Monthly Archives: May 2018

Digital Platforms & Democratic Governance: Standing at an Historic Crossroads

Posted on May 9, 2018 by evolvinghumansystems

As I explain on the bio page of this blog, I believe: [T]he human race is, in fact, in a race. Not a race against other humans (though it sometimes seems that way), but rather a race against time, and … Continue reading →

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The Facebook F-Up as a Wake-Up Call

Posted on May 9, 2018 by evolvinghumansystems

As I write this, Facebook is facing what is likely the most intense crisis of confidence in its roughly 14 years of existence.  While obviously important for the company, this development also raises broad and increasingly urgent questions about the … Continue reading →

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Serving Users (to Advertisers to Benefit Shareholders)

Posted on May 9, 2018 by evolvinghumansystems

In its early years, a key driver of Facebook’s approach to growth was to “move fast and break things” in pursuit of “domination.” This growth strategy has been reflected in Facebook’s approach to protecting users’ personal data–which may have violated a 2011 FTC consent decree. One … Continue reading →

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Data as Power: Approaches to Righting the Balance

Posted on May 9, 2018 by evolvinghumansystems

Not surprisingly, revelations about the unauthorized release of personal data on 87 million Facebook users to a firm using the data to design and target manipulative political messages has triggered an upsurge in concern about the adequacy of data privacy at … Continue reading →

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The Power of Dominant Platforms: It’s Not Just About “Bigness”

Posted on May 9, 2018 by evolvinghumansystems

This post will focus mainly on an article by Brooklyn Law School professor K. Sabeel Rahman that examines the power of digital platforms in an historical context. Though I try to summarize key points and include excerpts from the article, entited The … Continue reading →

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Democracy & Corporate Governance: Challenging the Divine Right of Capital

Posted on May 9, 2018 by evolvinghumansystems

In October 2017 the New York Times invited nine “technologists, academics, politicians and journalists” to propose steps that could help “fix” Facebook, “as a product, a company or both.” While all of the suggested “fixes” struck me as likely to … Continue reading →

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Platform Cooperativism: Acknowledging the Rights of “Produsers”

Posted on May 9, 2018 by evolvinghumansystems

The discussion below builds on a prior post focused on the work of Marjorie Kelly, whose two books provide a framework for analyzing characteristics and impacts of alternative allocations of enterprise ownership rights. That framework describes key differences between “generative” and “extractive” ownership models, … Continue reading →

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Interactions Between Political and Platform Systems

Posted on May 9, 2018 by evolvinghumansystems

This post focuses on the interactions between digital platforms and public sector democratic governance systems. It is intended to help set the stage for two subsequent posts that offer suggestions about how to support positive feedback loops and discourage negative … Continue reading →

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A Purpose-Built Platform to Strengthen Democracy

Posted on May 9, 2018 by evolvinghumansystems

In brief, the argument presented in this post is that: The health and future prospects for political democracy are facing serious threats in the U.S. and the world. The history of Facebook, Google, Twitter and other online platforms and services … Continue reading →

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Democratic Oversight of Platform Management by “Produsers” 

Posted on May 8, 2018 by evolvinghumansystems

In an earlier post I posited that: We are experiencing negative two-way feedback loops related to problems in the governance, operation and impact of our public political institutions and that of the digital platforms we increasingly rely on in our … Continue reading →

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