In this discussion, we will explore the preferred political narratives of civil society organizations (activist groups, nonprofits, academia) working in Internet governance and digital assembly. Through these narratives, we will challenge participants to examine their assumptions about the Internet and the role of civil society within it. Further, we will explore how the Internet falls within a much broader framework including digital infrastructure and supply chains, among other things. We will invite activists to take a holistic approach to the societal and human rights impacts of technology, and as such, reimagine their advocacy strategies.
The goal of this session is to challenge participants to examine their assumptions about the Internet and the role of civil society within it.
How will you deal with varying numbers of participants in your session?:Depending on the size of the group, we will choose to have breakout rooms with 5-10 participants per breakout session, ideally with one facilitator per group. We will then come back to the main session to share key insights, ideas and learnings.
We're hoping that many efforts and discussions will continue after Mozfest. Share any ideas you already have for how to continue the work from your session.:Ideas from this proposed discussion germinated through Stanford’s Digital Assembly Research Network (DARN) and two previous workshops, “The building blocks of Web 3.0” at Harvard Law School and “The Declaration(s) of Cyberspace” at RadicalXchange 2020, that sought to build a coalition of like-minded activists from across civil society. We hope discussions at Mozfest will spawn further discussions and collaborations. If there is interest, we would consider sharing key takeaways from the session publicly, for example through a short report or webinar.
Lawyer, researcher and activist, Marlena is currently working on AI and Human Rights at ECNL. Until recently, she oversaw the civil society and academic portfolios at the Partnership on AI.
Amelie-Sophie Vavrovsky is a graduate researcher at the Stanford Digital Civil Society Lab and founder of Formally, a legal tech startup that uses accessible design to simplify immigration applications.
Joshua Tan is a theoretical computer scientist at Oxford working on standards and infrastructure for online communities.