At the Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure, we believe that a truly sustainable and resilient digital public sphere is possible and is actively being created. We envision a public sphere supported by these three legs:
- Consists of many different platforms with a wide variety of scales and purposes;
- Users can navigate with a loyal client that aggregates, cross-posts, and curates;
- Is all supported by cross-cutting services rooted in interoperable data.
In this paper, we illustrate our vision for a healthier digital public sphere by exploring what we believe are its three constitutive parts.
First, we propose a pluriverse consisting of existing platforms alongside a flourishing ecosystem of Very Small Online Platforms (VSOPs) that serve conversations and communities that are poorly served by today’s digital public sphere….
Second, we sketch out a “loyal client” for navigating the digital public sphere. Akin to an email client like Apple Mail or a chat client like ICQ, our loyal client aggregates, filters, and posts to a person’s various social media feeds….
Third, we introduce the “friendly neighborhood algorithm store.” This is a marketplace that VSOPs and loyal clients can rely on for curation and Trust & Safety…. These include recommender systems, spam detection, anti-abuse tools, and powerful filters for CSAM and terrorist content.
We believe this moment, when people are so dissatisfied with the platforms that have dominated for the past decade-and-a-half, presents a unique opportunity to build a digital public sphere where people and communities with different preferences and purposes can participate accordingly.
Read more:
Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. (2023, October 12). The Three-Legged Stool: A Manifesto for a Smaller, Denser Internet. https://publicinfrastructure.org/2023/03/29/the-three-legged-stool/