๐ฃ #Today! (March 5 ) - 11am GMT-3 a key debate goes live:
โSocial media bans for under-16s โ yes or no? Perspectives from #LatinAmerica.โ
Organized by Observacom, accessible on their YouTube channel
๐ฐ๏ธ Orbital data centres are being pitched as the future: efficient and environmentally friendly. For much of the Global Majority, however, this is yet another question of limited ownership.
If data centres move to space, who has leverage?
Read D. Dosunmu's piece:
๐ฃ We're looking for our next #SWANA regional director!
We are seeking a passionate professional to lead on the work of Digital Action in the region and to play a key role in ensuring its contributions to the Tech Justice and Policy ecosystem.
Apply today ๐๐พ digitalaction.co/join-our-team/
๐ A new UNDPโMorocco facility aims to accelerate digital transformation across Arab States and lead "South-South cooperation for digital transformation".
โ๏ธ โDigital sovereigntyโ often sounds abstract. But when your data is stored, governed, and monetized elsewhere, it becomes tangible. Reem Almasri's deep dive unpacks what sovereignty really means and gets us thinking on the urgency for independence from Big Tech: ๐
๐ฃ #Tomorrow! Don't miss the discussion on #DataCenters in #MENA: The Politics of Digital Infrastructure?
If any of these issues resonate and youโd like to think together, donโt hesitate to reach out. These conversations grow through exchange.
โจ This week we wrapped up sharing what we learned during our #ExplorationDays: ideas and questions weโll keep carrying forward.
We shared a few threads with questions and also references and readings regarding #MovementBuilding #CommunityTech #DigitalSoverignty #AIRegulation and #NarrativeChange.
SMEX and the Arab Reform Initiative invite to the online event next Feb 24th:
Data Centers in MENA: The Politics of Digital Infrastructure?
A critical conversation on digital sovereignty and the future of tech governance in SWANA.
Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
๐ Digital Sovereignty: A Descriptive Analysis and a Critical Evaluation of Existing Models offered a critical lens.
By comparing models and assumptions, it helps clarify what sovereignty canโand cannotโmean in practice.
link.springer.com/article/10.1...
๐ Burcu Kilic and Renata Avilaโs work on Tech for the Global Majority sharpened our thinking.
Digital sovereignty doesnโt happen by accident. It requires strategy, coordination, and power-building rooted in local realities.
progressive.international/wire/2025-03...
๐ AI Nowโs research on Public Digital Infrastructure grounded this exploration.
Moving from hype to public value means building infrastructures that serve collective needs, not extractive models. A key reference for thinking sovereignty beyond buzzwords.
ainowinstitute.org/publications...
๐ณOne image helped us think this through: an olive tree.
Values are the trunk. From there, branches and fruit can grow freely. We want tools rooted in values, not profitโdigital worlds we can describe using our own references.
Sovereignty you can touch.
๐ฑ We saw this clearly in grassroots digital cooperatives. When tools come from Big Tech (or new global giants) dependency grows fast. When communities design their own tools, sovereignty takes root in ways that actually make sense locally.
โ During our #ExplorationDays, sovereignty stopped being abstract.
We kept coming back to agency: the ability to decide and to act. Sovereignty becomes real when agency is tangible, when it shapes our daily digital and physical lives.
And Ford Foundationโs Chancellar Williamsโ reflections on Tribal Digital Sovereignty.
These offer concrete paths toward people-centred tech futures.
www.fordfoundation.org/news-and-sto...
APCโs work on communal internet infrastructure
www.apc.org/en/pubs/comm...
๐ To explore further:
Promising Troubleโs The case for community tech:
www.promisingtrouble.net/blog/blog-po...
โจ What makes this approach powerful is agency.
Meaningful innovation happens when technology serves people, not the other way aroundโand when communities can shape, govern, and sustain what they build.
๐ ๏ธ Community tech works differently.
It connects existing technical possibilities with unmet needs, creating tools that actually work for the people who use themโnot for distant markets or extractive models.
๐ญ One metaphor kept returning: a local circus.
Different skills, shared trust, constant movement. The work is never โfinishedโโit evolves. Technology, after all, is built by people, shaped by their needs, values, and choices.
๐ฑ What we saw is that community tech opens space for governance beyond corporate interests.
It allows communities to reflect their own values, understand technologyโs climate impact, and make collective decisions about the tools they rely on.
๐ช #ExplorationDays: Community tech works at a much smaller scale than Big Tech, and thatโs precisely its strength.
By focusing on local needs, communities create digital commons they can access, adapt, and sustain together. This is where digital sovereignty becomes tangible.
๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐ฝโ๐ป ๐๐พThis #webinar is tomorrow!
โฆAnd The Maybeโs Where the cloud meets cement.
They help make visible what digital infrastructures try to hide.
www.themaybe.org/research/dat...
๐ For deeper dives, these references guided our thinking:
IDECโs Weโre not the backyard of data centers (PT)
idec.org.br/publicacao/n...
๐ฑ When we talk about digital futures, we rarely ask:
Resources for whom?
Development for whom?
Growth for whom?
And ultimately: who bears the costs of digital progress?
โ๏ธ As we explored rights, decentralization, and free expression, a question kept returning during our #ExplorationDays: what does all this technology look like on the ground?
What are the real costs of connectionโand who pays them?
๐ฃ This Thursday ๐๐ฝ
๐ง Kai-Hsin Hungโs Beyond Big Tech Geopolitics pushes the conversation further: toward AI shaped by local realities, people-centred design, and values beyond extraction.
A useful compass for what comes next.
www.tni.org/en/article/b...
