Key skills in and for digital democracy
Democracy and digitalization: a tense relationship
Digitalization influences democracy in many different ways. On the one hand, social networks promote anti-democratic tendencies such as hate comments, shit storms, fake news and conspiracy theories that polarize the political debate. Filter algorithms and AI applications reinforce these dynamics. On the other hand, digital participation approaches offer the opportunity to compensate for the weaknesses of representative democracy. Projects such as the Conference on the Future of Europe show how digital democracy can activate tens of thousands of citizens and involve them in the legislative process.
With this project, we are creating a program at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) that enables students to develop key skills in the field of digital democracy. At the same time, a platform is growing here on which projects and expertise at KIT are bundled and made visible.
We are putting digital democracy in the spotlight!
The digital thesis day took place on 17.07.25.
Sarah Herrmann and Daniel Geiser from the Digital Democracy project will show you how to set up your own bot, improve it with targeted prompts and through trial and error in the workshop "Your own chatbot made easy: basics & tips". You will learn how to incorporate your own knowledge, what a system prompt is and how to use it to control your chatbot. We will also talk about the advantages and disadvantages of using chatbots and take a look at the KIT guidelines for using such tools. Ideal for anyone who wants to get started without any prior knowledge!
To the registration for the Workshop
Alexa M. Kunz is addressing this question together with other experts from science and business as part of the Future Skills 2030 task force. The committee was convened by the Donors' Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany with the aim of updating its current framework on Future Skills. The topic of "democratic culture" and the associated educational mandate for universities play an important role in the development of the scientific report and of the new framework.
To the new Framework
What do digitalization and democracy have in common? With "Digital Democracy" (Digi D), a project aims to create the opportunity to deal intensively with the challenges and opportunities of digital democracy - the "Digital Democracy Camp" (DDC) took place on 23.5.25 and offered an opportunity to make a difference together on site.
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Resources
Here you will find publicly accessible educational resources on the topic of (digital) democracy:
E-participation, open government and online elections
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The House of Participation podcast, HoPcast, regularly places the work of the competence center in a broader context and discusses it.
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This paper outlines a long-term scientific vision for digital democracy. It is to be developed in a democratically sound manner through comprehensive research.
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We would like to thank the Lage der Nation editorial team for their support in providing the episodes.
More InfoOur cooperation partners
Democracy thrives on community. That is why we are delighted to have partners and sponsors who support us in the project.
Education at KIT for providing learning materials.
on the normative foundations of democracy.
Foundation for providing learning materials.
The lpb supports us by providing content for the
project's Ilias course.
supports us with learning materials.
the support of the House of Participation.
Project members supported us by organizing a
themed table on citizens' councils at the DDC.