Towards Bridging and Governing Decentralized Communities

"Unless the spaces in a building are arranged in a sequence which corresponds to their degrees of privacy the visits made by strangers, friends, guests, clients, family, will always be a little awkward." (Alexander, 1977) ––– Unlike physical spaces where we have the capacity to move fluently between various environments, much of our online experience takes place in loud, crowded, and imposed public areas. This often hinders meaningful connections and understanding among individuals and deepens divides. Further, as our social spheres or communities–with differing norms and values–coincide in the same spaces friction and misunderstanding lead to toxic behavior that is more often than not monitored and governed at the platform level rather than at the community level, approaching a values problem with a one-size-fits-all type solution. [... continue reading]