PublicSpaces is a coalition of public-interest organisations — broadcasters, museums, libraries, universities, civil-society groups — working to reclaim the internet for the common good. Originating in the Netherlands, it offers an alternative imagination: digital infrastructure built around openness, transparency, sovereignty, autonomy and shared values rather than around extraction.
# Why they matter to us
PublicSpaces is one of the most concrete European attempts to translate “public values” into actual digital infrastructure: code, governance, procurement and partnerships. The questions they organise around — what should a public broadcaster’s recommender system look like? what does a public-interest social platform need? — map directly onto debates Belgium will have to settle as well.
# Where we connect
- Shared belief that public institutions should not be hosted on extractive commercial platforms by default.
- Overlap on open standards, federated architectures and data minimisation.
- A constructive agenda: not just opposing the status quo, but building alternatives.
# Find them
- Website: publicspaces.net