DDC Online Assembly 1

Who owns our digital world, and what would it mean to reclaim it collectively?

The first online assembly of the Democratic Digital Commons (DDC), and the second assembly of the overall project following the Prague gathering, continued the transnational process of collective reflection on the future of AI, digital infrastructures, and democratic governance. Bringing together participants from across Europe and beyond, the assembly created a shared space to critically examine who owns and controls the digital world, how AI systems rely on collective resources, and what it would mean to reclaim digital infrastructures as democratic commons.

Rooted in the belief that citizens should play an active role in shaping technological systems, the assembly combined education, deliberation, imagination, and contribution. Through expert presentations, facilitated breakout groups, and collaborative exercises, participants reflected on the social, environmental, political, and economic impacts of AI while envisioning pathways towards more democratic digital futures.

Where?

The assembly took place online, allowing participants from different countries, sectors, and lived experiences to join a shared transnational space of dialogue and deliberation. The digital format enabled broad participation while also opening critical reflection on the very infrastructures and platforms through which the event itself was hosted.

When?

The assembly took place on May 20th, 2026, from 17:00 to 21:00 CEST on Zoom.

Who?

The assembly brought together a highly diverse group of participants, including citizens, artists, researchers, students, educators, consultants, activists, technologists, and members of civil society organiszations. Participants joined with different levels of familiarity with AI and digital governance, contributing perspectives shaped by both professional expertise and personal experience.

The session featured contributions from three invited speakers:

Ulises Mejias, an academic & author, who reflected on the infrastructure of data, the political economy of Big Tech, and introduced the term data colonialism.
Sara Marcucci, founder of AI & Planetary Justice, who explored the socio-environmental impacts of AI systems across their full supply chains, from mineral extraction to energy consumption and electronic waste.
Iyo Bisseck, a digital artist-activist-archivist, who proposed an Afro-feminist exploration of digital infrastructures through collective servers, archives, and relational digital spaces.

To support deliberation, the assembly mobilised a facilitation team of 15 facilitators, allowing participants to engage in smaller breakout groups of approximately 20 people each.

AGENDA Online Assembly 1: For a Democratic Digital Commons

Wednesday, 20th May 17h-21h

17:00 – 18:00 Welcome

Assembly consultations and preparatory participation

18:00 – 18:20 Introduction

Introduction to the Democratic Digital Commons project
Political note on digital tools and infrastructures used during the assembly
Overview of recording practices and participation pathways
Introduction to on-site and future assembly opportunities

18:20 – 18:30 Icebreaker

Interactive polls reflecting on key themes emerging from the Prague Assembly

18:30 – 19:15 The State of AI (Learn)

Presentation by Ulises Mejias
Presentation on AI & Planetary Justice

19:15 – 19:25 Questions & Discussion

19:25 – 19:30 Break

19:30 – 19:50 Re-Dreaming AI (Imagine)

Artistic and political reflection by Iyo Bisseck

19:50 – 20:00 Questions & Discussion

20:00 – 20:45 Breakout Groups (Deliberation & Imagination)

Facilitated group discussions
Collaborative Miro exercises

20:45 – 21:00 Closing (Contribute)

Overview of the discussions
Reflection on next steps
Presentation of opportunities for continued participation and contribution

DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT

Find the talks & transcripts in the DISCORD

Read more about our speakers

Ulises A. Mejias is Professor of Communication Studies at the State University of New York at Oswego, and recipient of the 2023 SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship. He is the author of Off the Network: Disrupting the Digital World (University of Minnesota Press, 2013) and, with Nick Couldry, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is Colonizing Human Life and Appropriating It for Capitalism (Stanford University Press, 2019). His latest book, also co-authored with Couldry, is Data Grab: The New Colonialism of Big Tech and How to Fight Back (Chicago University Press, 2024). He serves on the boards of Humanities New York (a National Endowment for the Humanities affiliate) and the Center on Privacy & Technology at Georgetown Law. Dr. Mejias is co-founder of Tierra Común (tierracomun.net) and the Non-Aligned Technologies Movement (nonalignedtech.net), two innovation and support networks of activists, educators and scholars working towards the decolonization of data.

Sara Marucci is the Founder and Director of the AI + Planetary Justice Alliance, a global collective of researchers, activists, and artists committed to exposing and challenging the socio-environmental harms of AI systems across their entire lifecycle–from mineral extraction and labor exploitation to infrastructure, deployment, and waste. Through this work, she seeks to foster critical dialogue, collective resistance, and radical alternatives to extractivist AI futures.
She independently consults with public and private organizations on AI governance, with a focus on participatory, community-rooted approaches. She is Chair of the IEEE Committee on AI & Data Centers under the Planet Positive 2030 Initiative. She also collaborates with Privacy Network on advocacy and lobbying efforts around AI governance and digital rights, with a focus on influencing policy in the Italian context.
She started exploring the social implications of technology in 2017, and has worked on digital rights, data governance, and AI policy with institutions including the GovLab at NYU, the European Commission, UNICEF, IFC at The World Bank, Nesta, and the Open Data Institute (ODI). Sara holds an MSc in Data & Society (Distinction) from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Iyo Bisseck is a French-Cameroonian media artist, interaction designer, and programmer. They develop a practice that blends immersive digital environments, sculptural installations, animated images, and video games. Active in collectives such as Dreaming Beyond AI and Matri-Archi(tecture), they design online platforms that support cultural and activist initiatives. Their work critically examines the construction, use, and perception of archives in contemporary contexts, focusing on the materiality of the digital while exposing colonial continuities. Their research proposes an Afro-feminist exploration of digital infrastructure through the design, study, and activation of a collective server conceived as a relational space, an abolitionist laboratory, and a site of critical fabulation. Engaged in preserving and reinventing archives, Iyo weaves diasporic narratives through fiction and interactive media.

Resource List

DDC Assembly handbook
https://oneproject.org/how-to-make-ai-serve-the-public/

Data colonialism article -> https://www.uio.no/studier/emner/matnat/ifi/IN5390/h22/readings/couldry—mejias-%282019%29.pdf

Mejias, U. A. (2023). Sovereignty and Its Outsiders: Data Sovereignty, Racism, and Immigration Control. Weizenbaum Journal of the Digital Society, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.34669/WI.WJDS/3.2.7

data colonialism explained:
How Big Tech Steals Our Lives, video by YouTube influencer Andrewism. Sept 4, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmX61zJLjcs

Review. Datenraub: Sind Praktiken der Tech-Giganten kolonialistisch? Bayerischer Rundfunk (Germany). May 31, 2024.
https://www.br.de/nachrichten/kultur/datenraub-sind-praktiken-der-tech-giganten-kolonialistisch,UE4K1e0

Reading list of AI & Planetary Justice https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qNxEup7ooezIFcsxvumkHh7R7GnwBSU3OkIpiRvQqrw/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.gt9vxf3q3a9k

Weaving Liberation