Digital Stewardship

The Challenge

Tech's Trajectory vs. Public Good

Emerging technologies are reshaping society - often outpacing our ability to govern them ethically. From AI systems that exacerbate bias to digital infrastructures controlled by a few, technology's current trajectory too often undermines social and ecological well-being.

The Digital Divide: Billions lack reliable internet or modern tools, excluded from opportunities.
Centralized Power: Digital systems centralize power, erode privacy, and extract value from communities without consent.
Eroding Trust: Public concern over AI misuse, surveillance, and job displacement grows.

The challenge: how do we ensure technology strengthens communities rather than harms them? We are at a critical inflection point -decisions made today about digital governance, equity, and innovation will have long-term consequences.

Our Approach

Tech Stewardship, Not Just Policy

We approach Digital Stewardship as proactive practice, blending technical innovation with community empowerment:

Open-Source & Open Standards

Avoiding proprietary lock-in, ensuring communities can adapt and own the tech that shapes their lives -building resilience and digital sovereignty.

Privacy-Preserving AI

Techniques like federated learning allow collaboration on machine learning without centralizing sensitive data, respecting local data ownership.

Community-Owned Infrastructure

Supporting Indigenous and rural communities to establish their own connectivity -from modular data centers to community-run ISPs.

S.T.E.W. Framework

Tech Stewardship guided by values: Seek purpose, Take responsibility, Expand inclusion, Work to regenerate. Integrating Indigenous data sovereignty principles (OCAP®) into system design.

Interventions

Partnerships & Initiatives

AI for Social Impact Alliance
Co-leading a network connecting academia, industry, non-profits, and communities to ensure AI development aligns with social needs. Creating safe spaces for sharing tools, data, and governance models in the public interest.
Community Data Centers & Connectivity
Deploying modular, renewable-powered data infrastructure in remote regions with community co-ownership and governance. Making access to the internet a community asset, not a corporate monopoly.
Global AI Alliance for Climate
Using AI to help communities forecast climate risks and prioritize resilience investments.

Intersections

Cross-Lens Integration

Digital Stewardship is connective tissue linking all our work:

Relational Infrastructure: Digital tools for participatory governance (e.g., Polity platform for consensus-building).
Systemic Finance: AI-driven models mapping capital flows to anticipate vulnerabilities before crises.
Knowledge Commons: Open platforms and data commons where insights are shared freely, enabling cross-sector learning.
Impact Verticals: From Housing Data Commons to IoT sensors for Indigenous fire management, technology amplifies impact across domains.

By intentionally intersecting this lens with others, we ensure technology amplifies positive impact across the board, rather than operating as an isolated domain.

Learning

Next Experiments

Agentic AI: Communities training and governing AI models for local priorities, like Indigenous language revitalization under community guidance on data and usage.
Green Micro Data Centers: Testing small, renewable-powered modular data centers in Northern regions to improve digital equity and autonomy.
Federated Learning Networks: Regional health providers jointly training AI without surrendering sensitive data, addressing bias in collaborative models.
Governance Sandboxes: Trialing accountability measures like ethics review boards with community members and algorithmic transparency requirements.

Core questions: How can communities gain real agency over technologies they use? How do we translate complex tech concepts for non-expert leadership? How do we measure societal impact beyond traditional metrics?