The practice and process of democracy was already an alienating topic for a lot of people. Yet as governance becomes more entangled with tech platforms (as well as the institutions and money behind them), there's a risk it becomes even more so. A challenge of civics education in democratic societies has always been to convey simply how democracy works and how to engage with it. While new participatory and deliberative tools might offer new ways to do so, they don't necessarily make the topic simpler and more accessible.

Key Question/s: how can technology lower the barrier to civic participation rather than raise it? How can it help ordinary people understand and engage with systems that are becoming more technical by the year?

First and foremost, this is about meeting people where they are. Building new stuff and expecting people to fully onboard with a new thing every time is a real issue in a lot of places. Not saying it's not sometimes important, but a lot of folks default to it. Also gradiating the kinds of things you can do and ways you can interact. This could be a workshop where we examine whether fellows’ own designs risk deepening alienation, and try to ensure we’re widening access to participation instead of narrowing it to the already-fluent.