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182 | 182 | %p Many people drawn to political technology already have strong views about how institutions work, or fail to work. They may arrive with a sense that existing systems are broken, with ideas about how they could be improved, and often with specific technologies of their own that they want to test in practice. This activity is designed to meet that energy directly: not by treating institutions as abstract objects of critique, but by creating an environment in which participants can try things out under real conditions. |
183 | 183 | %p Following a long tradition of prefigurative practice in education and social change, a core activity of the programme is participating in the governance of the college itself. Over the course of the year, fellowship candidates are invited to help shape and operate parts of Newspeak House: proposing, developing, and iterating governance and meta-governance infrastructures, making decisions about shared spaces and resources, proposing new roles and processes, developing mechanisms for coordination and accountability, and experimenting with institutional forms such as courts, metrics, currencies, forums, legislatures, and markets. In particular, this is an opportunity to experiment with the collaborative governance of the <i>automation</i> of these political institutions. |
184 | 184 | %p This activity gives the cohort the opportunity to collectively co-design and operate parts of Newspeak House over the coming year. These include many valuable resources: a centrally located facility with a variety of flexible spaces for living, working, and events; an established brand known across many communities and networks in the UK and internationally; and the organisation of the cohort itself. |
185 | | - %p This makes the college a rare kind of laboratory for institutional design. Through managing these common-pool resources, the cohort will have a unique sandbox for prototyping and experimenting with innovative governance infrastructure, including both technologies and group processes. Fellowship candidates will have the rare opportunity to experiment with and experience different forms of organisation, and to develop original systems for decision-making, policy development, resource allocation, and conflict resolution. |
| 185 | + %p This makes the college a rare kind of laboratory for institutional design. Through managing these common-pool resources, the cohort will have a unique sandbox for prototyping and experimenting with innovative governance infrastructure, including both technologies and group processes. Fellowship candidates will have a unique opportunity to experiment with and experience different forms of organisation, and to develop original systems for decision-making, policy development, resource allocation, and conflict resolution. |
186 | 186 | %p The governance activity gives fellowship candidates practical experience of the most fundamental challenge in political technology: how to build political systems that people actually live with, trust, and use. Furthermore, if done successfully, this platform can be used to build an influential public body of work: evidence, networks, and tools that make genuinely new institutional forms visible to the world. |
187 | 187 |
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188 | 188 | %h4 Fieldwork |
189 | | - %p Through attending events, exploring the library, and judging The Political Technology Awards, this activity enables fellowship candidates to familiarise themselves with the landscape of political technologies and to engage with a broad range of emerging civic communities of practice. |
190 | | - %p |
191 | | - The college hosts hundreds of events each year spanning a wide range of civic institutions, including government, political parties, activism, charities, journalism, think-tanks, NGOs, philanthropy, and academia. Fellowship candidates are invited to attend these events and to gain first-hand insight into how such communities function; our |
192 | | - %a{:href => "/events"} calendar |
193 | | - offers an indication of what to expect. |
194 | | - %p |
195 | | - Newspeak House’s library is |
196 | | - %a{:href => "https://civictech.guide"}> The Civic Tech Field Guide |
197 | | - \, the world’s largest collection of political technology projects. Fellowship candidates will have access to 1-1 research support and guidance from the librarian. |
198 | | - %p |
199 | | - The cohort will act as a judging panel for the Political Technology Awards, requiring participants to review and evaluate existing projects in the field, reflect on their own values and priorities as they relate to political technology, and design and establish processes capable of legitimately synthesising their conflicting preferences. On top of that, the evaluation process must itself be published as an open-source algorithm! See how this year’s cohort approached the task at |
200 | | - %a{:href => "https://2025.newspeak.house/awards"}> 2025.newspeak.house/awards |
201 | | - \. |
| 189 | + %p Through attending events, exploring the library, and judging The Political Technology Awards, this activity enables fellowship candidates to familiarise themselves with the existing landscape of political technologies and to engage with a broad range of emerging civic and political communities of practice. |
| 190 | + %ul |
| 191 | + %li |
| 192 | + The college hosts hundreds of events each year spanning a wide range of civic institutions, including government, political parties, activism, charities, journalism, think-tanks, NGOs, philanthropy, and academia. Fellowship candidates are invited to attend these events and to gain first-hand insight into how such communities function; our |
| 193 | + %a{:href => "/events"} calendar |
| 194 | + offers an indication of what to expect. |
| 195 | + %li |
| 196 | + Newspeak House’s library is |
| 197 | + %a{:href => "https://civictech.guide"}> The Civic Tech Field Guide |
| 198 | + \, the world’s largest collection of political technology projects. Fellowship candidates will have access to 1-1 research support and guidance from the librarian. |
| 199 | + %li |
| 200 | + The cohort will act as a judging panel for the Political Technology Awards, requiring participants to review and evaluate existing projects in the field, reflect on their own values and priorities as they relate to political technology, and design and establish processes capable of legitimately synthesising their conflicting preferences. On top of that, the evaluation process must itself be published as an open-source algorithm! See how this year’s cohort approached the task at |
| 201 | + %a{:href => "https://2025.newspeak.house/awards"}> 2025.newspeak.house/awards |
| 202 | + \. |
202 | 203 |
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203 | 204 | %h4 Prototype |
204 | 205 | %p The culmination of the year’s work as fellowship candidates produce an original contribution to the field of political technology, both to demonstrate their sophisticated understanding of the field and to have a lasting real world impact. |
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