How do we ensure that the decentralized web fulfills its potential to create a better web for all? That the technologies, organizations, and approaches that gain traction and succeed (by any measure) uphold the security, privacy, and self-determination of everyone, especially those of marginalized populations who have the most to gain?
The first step is to recognize that there are many people around the world who are already doing this work. They’re not only imagining and theorizing about a better web, but are actually creating and employing digital tools to uplift communities facing systemic inequities. They bring about justice and enable individual and collective agency, both through network technologies and by also creating and maintaining communities of care.
As the Decentralized Web (DWeb) San Francisco team, we help grow networks of solidarity among these individuals and organizations by creating opportunities for them to build relationships with each other and the DWeb community. Our Fellows from DWeb Camp 2019 strongly influenced our thinking as we defined a set of shared Principles and continued to hold virtual and in-person convenings in the three years since.
As the Director of this year’s Fellowship program, one of my strongest hopes is that the DWeb Fellows are able to build lasting, fruitful relationships with each other and other DWeb Campers. My other hope is that the Fellows’ projects and approaches continue to shape the DWeb community overall – to connect and empower the most under-resourced, and ensure that the decentralized web we’re building truly addresses the needs of all.
The 2022 DWeb Fellowship program was made possible with generous support from the Ford Foundation, Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web, Mysterium Network, donations through the Gitcoin grant challenge, and others.
2022 DWeb Fellows
Alice Yuan Zhang, Media Artist/Researcher
Andrew Chou, Digital Democracy
brandon king, Resonate.Coop
Cody Harris, Seattle Community Network
Dana Beltrán, Colnodo
Esther Jang, Seattle Community Network
Hiure Queiroz, Portal Sem Porteiras
Jaime Villarreal, May First Movement Technology
Johan Michalove, Cornell University
Kemly Camacho Jiménez, Sulá Batsú Coop
Kola Heyward-Rotimi, COMPOST Magazine
Luisa Bagope, Portal Sem Porteiras
María Alvarez Malvido, Redes por la Diversidad, Equidad y Sustentabilidad A.C
Michael Abraha, Tigray Art Collective
Ngọc Triệu, Simply Secure | Decentralization Off the Shelf
Nicolás Pace, Association for Progressive Communication
Remy Hellstern, Xinjiang Documentation Project, University of British Columbia
riley wong, Independent Researcher
Rudo Kemper, Digital Democracy
Sanketh Kumar P, COWDe.Net | Janastu Servelots | GramSevaSangh
Shafali Jain, COWDe.Net | Janastu Servelots
Tania Silva, Coolab
T B Dinesh, Janastu Servelots
Vaipunu Ian Tairea, Project Sunrise | Tai Collective
