Redesigning participation – Platforms & Politics

Democratic participation is shaped in new ways through the platforms citizens use. Through their design and management platforms afford certain use and behavior stimulating promising new forms of online participation, yet also restricting or shaping debate in a certain way. On the other hand, people find creative ways to use platforms for their participatory purposes. Online we see strong fan cultures, armies of trolls, new channels of (mis)information, and user strategies to promote, support or attack political figures and perspectives. This panel discusses how platform culture shapes democratic participation in new ways, and what we can do to shape an open and democratic platform society.