Tech tools help deepen citizen input in drafting laws

In one well-known case from 2016, the vTaiwan process was used to determine how to regulate Uber. — 123rf.com

In March, New Jersey’s Department of Education in the United States launched a citizen engagement process asking students, teachers and parents to vote on ideas for changes that officials should consider as the state reopens its schools after the pandemic closed classrooms for a year.

The project, managed by The Governance Lab at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering, is part of a month-long initiative that uses an online survey tool called All Our Ideas to help state education officials prioritise policy making based on ideas solicited from those who are directly affected by the policies.