Civic Competence in Creative Cities: How Digital Innovations Contribute to Durable Democracies

About

On-site in Tartu 28 July - 7 August, online 12-23 August

The Summer School „Civic Competence in Creative Cities: How Digital Innovations Contribute to Durable Democracies“ will focus on how to use digital innovations in public administrations to unlock and implement civic competence.

The Summer School will consist of an in-person part that takes place in Tartu (28 July - 7 August), and of a facultative on-line part (12 August – 23 August). The Summer School is a unique opportunity for students from around the world to learn about the promises, proliferation and perils of digital democratic innovations, with a special emphasis on experiences in Estonia, arguably one of the most advanced digital societies in the world. The summer course will focus on learning and reflecting on state-of-the-art academic knowledge on digital democratic innovations, as well as on student research projects on digital innovations in Estonia (particularly in the city of Tartu). The European Capital of Culture 2024 events also allow for ample opportunities for students to experience Estonian culture, and to acquire skills to present research outcomes in more creative (oral and audiovisual) ways (rather than in the form of a regular academic paper). This Summer Course builds upon experiences we gathered during two successful, previous Summer Courses (Building Digital Governance. 2022 and Agile Governance in a Digital Age, 2023).

The online study will take place from August 12 to 23 in the Moodle environment and will consist of three broad thematic blocks - digital representation (electronic elections with an emphasis on Estonia’s experiences with Internet voting) – e-participation (technology-enabled participatory budgeting) and e-deliberation (political participation on electronic platforms, notably social media). The virtual learning will consist of live lectures, video lectures and independent work with academic resources. Each thematic block will be finalised with a small exam.

Course leader

Prof Vincent Homburg, Professor of e-governance

Target group

MA/PhD, advanced BA

Course aim

After having completed the Summer Course, participants will be able to:

- explain core concepts and lines of reasoning of Digital Era Govenance and models of digital democracy;
- design and conduct research projects focusing on how citizens (in various roles) experience digital governance and digital democracy;
- report research findings using storytelling and audiovisual techniques.

Students will receive reading materials in the pre-on site phase of the Summer Course and their knowledge will be tested by means of an exam (during the on-site part). The exam result will be a part of the overall grade.

Fee info