Uploaded May 2023 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
This video is a moderated discussion among leaders in civic tech, ethics, advocacy, and journalism about how to reimagine the digital public square. We are exploring how online discussion can be more constructively harnessed to improve public policy by helping people to productively exchange ideas and direct their perspectives, insights, and passions about policy issues to channels that influence policymakers. The discussion addresses digital infrastructure for democracy, the evolving role of social media and private platforms, content moderation, and the sensitivity of data generated by public debate.
The event is timed to coincide with the public launch of a new tool called MAPLE that helps people to direct their perspectives, insights, and passions about societal issues to channels that influence public policy. Specifically, MAPLE (the Massachusetts Platform for Legislative Engagement) makes it easy for anyone to submit written testimony to the MA legislature, and to see testimony written by others. MAPLE, has been built by a group of volunteer technologists at Code for Boston and has been incubated by Northeastern University's NuLawLab. They are operating as a nonpartisan, open source, and nonprofit (501c3) project operating under Open Collective and supported by Partners in Democracy.
This video is a moderated discussion among leaders in civic tech, ethics, advocacy, and journalism about how to reimagine the digital public square. We are exploring how online discussion can be more constructively harnessed to improve public policy by helping people to productively exchange ideas and direct their perspectives, insights, and passions about policy issues to channels that influence policymakers. The discussion addresses digital infrastructure for democracy, the evolving role of social media and private platforms, content moderation, and the sensitivity of data generated by public debate.
The event is timed to coincide with the public launch of a new tool called MAPLE that helps people to direct their perspectives, insights, and passions about societal issues to channels that influence public policy. Specifically, MAPLE (the Massachusetts Platform for Legislative Engagement) makes it easy for anyone to submit written testimony to the MA legislature, and to see testimony written by others. MAPLE, has been built by a group of volunteer technologists at Code for Boston and has been incubated by Northeastern University's NuLawLab. They are operating as a nonpartisan, open source, and nonprofit (501c3) project operating under Open Collective and supported by Partners in Democracy.
