In civic tech, teams often grapple with how to do—and who should do—research. Cue calls to “democratize” research: to better serve the public by making research more accessible and involving people with various backgrounds. This talk will explore the challenges and questions around democratization. We’ll ask what research is and how it differs from feedback or community engagement, talk about who gets to participate in research, and how, and discuss the unique skills researchers bring to projects and the risks involved in opening up research to a range of people. This session is a call to think carefully about how we democratize research. How can we expand the number and types of people involved in research, while ensuring research delivers actionable and careful insights? How can we collaboratively leverage unique skill sets and lived experiences in research without causing risks to organizations?

People Power + Community