Dear community,
Here a short overview of some of the currently ongoing conversations. This week the NGI community trended towards topics on how to read and interpret data, the tactics of disinformation and a holistic approach and view of the internet.
We just had a very interesting discussion session with DeLab’s data scientists and 27 participants to discuss how to gather, read, null and interpret data with a focus on COVID. Many hard questions were asked, one of wish was: “Where can and should critical questions regarding data collation and interpretation be directed?” The answer, of course, is complicated and multilayered, but one place is in the thread bellow which we used to announce and prepare the session and which is still open for concrete as well as meta-methodological questions on the topic:
Disinformation is dangerous, and once it spreads very hard to contain. It is even hard to name. How can we give specific, true and effective names to the different aspects of the troublesome phenomenon of disinformation and improve upon proposed categories?
And for the next step:
Are there communities where mis/dis/malinformation is less prevalent and can we use those as models to build a better internet?
At the moment many big tech companies present themselves as saviours in the crisis and are welcomed with open arms and presented as “Benevolent Dictators”. But “What if we would organize the infrastructure development of the Internet in a similar manner to free and open-source software?” and How?
This leads also back to the question of how to deal with the effective rise of power on the side of such big tech companies in the wake of COVID:
[A Second Coming of Big Tech in the age of COVID-19?]
Looking at the whole platform I would also like to bring a few more posts to your attention:
First, the newest and most dazzling way to take a step back and see all of Edgeryders unfold is presented here in an animated visualisation of the whole network by @aberto:
Another summary and interpretation of the ongoing conversations can be found here:
And finally: Two Summits:
- Edgeryders “Making a Living” Summit
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As you may already know Edgeryders is planning a Summit on the topic of “Making a Living” asking “How can we make a livelihood during a time of crisis and while doing good work instead of bullshit jobs?”
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Edgeryders “Making a Living” Summit will take place in September and October, however some presummit listening session already take place in June and July. the first one this week: After covid19: while food businesses are failing, can community oriented food projects be the way forward?
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The next one brings together knowledge workers and policymakers in higher education, also allying with unions and rights defenders, with their histories of mobility, migration and refuge:
Session on endangered researchers and precarity in higher education
You can follow the developing Summit programme here:
- NGI Policy Summit
In September there will also be a summit on NGI policies organised by our partners at NESTA. We have set up a new category in NGI for the development of that summit which opened today. Fell free to check it out and get involved:
Thank you for being here asking hard questions and sharing meaningful information.