Local democracy in a global world

I ”Lokal demokrati i en digital värld” testar nyhetsmedier och bibliotek experimentellt om och hur nya former av samverkan kan stärka lokal nyhets- och kunskapsförmedling och invånarnas medie- och informationskunnighet.

Libraries and news media are two key ingredients in the DNA and development of democracy. In parallel, libraries and news media in an information and media landscape are changing at a historically rapid pace. In this sense, they have a common challenge: to develop in step with new opportunities and the needs and demand of the inhabitants and the public. In "Local democracy in a digital world", local libraries and local news media in Västra Götaland test how they, based on their respective roles, but in new forms of collaboration, can further strengthen:

• Local knowledge and news dissemination.
• Local public education and opinion formation.
• Residents' media and information skills.

In addition to the Media & democracy, the following actors participate in the project:

• The libraries in Borås, Falköping and Vänersborg.
• The newspapers Borås Tidning, Falköpings Tidning och TTELA.
• Södertörn University.
• The administration for cultural development in Region Västra Götaland.

"Local democracy in a digital world" embraces locally separate, but to the whole complementary sub-projects. The focus is on public activities with an innovative profile. Södertörn University leads the project's follow-up research.

The project, which runs from 1 January 2022 to 31 March 2023, covers almost SEK1.3 million and is co-financed - in addition to the parties' efforts - by Region Västra Götaland's cultural committee with SEK 600,000.