Currently, numerous social groups, such as people with literacy problems or intellectual disabilities, remain excluded from processes of democratic debate because the documents dealing with the public issues being discussed are not adapted to their needs. The European project iDEM, led by UPF, aims to help improve this situation by designing technologies and software programs that simplify documents on public affairs to adapt them to their needs based on AI and natural language processing techniques. The project, which involves a further 10 partners from different European countries, is financed by the EU Horizon programme, which will provide funding of three million euros.

The iDEM project, which kicked off this January and will run for three years, will develop inclusive technologies aimed at groups that are currently excluded and marginalized from democratic debate, with a dual purpose. First, tools will be designed to facilitate their reading and understanding of public documents, and second, other tools to help them create their own messages and convey their points of view and opinions. The tools will initially be available in four languages: Catalan, Spanish, Italian and English.

Inclusive technologies will be designed based on user needs

iDEM is based on a user-centred approach and, before developing the AI tools, work sessions will be held with approximately 20 people from groups that find themselves currently excluded from democratic processes. These sessions will help to identify the reasons behind their difficulties in understanding information on public matters. Based on this diagnosis, the project will contribute to innovating democratic spaces, to render them more inclusive, deliberative and participatory.

A total of 11 European partners, coordinated by UPF, have joined forces to this end, including Leeds University (UK) and other research institutes, as well as several technology companies and social entities and institutions. Representatives of the various iDEM partners will be participating between Monday 29 and Tuesday 30 January in a meeting to formally launch the project. Participation in Catalonia involves the Municipal Institute for People with Disabilities and the Barcelona Ombudsman's Office. Other social entities will also be participating in iDEM, such as Organización de Entidades en favor de Personas con Discapacidad Intelectual o del Desarrollo de Madrid (Plena Inclusión Madrid) - organization of entities for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities of Madrid, and Fundación Cibervoluntarios - cybervolunteers foundation- from Spain, and Italian bodies such as Associazione Nazionale di Famiglie e Persone con disabilità intellettive e disturbi del neurosviluppo- Anffas - the national association of families and people with intellectual disabilities and neurodevelopmental disorders- and Actionaid International Italia ETS. The remaining members of the iDEM consortium are Nexus - Institut für Kooperationsmanagement und interdisziplinäre Forschung GMBH (Germany), CFS Consulting Franchise & Sales GMBH (Austria), and The National Microelectronics Applications Centre LTD (Ireland).

An interdisciplinary project led by researchers of technologies in natural language processing and law and theories of democracy

On behalf of UPF, iDEM will be coordinated by the Department of Information and Communication Technologies (DTIC) and the Department of Law. At the DTIC, the principal investigator of the iDEM project is Horacio Saggion, a full professor of computer science and AI of the TALN (Natural Language Processing research group), who assures: “We want our technology in the area of natural language processing (NLP) to be useful to citizens who find themselves excluded from democratic participation and debate processes due to the complexity of the language used in these contexts. At iDEM, we aspire to create spaces for democratic participation that are more accessible to all with a user-centred methodology and with current techniques of generative artificial intelligence adapted with ‘curated’ (verified) data in order to avoid possible biases and prejudices”.

At the Department of Law, the coordinator of iDEM is Josep Lluís Martí, a professor of Philosophy of Law and a researcher in the theory of democracy and member of the Law and Philosophy group, who explains: “The core of any democratic process involves democratic deliberation. There can be no legitimate, quality democracy unless citizens have the ability and are given the opportunity to participate in the main public debates that end up shaping the opinions and decisions expressed at the polls”. “Traditionally, the fact that not all citizens have the same capacities and opportunities to participate in these debates has been ignored, which is a flagrant violation of the fundamental democratic principle of political equality. It is of great importance that we might know how to develop technologies that contribute to strengthening this public debate, and above all to include all citizens on equal terms, especially social groups that have habitually been excluded”, he adds.

The partners of the Barcelona project also highlight the importance of designing technologies for social inclusion. Marta Villanueva, Barcelona councillor for Health, People with Disabilities and the Strategy against Loneliness, says: “We, the public institutions, must ensure the full inclusion of people with functional diversity. To achieve this, it is essential to guarantee the rights of political participation through access to democratic debate and public affairs. We cannot allow people with literacy difficulties or intellectual disabilities to be excluded. At the City Council, we will provide advice to ensure the accessibility of the contents of processes of the Ombudsman’s Office in various channels. These types of initiatives are crucial to ensure that all people, regardless of their abilities, fully enjoy their rights as citizens”.

David Bondia, the Ombudsman of Barcelona, adds: “With regard to our area of responsibilities in the city, it is very clear to us that citizen participation in democratic debate cannot be mere rhetoric, but must be accompanied by a very necessary, real, effective and inclusive practice. We can only speak of inclusive participation if everyone takes part, and especially those who do not usually do so because they have communication difficulties or an intellectual disability”.

According to data from the European Commission (2020), it is estimated that nearly 800,000 citizens from 16 EU Member States were unable to participate in the 2019 elections to the European Parliament due to such barriers as polling stations’ limited accessibility and the lack of accessible information about the candidates and electoral debates.