STEC is a 4-year research project which investigates the design process and strategies used in the development and appropriation of so called ‘smart technologies’ for citizen empowerment.

This project investigates the design process and strategies used in the development and appropriation of so called ‘smart technologies’ for citizen empowerment. The goal is to understand and operationalize how digital media technologies and practices such as social media platforms, big data, gamification and serious games can empower citizens, and mobilize and organize them around collective societal issues. We will do this from the perspective of design-thinking. How can the insights gained from studying various technologiesand practices, be used to empower citizens across a number of domains be generalized into design practices and strategies? And what is the changing role of the stakeholders in designing empowering solutions, taking into account different values and perspectives?