Digital European Public Spaces
Digital European Public Spaces
Europe is facing real challenges in coping with market-driven and mainly non-European online platforms on which dis-/and misinformation and nationalistic tendencies easily grow and threaten democracy. There is no real European digital public space that is based on values of collaboration, sharing and safeguarding privacy and freedom of people. Waag initiated a series of in-depth conversations and research to define the public values that are at stake in the current digital environment.
Amsterdam based institution de Waag published their report European Digital Public Spaces in August 2020. In four chapters they define the problem and concern of digital public spaces, and identifies foundational values for these spaces; explore two use cases by applying the method of the public stack; review current progress towards creating digital public spaces and identifies gaps in this progress; and present a new vision and a mission based on the identified values, the analysis on potential solutions and the gap analysis. Their vision is the realisation of open, democratic and sustainable digital public spaces. Their mission is to create open, democratic and sustainable public spaces by 2025, locally and in Europe.
Through a thematic Culture of Solidarity call to strengthen a European public space, we looked for projects that contribute to inclusive and democratic European media platforms, networks and infrastructure during the Corona infodemic.