synergies with other projects, as well as with the AI, Big Data and Democracy Task Force.
WP2 focuses on defining the socio-economic context, concepts, and conditions relevant to the ORBIS project, making significant progress in understanding user requirements and co-creating solutions. WP2 successfully identified theoretical and practical foundations, functional, structural, and technical components crucial to the development of the ORBIS solution. The team grasped needs and expectations from pilots’ communities, defined requirements for use case scenarios, orienting the design of a scalable and modular architecture.
WP3 analysed the theoretical foundations of deliberative democracy, its scaling potentialities, and gaps in existing policies. WP3 has explored the importance of citizen engagement and deliberation in policymaking. Several workshops and follow-ups have been conducted to gather insights on scaling dynamics in deliberative democracy, aimed at improving policymaking outcomes. The WP has also studied the potential models for institutionalising deliberative democracy, providing a robust theoretical framework to inform the project's overall activities.
WP4 aimed to structure and represent relevant knowledge, facilitating analysis and interpretation by multiple stakeholders. The team defined key elements for data annotation and structured analysis of discussions, provided by deliberative debates ran in WP2, enhancing models' ability to identify discussion dynamics and produce comprehensive analyses for newcomers. The development of an intuitive user interface for participants was also prioritised, ensuring that stakeholders can contribute meaningfully to evidence-based deliberation.
WP5 focused on synthesising knowledge to develop a roadmap for ORBIS’s implementation. The team successfully established pipelines for knowledge graph enrichment, enhancing the project’s ability to analyse and visualise data effectively. Preparatory meetings were held to align scenarios initially designed in WP2 with the project’s technical capabilities, ensuring that the work addresses end-user needs while maintaining technical feasibility.
WP6 defined and designed the activity plan for six use cases, mapping them against scaling interpretations derived from earlier WP2 and WP3 workshops. The entire consortium cooperated to define pilots’ journeys and detailed activities, translating multiple and transdisciplinary inputs in operational directions to experiment for testing AI-enhanced deliberation in pilots as real-life environments¬¬. Six different demonstration plans were co-designed, also informing the design of an assessment framework to analyse the ORBIS use cases, gathering insights and evidence about the effectiveness and meaningfulness of both the methodological approach and technical solution developed.
ORBIS advancements beyond the state of the art are still ongoing, and they concern methodologies, technologies, and insights in the field of AI-enhanced democratic deliberations. Among them:
1. Advanced deliberation components for the ORBIS toolkit: ORBIS has developed an operational version of the toolkit with four AI components to facilitate more inclusive and informed understanding and management of deliberative processes.
2. Integration of AI with deliberative processes: Ongoing seamless integration of AI technologies within three existing deliberative democracy platforms to enhance the decision-making processes by providing participants with contextually relevant information that supports informed discussions and decisions.
3. Ethical AI implementation: Evidence-based reflection on ethical use of AI in public decision-making, developing guidelines to ensure that AI technologies in deliberative processes are embedded in a transparent, accountable, and free from bias manner.
4. Enhanced inclusion of marginalised and less engaged groups: ORBIS has developed a practical framework that considers the existing extent of marginalisation of populations in society, understands the reasons behind their lack of involvement or participation in democracy, and provides practitioners with targeted tools to design deliberative activities.
1. Advanced deliberation components for the ORBIS toolkit: ORBIS has developed an operational version of the toolkit with four AI components to facilitate more inclusive and informed understanding and management of deliberative processes.
2. Integration of AI with deliberative processes: Ongoing seamless integration of AI technologies within three existing deliberative democracy platforms to enhance the decision-making processes by providing participants with contextually relevant information that supports informed discussions and decisions.
3. Ethical AI implementation: Evidence-based reflection on ethical use of AI in public decision-making, developing guidelines to ensure that AI technologies in deliberative processes are embedded in a transparent, accountable, and free from bias manner.
4. Enhanced inclusion of marginalised and less engaged groups: ORBIS has developed a practical framework that considers the existing extent of marginalisation of populations in society, understands the reasons behind their lack of involvement or participation in democracy, and provides practitioners with targeted tools to design deliberative activities.