{"id":1975,"date":"2017-07-28T14:45:00","date_gmt":"2017-07-28T14:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/labs.webfoundation.org\/id\/understanding-the-digital-trends-shaping-our-world\/"},"modified":"2017-08-01T15:23:17","modified_gmt":"2017-08-01T15:23:17","slug":"understanding-the-digital-trends-shaping-our-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/labs.webfoundation.org\/id\/understanding-the-digital-trends-shaping-our-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the digital trends shaping our world"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"This post was originally published on the Web Foundation’s blog<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Web Foundation fights for digital equality \u2014 a world where everyone has access to the web and can use it to improve their lives. To achieve this vision, we need to understand how new technologies are shaping society; where they present opportunities to make people\u2019s lives better, and indeed where they threaten to create harm. Nowhere is this more critical than in low and middle-income countries, which are rarely the focus of research on digital trends and their impacts.<\/p>\n

Three transformative trends<\/h3>\n

To better grasp how emerging technologies are changing our world \u2014 focusing on low and middle-income countries \u2014 we have commissioned a\u00a0series of white papers<\/a>\u00a0looking into three of the most important digital trends we face: artificial intelligence, algorithms and control of personal data.<\/p>\n

The series addresses each of these issues, looking at how they are impacting people\u2019s lives and identifying steps that governments, companies and civil society organisations can take to limit the harms, and maximise benefits, for everyone.<\/p>\n

Explore the research<\/a><\/p>\n

All three issues, working interdependently, are affecting society in profound and varied ways, from upending labour markets and public service delivery, to changing how we interact with companies. While there is much to be excited about, with the growth of new industries and innovative products and services, these trends simultaneously open new avenues that threaten privacy and security, inflict discrimination and create wide scale economic disruption.<\/p>\n

Low and middle-income focus<\/h3>\n

All too often, research and debate are focused on developments in the US, UK and Europe, with actors from elsewhere seldom consulted. We intend these papers to trigger a broader discussion on how AI, algorithms and personal data are currently playing out in low and middle-income countries. If we don\u2019t consider the experiences of a wider range of countries, we will fail to harness unique and valuable diversity of perspectives that can better shape product development and technological trends, as well as inform related policies and standards. We must encourage local tech hubs and civil society to lead the way in driving technical and policy solutions that meet people\u2019s needs.<\/p>\n

Fighting for the future of the web<\/h3>\n

Last March, on the web\u2019s 28th birthday, our founder Sir Tim Berners-Lee\u00a0wrote a letter<\/a>\u00a0about what he believed were the biggest challenges facing the web. The challenges he outlined are threefold: we\u2019ve lost control over our personal data; misinformation spreads too easily online; we need more transparency and understanding of digital political advertising.<\/p>\n

The three issues covered in these papers \u2014 algorithms, AI and personal data \u2014 are driving the challenges Sir Tim described, and will no doubt be central features of the web as it enters its fourth decade.<\/p>\n

The white papers will now help to refine our thinking and set our work agenda in the years ahead. We are sharing them openly in the hopes that they benefit others working towards our goals, and start a discussion about the steps we can take together to ensure emerging digital technologies are used in ways that benefit people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n

We hope you enjoy the read, and\u00a0we welcome your feedback<\/a>. Let\u2019s work together to build a more open web for a more equal world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For live updates on our work, follow us on Twitter\u00a0@webfoundation<\/a>, and sign up to\u00a0receive our emails<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post was originally published on the Web Foundation’s blog. The Web Foundation fights for digital equality \u2014 a world where everyone has access to the web and can use it to improve their lives. To achieve this vision, we need to understand how new technologies are shaping society; where they present opportunities to make […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":1974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[179,175,182],"tags":[530,254,531],"class_list":{"0":"post-1975","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-blog-id","8":"category-uncategorized-id","9":"category-web-foundation-id","10":"tag-future-of-the-web-id","11":"tag-tech-id","12":"tag-trends-id","13":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.webfoundation.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.webfoundation.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.webfoundation.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.webfoundation.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.webfoundation.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/labs.webfoundation.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.webfoundation.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/labs.webfoundation.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.webfoundation.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/labs.webfoundation.org\/id\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}