In the early, pre-web days of the social Internet, decisions about the spaces people gathered in online were often made by members of the community.
Implementing community governance in today’s platforms could take a number of different forms, some of which are already being experimented with.In the 2018 documentary The Cleaners, a young man in Manila, Philippines, explains his work as a content moderator: “We see the pictures on the screen. You then go through the pictures and delete those that don’t meet the guidelines. The daily quota of pictures is 25,000.
Our examination of the early history of online governance suggests that social media platforms could return — at least in part — to models of community governance in order to address their crisis of legitimacy.In many early online spaces, governance was handled by community members, not by professionals.
This switch from community governance to customer service made sense to the fast-growing companies that made up the late 1990s Internet boom. Promising their investors that they could grow rapidly and make changes quickly, companies looked for approaches to the complex work of governing online spaces that centralised power and increased efficiency.
On a smaller scale, total self-governance – echoing early online spaces – could be key for communities that serve specific subsets of users. For example, Archive of Our Own was created after fan-fiction authors – people who write original stories using characters and worlds from published books, television shows and movies – found existing platforms unwelcoming.
Singapore Latest News, Singapore Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Commentary: Mind the gap — Divergent expectations about university degrees among youth could have domino effectWhat begins as unequal expectations can eventually result in unequal outcomes, accentuate differences between groups, and give rise to a society of “us versus them”.
Read more »
Commentary: Companies, show us the carbon footprint of your foodOat milk brand Oatly has been printing the carbon impact of its products on packaging. It’s a good start, but it probably won’t be enough to change behaviour, says Lara Williams for Bloomberg Opinion.
Read more »
Commentary: The United States is more normal and less exceptional than you thinkAmerica sees vital interests in every corner of the globe - but it acts otherwise in practice, says the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program's Sam Roggeveen.
Read more »
Commentary: Bangkok mall shooting highlights growing threat of modified gunsModified and homemade weapons are part of a rising cottage industry of firearms for criminal and terrorist networks, says RSIS’ Rueben Dass.
Read more »
Commentary: Could Trans-cab merger and rumoured foodpanda buyout spell trouble for Grab customers?Grab could potentially acquire taxi company Trans-cab and food delivery competitor foodpanda in Singapore. But it has every incentive to keep the ecosystem competitive, says Momentum Works’ Jianggan Li.
Read more »
Commentary: Xi-Putin Belt and Road meeting highlights Russia’s role as China’s junior partnerThe most instructive aspect of the meeting was Putin’s explicit acknowledgment of the different roles played by Moscow and Beijing in international politics, say these academics.
Read more »