How shifting technologies, data access, and civic health are reshaping the digital public square — and how NCoC is working to ensure transparency, accountability, and meaningful participation in what comes next.
The recent landmark social media addiction case may feel like old news, but for us, it’s very much present.
At the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC), this moment reflects years of work — alongside partners across research, knowledge sharing, and tool building. For example, through our partnership with Amnesty International, we produced two major reports examining how platform recommendation systems impact teen mental health — work that gained traction in France.
With the Mozilla Foundation, we developed a comprehensive assessment of platform transparency and researcher data access — work that continues to shape how the field approaches data access today. That effort also catalyzed a working group at the Knight-Georgetown Institute, where NCoC has helped define a core pillar of platform transparency: what should count as “public data” in the digital age. (Check out the Better Access: Data for the Common Good report.)
All of this sits within a broader inflection point.
We are moving beyond an era defined by social media engagement, targeted political advertising, and search as the primary gateways to information shaping our digital civic discourse. In its place, a new landscape is emerging — shaped by agentic AI, dynamically generated content, and increasingly personalized digital experiences that will shape the next phase of our civic lives.
At NCoC, our focus is clear: measuring and improving civic health, ensuring that the quality of our civic data is maintained, and convening a field that seeks to improve society by enabling and increasing active civic engagement.
Meeting this moment requires renewed focus on transparency, accountability, and rigorous, independent research. These efforts are essential to ensuring that the public retains agency in how platforms shape their lives and our shared discourse.
That’s where we’re headed.
From our work
While this broader shift is underway, here are a few ways we’ve been advancing this work:
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Defending census integrity: Experts pushed back on proposed 2030 Census testing changes that risk undermining scientific validity and public trust.
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Reconstituting independent oversight: The Independent Census Scientific Advisory Committee reconvened with NCoC support to continue advancing data rigor and accountability.
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New civic health data: The 2025 Indiana Civic Health Index highlights both the strength of community participation and the challenges ahead.
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How Americans talk about democracy: In partnership with PACE, we developed an interactive dashboard exploring how people understand core civic concepts — the headline: “freedom” resonates most across differences.
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Modernizing data privacy: We responded to a request for information which has led to development of a bipartisan blueprint to update the Privacy Act for the first time in 50+ years in response to technological change.
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Tracking digital discourse: Our Junkipedia tool continues to surface how narratives move online, recently featured in The New York Times and Fuller.
In the coming year, we will expand our efforts to:
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Make data more accessible and usable
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Equip our field with tools and insights for this evolving landscape
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Convene cross-sector leaders to learn, share, and act together
These are uncharted waters — but they also present a rare opportunity to shape systems and outcomes in ways that truly serve our communities and our democracy. We look forward to sharing more soon.
Onward,
Cameron Hickey, CEO
