Training custodians begins with civic literacy. Staff must understand how automated systems function, what criteria they apply and where discretion is permitted. This includes plain explanations of algorithms, thresholds and override mechanisms.
It also includes the ethical implications of delegation: who is affected, how bias can enter and what it means to be answerable.
Custodianship also requires relational training. Staff must learn to meet citizens in complexity; to listen, interpret and respond beyond the 'script'. This is not soft skill, it is civic skill. The author notes that many staff feel disempowered; not by lack of care, but by lack of permission. Training must restore that permission.
Institutions must support custodianship structurally. This means protecting time for reflection, documenting discretionary decisions, and recognising judgment as a form of expertise. It also means resisting the pressure to proceduralise or bullet point every encounter. Not all decisions can be standardised. Some must be held.
The author proposes a new role: the civic custodian, not a technician, not a manager, but a witness. Someone trained to hold presence within systems, to answer for decisions and to restore relationship.
When citizens cannot see or challenge the systems that govern them, democracy is diminished.
Answerability also requires memory. Overrides, appeals and discretionary decisions must be recorded, not as exceptions, but as evidence of care. These records should inform system design, policy review and public accountability. The author proposes a “custodian’s log”—a living record of judgment, presence and repair. It is not a ledger of errors. It is a testament to civic responsibility.
Finally, answerability must be relational. Systems must not replace relationships. They must support it. Staff must be empowered to meet citizens in full awareness, to hold space for complexity and to remain answerable. This is not a matter of interface, it is a matter of integrity.
The author closes this section with a civic truth: answerability is not optional. It is what makes a system liveable and it is what allows the record to speak.
Training Custodians The author proposes that custodianship is not innate and it must be cultivated. In a civic field shaped by automation, staff must be trained not only to operate systems, but to remain present within them. This means developing the capacity to reflect, intervene and be answerable, not just to relay.
