On 6 and 7 June, PublicSpaces and Waag Futurelab will organise the fourth edition of the PublicSpaces conference with the theme 'Taking Back the Internet'. The two-day programme will take place at Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam. Through panels, keynotes, roundtable sessions, lectures, art and culture, we will work our way towards an internet where we set the rules collectively.
In 2024, most digital services and platforms are owned by a few Big Tech companies. This centralisation of power does not align with how the internet was conceived. It creates society-disrupting problems. From privacy violations and influencing election results to discrimination by biased algorithms, Big Tech's monopoly affects everyone.
How do we - as citizens, organisations and governments - regain control of our data and our digital lives? If we want to be able to decide for ourselves what our digital ecosystem looks like, we need to be able to make independent decisions about the design, use and management of digital tools and platforms. During the conference, we will engage with speakers, visitors and artists on data ownership, privacy, interoperability, decentralisation and more. In short: technology based on public values.
The complete program will be announced in the coming weeks, but the first names have already been announced! State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen will open the conference. Futurist Karen Palmer provides the opening keynote, and economist Francesca Bria takes us through a European strategy for developing an ethical digital economy. Also expect contributions from Luna Maurer, Mieke van Heesewijk, Bert Hubert, Kambale Musavuli, Paolo Cirio, Nanda Piersma, Roos Groothuizen, Nastia Cistakova, Astrid Poot, Paul Keller, Toshi Reagon, Julia Janssen, Jan Zuiderveld, The Hmm, Sebastian Lasse, Marlijn Gelsing, Maaike Okano-Heijmans, Reijer Passchier, Tamara van Zwol, Lashaaawn, Benjamin Fro, Marleen Stikker, and many others.
This year, the conference will be moderated by Roland Duong and Abdo Hassan.
