A Federated Social Web for Peace

Hi all,

In my paper I'm arguing that the big vision of the Federated Social Web
should be not just improved privacy and control, but the empowerment of an
independent Global Civil Society that must control its own communication.
I'm attaching the paper, in case you're interested.

There's also an accompanying video: http://vimeo.com/23564585

And here's the abstract:
Closely linked to the ideal of peace, the concept of civil society has a
long history as a
third actor besides the state and the economy. It is a nonviolent “zone of
civility” that
can debate and address war and other problems. In today’s interconnected
world we see
the emergence of a “global civil society”, which transcends national borders
and
attempts to solve global challenges that established institutions fail to
address. This
global civil society is organized like a network, just like the global
communication
networks that produced it are also organized like a network. However, while
popular
social network services such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube are often said
to be
powerful tools for peace and democracy, they are in fact highly centralized
services
operated by for-profit companies. For a global civil society to truly work,
both the
architectural structure and the governance mechanisms of its communication
channels
must be based on civil society principles itself. This paper argues that the
main promise
of the Federated Social Web – in addition to the obvious advantages of
improved
privacy, control and resistance to manipulation – will be a network
structure that deep
at its core resembles civil society and is therefore a powerful instrument
for a more
peaceful world.

I also submitted another, shorter paper about Project Danube..

Markus