The Public Square Project: Reimagining Our Digital Future

by Peter Lewis

Western democracy has always been anchored by the idea of a public space where people gather to share ideas, mediate difference and make sense of the world. When Facebook blocked Australian users from viewing or sharing news in 2021, it sounded the alarm worldwide on our growing reliance on global tech companies to fulfil this critical role in a digital world. Facebook's hostile act, constituting a very real threat to participatory democracy, was a direct response to government attempts to regulate Big Tech's advertising monopoly and to mediate its impact on public interest journalism. The conflict sparked a new sense of urgency around the growing movement to imagine alternative digital spaces that operate in the public interest rather than simply for a commercial bottom line. Can we create sustainable media models to help us tackle society's problems? Can we engender a civic platform built on facts and civility? Can we control the power of our data and use it to promote the common good? The Public Square Project draws together leading tech scholars, industry experts, writers and activists to chart a path towards a public square worthy of the name.

323 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 29, 2021

Reviews

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting collection of essays about the dangers of the internet.

Mostly about the problems associated with the constant surveillance of people by the big four - Amazon, Google, Facebook and Netflix. Consumers are the product or at least the raw material. We are being manipulated and democracy is being weakened. We need to do something about it before it's too late.