Hugi Ásgeirsson — Radical Networks: How Online Communities Can Learn From the Silk Roads

Why does the playa provide? And how do we foster year-around communities online that provide that same abundance? In developing the Borderland community, we've built online tools that help us create denser networks, allowing for empowered community members and decentralized decision making. In my work with Edgeryders, I've drawn upon network theory and the history of the Silk Road networks to understand and guide this process of building strong online/offline communities. In my talk, I'll give a summary of what I've found, introduce tools and results from the Borderland and give a peek into how this work is shaping the new Edgeryders Participio development lab for decentralized organizations and participatory culture in 2019, seed funded by the Swedish Arts Grants Committee.