<div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">For the past 7 months, a group of us has been working on a report titled "Defund Big Tech, Refund Community: Another Tech is Possible”. In this report, we dive into the history of public investment in technologies at the foundation of Big Tech, and the imbalances between these investments and the returns to the public sector. We delve into the problematic labor and user relations underlining the value-creation machine Big Tech has assembled, and the perverse social and environmental costs of these socio-technical systems. We set out arguments for why Big Tech should be defunded, and offer potential actions Big Tech companies, governments and policymakers, tech workers, researchers, civil society organizations, social movements and individual citizens could take to redirect resources. We end by offering prospects for what refunding community could look like, <i>how another tech is possible.</i> </div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">We hope you can read it, it is posted here <a href="https://techotherwise.pubpub.org/defund-big-tech" target="_blank">https://techotherwise.pubpub.org/defund-big-tech</a>. Please feel free to share across your network.</div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">Thanks!</div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">— Doug</div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0)">PS. We also started a Tech Otherwise channel which we're hoping we can put to good use as time goes on. The results of two other workshops are also on the channel.</div><div><br></div>-- <br><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><span style="color:rgb(80,0,80);border-collapse:separate"><span style="border-collapse:separate;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12px">Douglas Schuler</div><div style="font-size:12px"><a href="mailto:douglas@publicsphereproject.org" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">douglas@publicsphereproject.org</a></div><div style="font-size:12px">Twitter: @doug_schuler</div><div style="font-size:12px"><br></div><div style="font-size:12px">------------------------------------------------------------------------------</div></div></span>Public Sphere Project<span style="border-collapse:separate;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px"><div><div style="font-size:12px">     <a href="http://www.publicsphereproject.org/" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">http://www.publicsphereproject.org/</a></div></div></span><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;font-size:12px"><br></span><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px">Mailing list ~ Collective Intelligence for the Common Good</div><div>     <font color="#4787ff"><u><span> <a href="http://lists.scn.org/mailman/listinfo/ci" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">http://lists.scn.org/mailman/listinfo/ci</a></span><span>4cg-announce</span></u></font></div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px">    </div><div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px">Creating the World Citizen Parliament</div>     <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Helvetica;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;border-collapse:separate"><a href="http://interactions.acm.org/archive/view/may-june-2013/creating-the-world-citizen-parliament" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">http://interactions.acm.org/archive/view/may-june-2013/creating-the-world-citizen-parliament</a><div>     </div></span>Liberating Voices!  A Pattern Language for Communication Revolution (project) <div>     <a href="http://www.publicsphereproject.org/patterns/" style="color:rgb(17,85,204)" target="_blank">http://www.publicsphereproject.org/patterns/lv</a></div><div><br></div>Liberating Voices!  A Pattern Language for Communication Revolution (book)         <div><a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/liberating-voices" target="_blank">https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/liberating-voices</a></div></span></div></div></div></div></div></div>