Empowering Citizens Through Informative Apps: Open Access to Digital Platforms for Social and Innovation Changes

This chapter explores, on the one hand, the role of apps and platforms in enhancing citizens’ feeling of being well-informed, providing them with personalised content and real-time updates, and fostering active engagement with information. On the other hand, the chance to empower them to make decisions about health, education, and politics, among others. Apps and platforms have revolutionised how individuals consume and interact with news, current events, and personal interests. In this respect, every year, the European Commission funds projects with the final output being a specific app and/or platform, breaking the dynamics of cultural products that were indicators, guidelines, protocols, standards, or publications. This chapter’s main objective is to know how all these apps and platforms impact citizen’s life. We will study a set of apps and platforms that citizens use to understand more about relevant issues (environmental, health, cultural and social events, politics, etc.). As a society, we face changes in the appropriation of scientific knowledge through digital channels through many devices, particularly (private) mobile phones. In this line, European project apps and platforms offer personalised content delivery, customisation options, and real-time updates, allowing users to tailor their information intake to their preferences. Also, these apps encompass diverse categories, including news aggregators, social media platforms, and specialised knowledge repositories, offering a comprehensive range of information sources.