Governance Archaeology

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Definition

Governance Archaeology is a research field that considers a wide range of historical governance practices to create more moral political economies. It focuses on governance practices outside the Western canon, and seeks to learn from pre-digital mechanisms across diverse societies and cultural practices. For example, the lottery system for public offices in Ancient Athens could help us regulate algorithms today.

Excavations: Governance Archaeology for the Future of the Internet

In comparison to present and historical democratic institutions offline, online communities have an impoverished set of tools available for democratic governance[1]. Excavations: Governance Archaeology for the Future of the Internet is interested in what might be learned from pre-digital mechanisms across diverse societies and cultural practice. Ancient Athens’ system of lotteries for public offices, for instance, could help us better regulate algorithms today[2]. There is a long record of practice and research on governance in the social sciences that bear valuable insights. For this exploration, we propose to conduct media archaeology on a wide range of historical, present-day, and fictional governance practices and to radically expand the repertoire available for governance in online and offline communities alike.[3]

References

  1. Schneider, Nathan. Admins, Mods, and Benevolent Dictators for Life: The Implicit Feudalism of Online Communities. MediArXiv Preprints. 2021 Jan. https://osf.io/preprints/mediarxiv/sf432
  2. Carugati, Federica. A Council of Citizens Should Regulate Algorithms. Wired. 2020 Jun. Accessed 28 Feb 2024. https://www.wired.com/story/opinion-a-council-of-citizens-should-regulate-algorithms/
  3. Excavations: Governance Archaeology for the Future of the Internet. Media Economies Design Lab. COLLEGE OF MEDIA, COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION. CU Boulder. Accessed 28 Feb 2024. https://www.colorado.edu/lab/medlab/2021/05/18/excavations-governance-archaeology-future-internet


Related Reading

The Taxonomy

Excavations: Governance Archaeology for the Future of the Internet

Landscapes of Governance

Assembly Sites of Wales

Governance Archaeology: Research as Ancestry