Data Together

Decentralized Web Principles Launching at GetDWeb.net

Data Together coalesced in 2016 as a place for its members to explore the idea of a “civic layer for the web,” centered around community stewardship of data and decentralization technologies aimed at a better web. Since then, we have become a community space for deep and often technical discussion of values around trust, civic engagement, and other lenses on what a better internet might look like. In that vein, we are excited to support the new DWeb Principles launching today, which set out core values for a decentralized web:

Discussing values in a year that tests them

2020 was a year far apart from ordinary. We saw fear, courage, trust, the practice of daily sacrifice for the benefit of the greater community. We each made small choices with large impacts. We felt the struggle to feel connected in a world requiring greater isolation. As a global community, we felt from varying distances raging wildfires, melting sea ice, critical elections, necessary rebellions, and people in the streets both fighting and making food to share with strangers.

Discussion: Polity (November 2020)

Who are the groups of people to whom we are connected in systems of governance? To whom do we owe allegiance?

Discussion: Private Data and Policies (September 2020)

How have particular implementations of data privacy policies impacted humans, economics, and legal systems? What are appropriate expectations around data privacy, and who should inform, create, or enforce policies?

Discussion: Trust (June 2020)

Data Together’s conversation on Trust took place in the context of early June 2020: a continuing Trump presidency, COVID quarantine already feeling long, and the George Floyd rebellion of police riots against Black Lives Matter protestors in full force. Our conversations as Data Together intend to be context aware: we draw both from readings and from the varied perspectives and experiences of participants in the conversation. In the Trust conversation, we asked: New technologies attempt to free us from (data) monopolized spaces, but does cryptographic trust truly map onto or enable better human-to-human (or human-to-company or human-to-technology) trust?

Discussion: Data Monopolies (May 2020)

Most of our data and information is controlled by a handful of companies. How did this come to be, what are examples of responsible and irresponsible holding of this power, and how do we imagine we might slip the trap of data monopolies?

Discussion: Content Moderation and Consent (April 2020)

This topic covers factors that impact the content that we see. How do platforms balance freedom of expression versus consent to avoid offensive content, navigate algorithmic versus human moderation and curation, or incentivize different types of interaction? What are downstream effects of these choices?

Discussion: Algorithmic Racism & Environmental Data Justice (March 2020)

How do choices in technology design and implementation reflect and impact broader social structures? We explore these questions starting with readings from environmental data justice and studies of algorithmic racism.

Discussion: Decentralization (November 2019)

Photo by Clint Adair on Unsplash BRENDAN: Welcome to the final topic of this semester of Data Together: decentralization. This is a topic that has pulled a number of us together over the years, months, minutes. Tonight we’re going to look at decentralization in three major contexts. I thought it would be nice to bucket these as technology, groups of people, and the state. Sarah Friend’s ten-minute introduction to decentralization was a great framing for a lot of this conversation.

Presentation: Understanding How the Decentralized Web Works

This presentation explores what happens when files are shared over peer-to-peer networks. Using Dat and IPFS, two of the leading peer-to-peer protocols, the slides give a beginner-friendly overview of how users connect to the network, add data, and access data—as well as what’s happening behind the scenes.

Discussion: Stewardship (August 2019)

This month’s reading selections begin with traditional notions and practices of stewardship: Pastor Henry Wright’s sermon The Stewardship of Time; selections from Haa Tuwunáagu Yís, a collection of Tlingit narratives compiled by Nora Marks Dauenhauer; and Tending the Wild by Kat Anderson, a view into Ohlone land stewardship practices. We then touch on present-day data preservation principles: Theory and Craft of Digital Preservation by Trevor Owens; and the Society of American Archivists' definition of “post-custodial theory of archives”.

Discussion: Alternatives to Capitalist Structures (June 2019)

Many of the issues with current data ownership models tie back to monetization: influence from advertisers, reduction in privacy, and concentrated corporate data ownership. These issues are often justified by the imperative to deliver value to shareholders. If the levers of capitalism place it in opposition to just data practices, can we imagine an alternative? What systems are practiced or envisioned outside of capitalism? What is their power, and what do they center?

Discussion: Civics (May 2019)

Data Together’s theme for May 2019 was Civics. A major lens through which governance of communities is understood is civics and citizenship. We chose this topic in order to think about communities and what forms of space and collective action could be built around decentralized forms of governance. Key themes that emerged: Civic virtue and how it is inculcated The common good: what is good, or virtuous? What do we hold in common, and with whom?

Discussion: The Knowledge Commons (April 2019)

Our theme for April 2019 was Knowledge Commons. The group discussed the governance of commons more broadly last year. This time around, we chose to focus on how knowledge, information, and digital data might be treated and governed as common pool resources. Key themes that emerged in our discussion: Defining a knowledge commons through communities’ practice The cost of sharing digital informational resources - is it really zero? The problem of underutilizing knowledge commons: incentives and participation Strategies for knowledge “commoning”: sustainability, technical vs social solutions, and trust and accountability Our discussion centers around “commons”: as Ostrom defines it, a complex ecosystem; a resource that is shared by a group of people that is subject to social dilemmas (Ostrom, 3).

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