Sustainability and participation in the digital commons

Interactions between citizens, businesses, and governments create network infrastructure commons that are providing Internet access for digitally excluded communities and rural areas in Europe. Citizens and digitally excluded communities who become peer production actors can effectively acquire, build, or repair their own digital devices and gain Internet connectivity at a very low cost. citizens must be able to fully engage in the governance of the digital, not only as mere users or consumers. The current model of unequal access to digital devices and connectivity is clearly unfair and unsustainable. Too few participate in the design and governance of the digital world, creating an elite of private interests. A minority of the world's population can enjoy the benefits of sleek devices and fast connectivity. Everyone is or will be influenced by the growing environmental impact of the digital world. If digitally excluded communities become peer-production actors, they will be able to build their own circular devices and sustainable network infrastructures, they will benefit from local reinvestment of surpluses, and they will have the opportunity to become active participants in the interactions of the design and governance of the common digital space.