Netgain Challenge

Don’t be yourself. Activism and change are always about potential. The Web used to be about potential, too. Role-playing and anonymity were central to early Web culture (to the point of megalomania!). But political and commercial pressures led in the other direction, toward one verifiable identity per person. This is a gradual process of control and inhibition. The commercial Web is becoming about finding new ways to charge for old things; the political Web is becoming about new ways for states (and not just states) to enforce old politics. These trends haven’t won the day but they are strong. Perhaps philanthropy could find ways to revive and extend that early Web culture of playful inventiveness and potential identities. That’s where the openness can renew itself.