Taneli Heikka, University of Jyväskylä
This paper explores emerging typologies of democratic ideals and practices in the context of crowdsourcing for law. Interviews were held with key players developing, regulating and using digital tools for civic crowdsourcing in Finland. The study used qualitative analysis on the transcribed texts of the interviews. The findings were interpreted in the light of Manuel Castells’ abstractions of space and time in the network society. Crowdsourcing and using citizens’ skills emerge as ways to improve democratic participation in a context where transformation of time and space is constitutive. The findings suggest that crowdsourcing for law can be understood as an attempt to reprogram power networks in the space of autonomy. The reprogramming power of crowdsourcing is directed to transgress the spatial and temporal boundaries of representative democratic institutions and strengthen democratic legitimacy.
