DWeb Camp: Gather by the Campfire

Fire is a chief metaphor for the Internet: it is metaorganic; it extends the range of (informational) food; it empowers people to explore new time zones (the night) and territories of knowledge; it increases some kinds of sociability, demands ongoing maintenance, and produces dangers and externalities that did not exist before. Fire was the first World Wide Web, a fragile system for contagious spreads. (The Marvelous Clouds: Toward a Philosophy of Elemental Media) Thus it was only fitting that at DWeb Camp 2023, we gather around a literal campfire to talk about this metaphorical fire that has seeped into so much of our lives. DWeb originates as a technical term, short for the ‘decentralized web’. It refers to new web technologies and communities seeking to reduce or eliminate central points of control on the web. The internet’s original creators intended decentralization to be a core value, aiming to make information accessible to all and connect people worldwide. They believed, rightf

Fire is a chief metaphor for the Internet: it is metaorganic; it extends the range of (informational) food; it empowers people to explore new time zones (the night) and territories of knowledge; it increases some kinds of sociability, demands ongoing maintenance, and produces dangers and externalities that did not exist before. Fire was the first World Wide Web, a fragile system for contagious spreads. (The Marvelous Clouds: Toward a Philosophy of Elemental Media) Thus it was only fitting that at DWeb Camp 2023, we gather around a literal campfire to talk about this metaphorical fire that has