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
Brazil Votes: The Pre-Election Landscape and Democratic Pressures
Wednesday, September 30, 2026 • 7:00 PM – 8:15 PM EDT
Online
Bologna’s Civic Digital Twin: Democratic Practices for Urban Simulation and Action
Tuesday, October 20, 2026 • 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM EDT
Bond House, 600 Brandon Avenue, Charlottesville, VA
Why Jefferson Matters in Our Information Age
Friday, November 13, 2026 • 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM EDT
Shannon Library, 160 McCormick Rd., Seminar Room 330
Research & Programming
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
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
The AI Factory: Data Centers, Power, and Resistance in Late Industrial Pennsylvania
A report co-authored by DTD Lab postdoc, Cella Sum, shows that data centers are a lightning rod issue for broad, diverse communities that desire both prosperity and power. Meanwhile, for powerful corporations, data centers represent an Achilles heel. A detailed exploration of how technology is impacting people's lives, this report reveals the limits of AI’s supposed inevitability within Pennsylvania’s borders and beyond them.
Student Technology Council aims to represent students on technological issues
The Student Technology Council (STC) led by DTD Lab faculty co-lead, Mona Sloane and managed by RA Claire Bassett, held their fall retreat at the DTD Lab. The inaugural chair said she hopes to establish the STC as an additional Student Council branch to give students a larger role in shaping technology policy.
Synthetic Nights: Machine and Human Learning in 24-Hour Cities
Jess Reia, DTD Lab faculty co-lead, has published a new open access paper, in which they ask whether algorithms can understand or shape the urban night. In the paper, Jess shows how the opacities and refusals of nocturnal life expose the limits of machine learning while making the case for expanding what counts as data in our cities.
Join our vibrant lab and help us explore the intersection of digital technology and democracy.
Current Opportunities