We have interviewed experts in a wide range of digital communities – social media, the sharing economy, civic social networks – and asked them what their impact is on individual choices and, more globally, pluralism.
Our interviewees are researchers, activists and entrepreneurs deeply involved in digital communities. Some of these communities are fairly well established, such as crowdfunding communities and those running on social media, while others are still emerging, such as e-nations and blockchain communities.
By drawing on such a diverse panel, our aim is to allow the reader to grasp the multi-faceted role of digital communities in society, and their wider impact on individual choices.
by Christophe Bruchansky and Shane Saunderson
The Future of Digital Communities
Article published in The Disconnect and translated in Italian for Istmo.
“There isn’t really one internet, there are many internets”
Jessa Lingel challenges commonly held assumptions about social media platforms.
“The purpose of digital technology should be to make itself unnecessary”
Futurist and science fiction author Karl Schroeder talks about the future of digital communities.
“We lost the collective ability to demand that another world is possible”
Geert Lovink is the founding director of the Institute of Network Cultures.
“A pervasive issue in crowdfunding continues to be that of trust”
Alexandra Stiver is a social scientist interested in the intersection of business, digital technologies, and community.
“Most of us now have to consider ourselves digitally”
Emily Bitze is founder of Bunz, an app where people trade and shop locally.
“We have to see each other to understand each other”
Violette Suquet is Ciwik co-founder and artistic director.