Erin Kissane and Darius Kazemi (with the support of the Digital Infrastructure Insights Fund) proposed this project in the fall of 2023 based on our shared sense that the Fediverse’s history of resilience and expansion positions it as one of our best chances to allow more people to maintain strong social connections online while escaping the behavioral manipulation, pervasive surveillance, and capricious governance that characterizes large-scale centralized social platforms.
Initial research question: “What are the most effective governance and administration models/structures in place on medium-to-large sized Fediverse servers, and what infrastructural gaps (human and digital) persist?”
Our rationale at the project’s outset: “
The Fediverse’s rapid expansion brings both opportunities and multifaceted risks. This research from Erin Kissane and Darius Kazemi (with the support of the Digital Infrastructure Insights Fund) seeks to identify current server administrators’ most promising models for mitigating those risks and outline the biggest and most important gaps in risk mitigation, with the aim of helping the broader Fediverse level up governance quickly, safely, and collaboratively. This project is based on the shared sense that the Fediverse’s history of resilience and expansion positions it as one of our best chances to allow more people to maintain strong social connections online while escaping the behavioral manipulation, pervasive surveillance, and capricious governance that characterizes large-scale centralized social platforms. A must-read.. ;)
Erin Kissane and Darius Kazemi with the support of the Digital Infrastructure Insights Fund
Correspondence: fediversalistpapers@gmail.com
[PDF version / web version]
[Quick-Start Guide to Fediverse Governance Decisions]
[Fediverse Governance Opportunities for Funders & Developers]https://fediverse-governance.github.io/