The Ladder of Data Citizen Participation: A Sociotechnical Lens for Designing Democratic Digital Services in the Data Economy

Abstract In the data economy digital services of democratic value such as news platforms are embedded into unjust power imbalances and the intertwining of economic and civic objectives. The authors argue, to design proficient democratic digital services, power structures of the data economy and empowerment stages of data citizenship need to be made visible initially. To do so, a combination of Arnstein’s ‘Ladder of Citizen Participation’ and Rocha’s ‘Ladder of Empowerment’ is translated into the field of the data economy. A small interview study with niche actors from the field of online journalism is conducted to identify phenomena of their embedding into the sociotechnical landscape of the data economy. As a result, the Ladder of Data Citizen Participation is presented. Eventually, this article closes with implications for the sociotechnical design of democratic digital services and suggestions for future research.