The Digital Technology for Democracy Lab is a collaboration across the University of Virginia that explores how rapidly evolving digital technologies can challenge, but might also fortify, democratic institutions and practices.
Pioneering transdisciplinary research to explore democracy in the digital age
Our Focus
Upcoming Events
Why Jefferson Matters in Our Information Age
Friday, November 13, 2026 • 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM EST
Edgar Shannon Library, 160 McCormick Rd., Seminar Room 330
What AI Means for Work and Democracy
Monday, November 16, 2026 • 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM EST
The Miller Center, 2201 Old Ivy Road, Charlottesville, VA & ONLINE
Research & Programming
Digital Democracy from Below
Taking Tech Back
AI Impact Atlas
Subterranean Convergence
Open-Source AI as Democratic Infrastructure
AI Shock
Automated Futures
Multimodal Climate AI
Data in the Dark
Automation’s Ecologies
Visual Misinformation
AI & the Environment
Student Technology Council
Technology & Disinformation
Social Contagions
Gender & Tech
Co-Opting AI
Urban Digital Twins
Technology & Democracy Exchange
Data Center Policies
Descendant-Led Digital Humanities Lab & Network
Cryptocurrency & Democracy
Trending
Digital Democracy from Below: Resisting AI and Techno-solutionism
Learn More & Download
DTD Lab Welcomes New Postdocs & Faculty Affiliate
Meet the Lab
Reimagining AI for Environmental Justice & Creativity Collection of Essays
Learn More & Download
Insights from the Visual Generative AI Propaganda Convening
Learn More & Download
Video Library
FLiNG Report Launch: How Finfluencers, Fin-Tech, and FOMO Shape Young Adults’ Financial Well-being
Cryptocurrency & Democracy
In the News
From Gender Affirming Care to Reproductive Rights: The Surveillance Risk of Bodily Data
Jess Reia, DTD Lab faculty co-lead, has contributed a chapter to the State of AI Ethics Report (SAIER) Volume 8 which examines how power over AI was exercised in 2026, where governance arrangements fell short, and how communities sought to influence the decisions affecting them.
Guiding Principles and Frameworks for People-Centred Smart Cities in the AI era
Jess Reia, DTD Lab faculty co-lead, is among the contributors to an International Telecommunication Union (ITU)/UN-Habitat report which provides practical steps for moving from technology demand to public value outcomes and offers an accessible reference for city leaders, CIOs, procurement teams, service owners and public officials involved in smart sustainable city transformation.
Critical Internet Governance: a necessary action
A bilingual white paper contribution to the 2nd Symposium on Critical Internet Governance was published as a book chapter in the volume "Critical Internet Governance: a necessary action."
Join our vibrant lab and help us explore the intersection of digital technology and democracy.
Current Opportunities