Democratizing the Technosphere

A Dual-Layered Analysis of the Digital Governance

Resumo

This theoretical essay delves into the intersection of politics and technology within the framework of digital democracy. Drawing from concepts like Actor-Network Theory (Latour, 2005) and Social Construction of Technology (Bijker, 1995), the essay seeks to problematize the idea of technology as neutral and highlights its inherent political dimensions. The exploration focuses on the “technosphere”, a pervasive network of digital systems and infrastructure, and its potential implications for democratic participation, particularly given trends toward privatization and power concentration in corporations. From the literature, it proposes a dual-layered understanding of social participation in the digital context: the use of technology as a facilitator of participation (technology as an instrument for Public Action), and participation as an active shaper of technological development (technology as a Space of Public Action). The essay also reveals a hybrid dynamic as a challenge for digital governance, in which private platforms of a hybrid nature manifest challenges of public characteristics.. It argues for the democratization of the digital realm, where citizens are not just users but active participants in shaping technology's evolution.