Recording from last week’s TICTeC gathering 'From Digital Public Infrastructure to Democratic Public Infrastructure'

[Gemma Moulder]

Hello everyone,

Last week we had a really interesting conversation about Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and its relationship with civic tech. 

Here’s the recording if you’d like to watch it. 

Thank you again to our speakers Richard Gevers (Head of Service Design and Delivery at the Digital Services Unit of The Presidency South Africa) and Sanna-Kaisa Saloranta (Specialist in the Democratic Innovations programme at Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund). 

Please feel free to use this thread to continue the conversations started at this gathering, or add any thoughts/comments on the topic in general.  

If either of our speakers get the time to respond to any of the unanswered questions from the session, I’ll post the responses here too. 

All the best,

Gemma. 

[Johnson OLUATA]

Thanks

Johnson .O.O.OLUATA  Esq
Principal
TYSOG ConsultiNG
(Consulting Accountants & Chartered Tax Practitioners)
P.O.Box 3860 Ikeja Nigeria
Tel +2347035100099
Mob +|2348023714700

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[simon fj]

OK Gemma, Louise, thanks for the invitation, 

You won't know I'm an old media producer (from last century), so I don't consider this conversation about "civitech taking back the Internet" from "an overdependence on Bigtech". OK, for example, we're reduced to having to use this google group for social networking. But that's only due to the fragmentation of well-intentioned "civic" organisations refusing to collaborate.  (Hey, I've been in commercial media, so been trained to "beat it up". Got to attract an audience :)

I don't know how more thousand times a civictech wheel can be reinvented but this guide reminds me of Einstein's definition of insanity. It seems remarkable that the most necessary communications tool, an email address, which provides the basis of access to all other PUBLIC and private networked services, is provided to most citizens, globally, by a private (usually USA) companies. Bigtech companies are (primarily) Media companies. That's how they make (most of) their money.

My argument? This glacial movement to "democratic public infrastructures" (DPI) is, primarily, about the transition in National public media networks. The National public broadcasters have, up to now, just watched as their audiences left their idiot boxes and ran off to have global conversations outside their fossilized National public institutions; made possible by GAFAM of course. And GAFAM has discovered how to maximise the revenues. No surprises there.

That public social wasteland is changing, and the invitations are coming thick and fast.  

The question now is how long it will take for democratically minded orgs to share the development their DPI's. Its nice to see the Europeans getting it together. 

On the other hand. Back to old blighty. One can't help but laugh at the culture. "We read everyone's newsletter's and research so you don't have to". Sounds like the BBC to me. Quality broadcasting.

Happy New Year,

Simon