Citizens assemblies are having a moment.
The model is now gaining traction around the world.
Inthe UKandFrance, for example, citizens assemblies have been convened to deliberate responses to climate change.
But selecting the members of these bodies is a complicated task.
Ideally, citizens assemblies should be both representative and randomly selected.
Balancing these two requirements is challenging as the volunteers tend to be unrepresentative of the whole population.
A team of computer scientists from Harvard and Carnegie Mellon universities has devised a potential solution:selection algorithms.
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The algorithm first constructs a set of quota-dependent panels.
These are developed by iteratively building an optimal portfolio of panels and computing the fairest distribution of participants.
A single panel is then randomly drawn from the distribution.
The open-source algorithm has already been used to select more than 40 citizens assemblies around the world.
In Michigan, the system was used to pick a panel of 30 residents to make recommendations about COVID-19.
The researchers will now explore new ways that computer science can contribute to democratic practices.
you’re free to read the open-access study paper inNature.
Story byThomas Macaulay
Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he e(show all)Thomas is the managing editor of TNW.
He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers.
Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse).
