Overview
Agre's late-period interest in the design of democratic institutions, particularly how information technology could support (or undermine) democratic practice. This thread draws together his institutional analysis, his understanding of capture, and his political commitments.
Unlike many technology-and-democracy thinkers, Agre did not assume that more communication automatically produces better democracy. He was interested in the institutional structures that make democratic deliberation possible — and in how those structures can be designed, maintained, and defended.
Key Writings
Connection to Other Concepts
Democratic design is where Agre's technical and political thinking most fully converge. The capture model describes how institutional design can be used to control; democratic design asks how it can be used to liberate.