DEMOCRACY, ACCOUNTABILITY, CITIZENSHIP IN MY WORKS 2022-2018

I am studying Tech Governance since 1992 and focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) since 2018. I am heavily introducing the axis of political theory, making contributions to the study of democracy, accountability and citizenship. The contributions show an ability to reflect the current world that can later reflexively reverse our own self-understanding of reality, as Prof. Fernando Vallespin suggest us to do. I am now working on a book about AI, democracy and accountability, with an original theoretical dashboard drawn from political theory, and examples drawn from different countries. An introduction to this book: “Accountability in Artificial Intelligence," has been presented in September, at the XVI AECPA Congress in Girona, and it is available as a preprint in this blog post.

This post highlights some contributions and publications that I have undertaken since 2018. I am enclosing publications, from the most recent to the least. To get a copy, you may access them through the DOI, or contacting me by mail at olgagil at ucm dot es (olgagil arroba ucm punto es):

• Gil, Olga. 2022. “Public Participation in China and the West.”   SocArXiv (SocOpen) doi:10.31235/osf.io/dapvj. You may access the preprint here.
• Gil, Olga. 2022. “Accountability in Artificial Intelligence."  SocArXiv. (SocOpen) doi: 10.31235/osf.io/wckuf. You may access the preprint here.
• Gil, Olga. 2020 "The regulation of artificial intelligence, software-enabled technologies and big data.", en Revista de Privacidad y Derecho Digital. n. 18. Junio 2020. Pags 101-126. ISSN : 2444-​5762. Access: https://www.rdu.es/catalogo/detalle/No-18-Abril-Junio-RPDD-REV-DIG-18/ANO-V-48. You may access through the repository link.
• 2019. Gil, Olga; Cortés Cediel, María E.; Cantador, Iván. Citizen Participation and the Rise of Digital Media Platforms in Smart Governance International Journal of E-Planning Research (IJEPR). You may access through the repository link.

Now, from the perspective of political theory, these are approximations that have enriched these works:

• Asking the effect of the doxa of the citizen, as Socrates would suggest, when there is the mediation of these tech platforms 
• Thinking about political issues with the aim of increasing the possibilities of truth and freedom in polity, as Margareth Canovan suggest we might do
• The creative construction of value reference schemes on empirical bases: "the kind of historical interpretation with which we are familiar today has driven from theory it's unique function, that of creatively constructing a valuational frame of reference" David Easton suggests.
• Following Michael Freeden, these works reflect upon critical distance, which he conceives as the need to see the arguments angle after angle.
  The present as a moment open to future transformation, H Arendt
• These publications also focus on procedures, as “procedures always involve substantial ethical commitments”, as political theorist Chantal Mouffe states.

Following professor Fernando Vallespin:

• These are works that are explicitly designed with a political intent but at the same time scientifically falsifiable.

• These are works where historical structures are shown, so that we might help "to justify social action strategies from the analysis of objective historical structures"

I am also working around the question stated by Jostein Gaarder – Professor of Philosophy and History of Ideas: "The most important question today is how we can save life on Earth". In this case, my interest is very much drawn from the interest of my students.

2022 Olga GIL,  Ruiz-Campillo, & García Fernández, C. Ready for Climate Change? 

En: Climate Change in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Region. Walter Leal Filho · Evangelos Manolas (Eds.) ISBN 978-3-030-78565-9 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78566-6. Springer Nature 

2021. Olga Gil. "Is There an Environmental Ethic Embedded in Long Term Commitments?" Public Administration, Information Tech., Vol. 37, Elsa Estevez et al. (Eds): Smart Cities and Smart Governance. Springer.