Towards a social web of trust - Hoofdinhoud
Tobias Martens
Tobias Martens, who presents this post, is one of my young advisers and the founder of 30dna a project lab that brings together experts at the intersection of sustainability, open innovation and entrepreneurship
What a year 2012 has been so far - I’ve been lucky enough to work with a huge variety of highly inspiring people- whether it’s artists, designers, web entrepreneurs, computer scientists or the end users, each bring interesting and very individual ideas to digital, social and economic change.
Art, Education, Science and Startups
People active in computer science, the creative arts, STEM and social science acknowledge mutual existence, but only few places attempt to leverage co-existence and collaboration. The startup ecosystem is special in this context. It is a role model for open innovation because of the way it combines social science methods with design and art and technology approaches in solving pressing socio-economic challenges. Universities and academia should pick up on this and help to directly transform knowledge generation into tech and social startups. Great examples are e.g. formats like the HPI D-School, KaosPilots or Knowmads as well education/co-working communities like e.g. The Hub Network or the US-import General Assembly.
The web as community tool
Indeed one of the biggest advantages of internet technologies is the enormous potential not just in business, but with regard to community empowerment and the promotion of democracy. They give new means for mass communication and turning digital public discourse into real political clout.
But to huge demographics the internet appears to be broken. And indeed - how many people actually and really understand it as a whole? In saying that I am also making a call to science: researchers have to speed up in providing information and guidance in regard to the socio-economic impact of the web (this would eventually make is as well much easier to argue in the present copyright debates).
And we have to work harder to build trusted infrastructures that give all groups and ages a willingness to explore digitalized lifestyle. Now that we have mobile technologies the web is today in everyone’s pockets. We have to make it easier for everyone to maximize use. My mum is great in online shopping - but wouldn’t it be great if she would understand how to send group text messages to organize the family breakfast? Or to book appointments with her doctor? Or meet nearby friends and organizing her book clubs online?
Towards a Web of Trust
We have to give back trust. This requires public governance to address ’spam and scam’ and force businesses to work for and not around that small annoyance that is the customer (i.e. monetizing users personal life data - how could we have gone so wrong?). But also ‘Let it be rock’ - the web should remain a place for science, art and punk. Let’s not over-regulate and find ways to protect users without controlling them.