April 30, 2024 // Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up to receive your own copy here.

To rebuild the internet, solve the simplest problem first

For Deepti Doshi, her most profound insights about how to build healthy, democratic digital spaces came from an unlikely, offline place decades ago: the back of a taxi cab.

Growing up, Doshi, who is Co-Director of New_ Public, often needed help getting a ride to school because her dad was sick. Her mom would enlist the help of Patrick Mativo, a local taxi driver, to drive the Doshi kids to school.

Doshi looks back on that experience as formative: It showed her what it looks like to have an interconnected community. No matter how different Mativo was from her, she realized that he was there for her family, and her family could be there for his.

Getting a lift from a neighbor with a taxi might not initially seem like an experience that strengthens democracy, but Doshi believes it is, and that it holds clues for how we build better digital spaces, as well.

She’s taken this insight into her work of building a better web. Project Liberty connected with her to understand New_ Public’s unique and sometimes low-tech approach to building the next generation of the web.

// Technical fixes to people problems

Earlier in her career, Doshi built Haiyya, a grassroots leadership development organization in Mumbai, India that supported people to run neighborhood, issue-based campaigns. 

Her experience in door-to-door organizing and building Haiyya led Doshi to Facebook for seven years, where she built the Global Community Partnerships team focused on supporting Facebook groups.

At Facebook, Doshi learned that you can’t code your way out of problems around cohesion or belonging. 

There was tech that enabled these groups to exist, but at their heart, they were propelled by humans. “You can’t take away the human layer of what’s required for a group to feel a great sense of belonging and safety and inclusion,” Doshi said.

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You can’t code your way out of problems around cohesion or belonging.

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// Decentralized internet, de-centered people

From new protocols like DSNP to new social networks like Mastodon and MeWe to the cooperatively-owned server May First and New_ Public's own vision to “reimagine the internet as a public space,” there’s great momentum in building the next generation of the internet.

But the problem, according to Doshi, is that the decentralized internet ecosystem can fixate too much on solving democracy problems, or power problems, without solving the “people problems” first.

• People problems are the everyday problems that are top-of-mind. People need a ride to school in the morning, or they want to connect with their family and friends, or they’re seeking a sense of purpose in their life.
• The ecosystem around the decentralized web was born out of a desire to solve a loftier problem: shift the balance of power away from tech companies, give users more control over their data, and create a more participatory internet—all admirable objectives. But none of that’s possible without making products people want to use.

// Bolstering the internet we've got

For those committed to building the next generation of the web, Doshi believes there is value in balancing the imaginative, revolutionary, and necessary work of building new spaces on the internet with the practical, evolutionary work of making today’s digital spaces healthier.

• “We need to work with community stewards and organizers who are publicly minded and trying to do the right thing, even if they’re on Facebook, Reddit, and Google Groups,” Doshi said. 
• Bluesky and Mastodon could be powerful alternatives to the status quo, but that’s “not where enough of the people are right now,” she said.

As examples, Doshi highlighted two Facebook groups that are driving real impact:

• In Nigeria, Lola Omolola founded Female IN, a Facebook group of 2 million women on a mission to “end the culture of silence” by providing a space for women around the world to share untold stories regarding sexual abuses and other challenges they are facing.
• In Colorado, Westminster Colorado Neighbors! is a Facebook group of 10,000 people who live in Westminster, a town close to Denver. The Westminster group is a representative example of the millions of groups on Google, Facebook, Reddit, and others that are the homepage for local life and small-town democracy. Yes, they’re on Facebook, but their membership is 10% of Westminster’s total population.

// Solutions from low-tech to high-tech

New_ Public is starting to launch pilots on top of existing platforms aimed at giving the moderators of groups like Westminster Colorado Neighbors! the tools and best practices to build thriving digital spaces today. 

Similar to human-centered design, the approach starts with the “latent behavior”—the behavior from moderators and users that’s already happening—and then figures out how tech tools and practices can make that behavior easier.

• Everyday practices: There are low-tech, everyday practices that can be shared broadly across group moderators. When someone posts something inappropriate in the Female IN community, members use a “grumpy cat” meme in the replies as a gentle reminder that certain behavior is unwelcome in their group. Instead of public shaming, it is a subtle but clear signal that reinforces prosocial behavior. Such proven practices to build healthy communities hide in plain sight; they just need to be shared.
• New tech tools: New_ Public is building community surveys and tools that help members and moderators steer their communities to be healthy and inclusive. One tool, which is still in development, helps a group moderator redirect a conversation that's getting incendiary towards a more constructive structure. 

// Creating democratic experiences

Like the experience in her youth of getting to school with Mativo’s help, Doshi believes that experiences that help people understand society’s interconnectedness are the elementary building blocks of a thriving democracy. “We are not letting go of the democracy problem, but we are trying to find an avenue into it that is grounded in the people problems.”

It’s possible that the most ambitious project of reinventing the internet starts in the most quotidian of digital spaces.

Project Liberty in the news

// The CDPI (Centre for Digital Public Infrastructure) has officially endorsed DSNP and included it in their curated solution stack! This endorsement by the pro bono tech architecture advisory team based in Bengaluru, India, means that DSNP will be recommended to dozens of governments worldwide, marking a major step forward in Project Liberty’s journey.

Other notable headlines

// 🤔 An article in The New Yorker cautioned not to believe everything we're hearing about misinformation. People may espouse symbolic beliefs, cognitive scientists say, but they don’t treat them the same as factual beliefs. 

// 🖥 Large language models are getting bigger and better, but an article in The Economist asks, can they keep improving forever?

// 🏛 TikTok broke the tech law logjam, according to an article in the New York Times. For years, federal lawmakers have tried to pass legislation to rein in the tech giants. The TikTok law was their first success.

// 🔎 An article in The Atlantic suggested that AI will spell the demise of SEO. Is it the end of the web as we know it?

// 🏫 According to an investigation by The Markup, online censorship in schools is leaving teachers in the lurch with scrapped lesson plans and laborious appeal processes.

// 🤖 An article in the MIT Technology Review profiled a new tool out of an MIT lab that helps users figure out the chatbot answers to trust and the ones to throw out.

// 🧪 An article in Tech Policy Press outlined four ways to ensure ethical experimentation with AI in the public sector.

// 💼 There are clues in history about the future of AI and if it will take our jobs. An article in Project Syndicate argued that we need to understand the past to predict the future.

Partner news & opportunities

// Virtual event on what states can do to protect kids

May 15 at 7pm ET

Mothers Against Media Addiction is hosting a virtual discussion on how states can protect children online. Experts will explore the role that state policies play in safeguarding children's well-being in the digital age. Register here.

// Recording of event on digital identity & human rights in the EU

Last week, Identity Valley hosted a talk in Brussels on the intersection of digital identity and human rights in the EU, exploring data protection, privacy, and trust in digital systems. Watch a recording here. 

// Civic Saturday Fellowship application 

Apply to join Citizen University as a Civic Saturday Fellow. The Civic Saturday Fellowship trains civic leaders to organize and host ritualized gatherings that deepen connections among community members. Apply by May 17th!

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