ONLINE - Jun 17, 2026 at 18:00 - 20:30
DDC Online Assembly 2
Civic Tech: Technology for democracy & care
REGISTER NOW
What can we learn from hacktivists, artists & political researchers to ensure AI compliments instead of competes with democracy? Could AI help us leave current trajectories into fascism? Could technology help us build systems of care and human connection?
In the 2nd Democratic Digital Commons online assembly we will discuss tech uses for community, care and democratic practice. And introduce our very own civic tech tool – Panoramic AI – made in collaboration with make.org, and explore how participants can contribute to its creation & learning.
Speakers
Francesco Vecchi is the Coordinator of EUMANS’ Civic AI Campaign, advocating for AI as a public service for democracy and human rights. He leads activists and supporters, designing strategies to embed technology in democratic frameworks. Active in EuroDIG and the Internet Governance community, he represents citizens and civil society in digital policy debates, pushing for rights-based, transparent, and accountable digital ecosystems. At Inspiring Futures Europe, he advises on EU project management and AI capacity building for the public sector, exploring how European sovereignty can be strengthened through civic tech and human-centric AI. A regular voice on digital democracy and AI, Francesco works to shape citizen-powered digital futures.
Eumans
EUMANS is a paneuropean movement of citizens for democracy and sustainability, grounded in the belief thatcitizens’ participation in shaping transnational, national and local policies can not and should not be constrained to ‘election days’. One of their main campaigns is the ‘For A Civic Artificial Intelligence’ proposing a series of tools to create a civic AI ecosystem that fosters citizen participation and more transparent, democratic governance.
Clarie Alspektor works as Head of Research Projects at Make.org, where she coordinates the Democratic Commons global research Programme, alongside 50 engineers and multidisciplinary researchers from SciencesPo Paris, Sorbonne University and CNRS. This groundbreaking initiative aims to develop open source AI applications safe for democracy.
An Ecole Normale Superieure alumna with a strong social sciences research background, she previously worked as Head of Research for British NGO Airwars, documenting civilian harm allegations in Iraq, Syria, Gaza, Yemen, Libya, Ukraine and Somalia. Prior to that, Clarie was a Middle East researcher at the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless People and a member of the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) Iraq Experts group. She also worked for international NGOs ACAPS and ACLED on armed conflicts in the Middle East and Western Africa.
Make.org
Make.org is a neutral and independent civic tech organization whose mission is to engage people in the positive transformation of society. We strengthen our democracies by using innovation, building technology and methodologies. Our teams draw, shape and build democratic methods and infrastructure that enables citizen participation in public decision-making, increase democratic resilience, identify societal consensus and stay easily informed: tech for democracy in practice.
Rachel is an artist, educator, and organizer whose background is in audio engineering and vfx compositing. Currently she designs and curates all of the programming of School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe, an independent school at the intersection of art, technology, design, political inquiry, and human connection. Over the past 15+ years she’s lived in and organized social justice and tech communities and events big and small. She feels compelled to help bring these two worlds together and make the tech world less daunting and more diverse, inclusive, thoughtful, and fun. Rachel’s biggest desire is to see people living the lives they dream of living rather than the one they feel they ought to. If that dream life is more artistic, creative, socially-engaged, technology-embracing and connects humans to each other and to themselves, well, all the better.
The School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe
The School of Machines, Making & Make-Believe is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the imaginative exploration of art, technology, design, and human connection. We develop unique programs to teach the latest technologies while simultaneously questioning their usage, the world around us, and ourselves.
REGISTER NOW
Related content
Projects
Democratic Digital Commons
visitors:1,247● DDC-NET ★ ONLINE ★ 2026 join our discord join our discord → join an assembly join our discord → join an assembly join our discord → join an assembly join our discord → join an assembly join our discord…