From Governance Archaeology to Governance Ecologies

Nathan Schneider — Mon, 05 May 2025 04:13:57 +0000

From Governance Archaeology to Governance Ecologies Nathan Schneider Sun, 05/04/2025 - 22:13

Júlia Martins Rodrigues

In democratic societies, the power of governing belongs to the people. The extent of this power and processes underlying self-governance, however, widely vary from place to place, from culture to culture, manifesting as dynamic and multidimensional. In North-Atlantic systems, liberal democracies combine principles of individual rights and civil liberties that allow individuals to participate in governance by casting votes for representatives in a multi-tier governmental structure—which stands as one among many within the broader constellation of governance strategies. Collective governance has happened in many forms throughout history and around the world today. In our workplaces, in cyberspace, and in any other social setting, there are implicit or explicit protocols that organize how decisions are made, who is responsible for them, and how accountability is maintained. Assuming we want to practice democracy across different spheres of life, where can we turn for inspiration to develop governance systems for both the present and the future?

In 2021, we began gathering data from historical communities compiling hundreds of communities, institutions, mechanisms, and cultural values in a database we called “Governance Archaeology.” In the same year, we hosted "Excavations: Governance Archaeology for the Future of the Internet," an online exhibition bringing together international artists to reimagine internet governance through the lens of historical self-governance practices, exploring indigenous practices, intersectionality, and media archaeology. Displayed at the 2021 UN Internet Governance Forum in Poland, the exhibition created dialogue between multimedia artists and policy spaces, centering underrepresented voices to envision more inclusive internet governance. A couple of years later, the Governance Archaeology project produced its first academic publication, "Governance Archaeology: Research as Ancestry," co-authored by Nathan Schneider and Federica Carugati in Daedalus. The paper presented preliminary insights about designing more moral political economies at different scales.

Over time, we realized that parts of the world, especially the Global South, were underrepresented in our research, though there is much to learn from contemporary communities that have mastered collective governance in diverse contexts. Inspired by groundbreaking anthropological research on how Indigenous peoples of the Americas influenced the development of equality, liberty, and solidarity values, we recognized the need to expand our approach and reframe the project to include a broader range of living communities. Therefore, the Media Economies Design Lab at the 91��, in partnership with King's College London, is evolving the framework into "Governance Ecologies," broadening the repository of governance practices to include contemporary groups. The goal of Governance Ecologies is to enrich our governance repertoire beyond contemporary North-Atlantic political traditions, creating a diverse, global commons of collective governance practices across different historical periods and geographies. We seek to grow our understanding of the tools available for self-governance and how communities organize themselves to achieve shared goals.

Visit the new governance.ecologies.info website

The project's architecture is framed under three domains: sources, repositories, and interfaces. Sources include archival and secondary sources, multimedia, and oral histories collection through partnership building. These sources feed two main repositories: the Governance Archaeology database, compiling governance practices from historical communities—which are mainly cataloged by partner researchers affiliated with King's College London under Professor Federica Carugati's leadership; and the repository for contemporary communities, gathering governance traditions from existing groups (especially indigenous and small local communities), member-governed firms, and decentralized peer or user-managed digital communities—the latter primarily carried by MEDLab. Finally, expected outcomes or "interfaces" include (but are not limited to) projects such as a rethinking of governance in cooperative business and MEDLab’s platform experiments such as CommunityRule and a new effort to support protocols for disputes.

Next, we're building bridges with institutional partners and community leaders across South America to learn about their governance journeys. These conversations are creating a rich dialogue about how communities can take control of their own futures. We'd love to connect with more universities, civil society groups, nonprofits, and community organizers to join Governance Ecologies and share their unique stories. Our vision extends beyond South America—we hope to soon include voices from Africa and Asia, enriching our understanding with diverse cultural perspectives and geographical contexts.

If you are interested in learning more about Governance Ecologies and explore potential collaborations, reach out to me at julia.mr@colorado.edu.

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Now Published: The Protocol Oral History Project

Nathan Schneider — Sun, 04 May 2025 20:41:26 +0000

Now Published: The Protocol Oral History Project Nathan Schneider Sun, 05/04/2025 - 14:41

Nathan Schneider

The Protocol Oral History Project is an ongoing effort in MEDLab to explore the possibilities of protocols in diverse areas of human self-governance. We have just published the first ten interviews, which range from a Bangladeshi diplomat to a Denver-based healer, with much in between. We will continue adding more interviews in the coming months.

The project description is as follows:

The Protocol Oral History Project is an effort to honor and share the stories of protocol artists—the skilled builders and stewards of the rules, standards, and norms that shape our lives in often invisible ways, ranging from technical standards and diplomatic practices to Indigenous traditions and radical subcultures.

The website was designed by MEDLab's longtime collaborator Drew Hornbein. The color-scheme and grid design was inspired by Constitutional Wampum by Robert Houle, which in turn draws on the use of wampum belts as a form of governance in the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and other Native American cultures. Hornbein designed a protocol to translate strings of text into patterns. You can try it yourself on the website's About page.

These oral histories are part of the broader Governance Ecologies project, for which we have also just published a new website. As part of Governance Ecologies, we hope it will contribute to knowledge of repertoires for self-governance from across time and around the world, so as to inform governance designs for the future.

Visit protocol.ecologies.info

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