Crowdsourcing the digital parliament

Parliaments will eventually not evade the digital evolution of every institution to become data-driven organisations. This study examines the Hellenic Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Team, a pioneering crowdsourcing initiative aimed at processing and analysing parliamentary data. Under certain conditions, crowdsourcing, in other words, the power of the people, can be appropriately channelled and exploited to support representative institutions and their societal stakeholders in managing their change processes. Based on survey findings, this research highlights the profiles and motivations of participants, identifies best practices for crowdsourcing in parliamentary contexts, and demonstrates the initiative's impact on improving data accessibility and transparency. The results suggest that the Hellenic OCR Team significantly contributes to the digital evolution of parliamentary functions and promotes greater public involvement in the legislative process.