Towards a model of Governance in online systems

From a LinkedIn post on 15 September 2023… (here)

Is there a simple way to express (and prove) governance for online systems? I think there might be…

Over the last few months we’ve been exploring the question of “how” we might understand governance and what it might look like in the Trust Over IP Foundation Governance Architecture Task Force. A number of ideas have been developed and building blocks created (see wiki here)

My exploration has taken the view that governance, good or bad, exists in many forms already in our lives and work. Bodies such as the Governance Institute of Australia work to ensure that governance best practice is widely practiced. I’m always wary of technologists deciding they need to define something that already exists.

So I explored a different path. I considered whether there was some simple model that might underpin governance in all its flavours and for all its purposes, and whether the work that Jo Spencer and I did on Guardianship might offer an example of a mental model that we can reuse.

I quite like what I’ve come up with – which I recognise as very risky. Hence I thought I’d share more widely and seek more feedback.

I’m sharing this work under the CC BY SA 4.0 licence (consistent with our usual practice at Sezoo and with ToIP). I’d welcome comments and suggestions to improve and/or correct the thinking.

There are clearly significant socio-economic and commercial implications in getting this right. Please feel free to contact us if you think this thinking can help your proposition.

[67 pages too daunting? Jump to page 25 where I propose 4 requirements, then use the rest to see why…]