With human life largely taking place online, we wonder what constitutes the public space today. The public space on the street is easy to imagine, the public debate in traditional media is well regulated. The digital public space is a more difficult notion. The online world is largely a private and commercial space. Although there is an unprecedented amount of human interaction, the space is ruled by the design choices, filter algorithms, preferences and especially interests of large tech companies.

This project is about the way in which we shape the platform society differently. Although not designated as a transition in the agenda, this is a 'wicked problem' that requires behavioural changes from various parties at system level. We see a crucial role for designers and developers in facilitating that change in behaviour.

A BLUEPRINT

Within the project 'Responsible business models' we want to investigate the conditions for digital public spaces. We are researching a 'blueprint' in which the fundamental aspects for an open market are examined through open business models as a counterpart to the business model of large tech companies. This is of fundamental importance for the creative industries as creative content producers, and for digital creators (designers and developers) as the designers in particular.
We do this on based on the aspects of market structuring, organisation, technology and experience. For each of these, the question is which public values ​​are at stake and what their part is in creating the conditions for an open and heterogeneous, digital public space.
We then test several use cases against this blueprint. We are investigating which initiatives are relevant in this regard. These can be existing initiatives or initiatives-in-progress. For all these cases there can be a big role for creative digital creators. An open market for the digital public space increases this role.

AIM

The results of this study should form a blueprint for an open market. This describes how companies and other organisations that develop (public) technology can collaborate and how use cases can contribute to the digital public space.

The PPP programme grant available for this project is €97,882.

Completed

This project has been completed. We asked initiators about the impact the project has made:

“The objectives of the project have been achieved and the research questions have been answered. We investigated the conditions that need to be met to realize responsible business models for digital public spaces. In doing so, we looked at existing business models that offer an alternative to the monopolistic, extractive business models of big tech companies, and searched for characteristics of responsible business models that uphold the distinctive values of public spaces. In doing so, we paid specific attention to what role public values play in the foundation of a value-driven organization.

This knowledge is important because it answers the question of how to turn the Internet back into a digital public space. Digital spaces often appear public but are not always so because the tech companies that form them pursue their market interests. As a result, the values that characterize public spaces are not sufficiently monitored, and the public character of the space actually disappears. It then ceases to be a safe and accessible place where people can meet and discuss together issues that concern them personally or that are important to society or politics. It also becomes a place where safety and open conversation can be far from a reality, but where people can feel threatened and threatened.

As part of the PublicSpaces Coalition, Waag shares the goal of forming places on the Internet in which the commercial interests of a few giants do not dominate, but the interests of corporations are secondary to the values that should be respected in public spaces. To support entrepreneurs to think about those values as they form public spaces on the Internet, we hope to contribute to changing the Internet. The principles that determine the financial and organizational structure of a company are an essential part of this; with these, any organization stands or falls. This is what we have been privileged to explore in this project.

We gained this knowledge together with scientific thinkers and experts by experience and translated it into different forms of publications that are shareable and accessible to a wide audience. We developed a business model canvas and an accompanying workshop and manual. We shared this through various channels, including: videos and LinkedIn posts; a blog on the Waag website; a news item on Cultuurloket DigitALL; posts in the newsletters of Waag, HvA, and Cultuur+Ondernemen; and an article in both the magazine and on the Baaz website. In addition, several articles have been accepted but not yet published.

By providing these tools, we hope to make it easier for new initiatives to gain a foothold and design a value-based business model. In this way, we are contributing to a diverse digital ecosystem in which there is a level playing field for companies and other participants and which provides a sound basis for an economy built on values rather than just profit.”