Sam Liebeskind

Infrastructure can be defined as "the stuff you don't notice until it breaks." The key property of infrastructure is that it can be easily and reliably used by anyone for their own purposes. It makes our lives easier and us more productive. It can be deployed and used by many for many purposes at about the same cost as one. The more people who use... See more

To me, the vision is a civic life that invites all people to have the experience of collective life that we've been talking about. This civic life would involve a set of civic institutions that are accessible to all different kinds of people and offer them the opportunity to participate in the transformative work of engaging with their neighbors.... See more

To me, the real promise of democracy and the promise of politics is this question of, “How do we build a world in which people don't feel like they're pawns in a game that other people are controlling?” Ultimately, that’s what organizing is about.

Instead of asking whether or not a platform optimizes for engagement, it can be more helpful to ask how explicit or implicit these engagement signals are, and provide users with more controls to allow them to tweak their online experience.

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