[Air-L] Ford Foundation - A call for research on digital infrastructure

Joly MacFie joly at punkcast.com
Thu Jun 7 09:52:06 PDT 2018


​[from my inbox]
​

​
https://www.fordfoundation.org/ideas/equals-change-blog/posts/a-call-for-research-on-digital-infrastructure/
​


Michael Brennan, Technology Program Officer, Internet Freedom

30 MAY 2018

Everything in our modern society, from hospitals to banks to social media
platforms, runs on software. Nearly all of this software is built on
“digital infrastructure,” a foundation of free and public code that is
designed to solve common challenges. Last year, I wrote about the
importance of this surprisingly fragile but critical infrastructure
​ ​
[1], and the dangers in store when it fails.

Now the Ford and Sloan foundations have come together to support a new wave
of research exploring the economics, sustainability, and maintenance of
this digital infrastructure
[2]
​ ​
—with an eye to strengthening it in ways that benefit us all. We’re seeking
research projects that explore questions like:

*
​ ​
What makes an open source project “critical digital infrastructure”?
*
​ ​
What role should private companies play in maintaining a stable ecosystem
of open source technology?
*
​
What are barriers to diversity and inclusion in the field of digital
infrastructure?
*
​
How can we better sustain the open source community that maintains digital
infrastructure?

In 2016, the Ford Foundation funded Nadia Eghbal’s report, “Roads and
Bridges: The Unseen Labor Behind Our Digital Infrastructure.” In it, Eghbal
described how the development and maintenance of digital infrastructure
often falls to communities of volunteers who take it upon themselves to
maintain this infrastructure in their own free time, and for little or no
money. Unsurprisingly, this leads to significant risks to the open
internet, and challenges in developing new, innovative research and
businesses within it.

If you’re interested in submitting a concept note, we encourage you to read
Eghbal’s report, as we are primarily interested in the scope of digital
infrastructure as she defines it there. But we’re also eager for your
creative thinking, and hope you will use the questions above as inspiration
for your own.

We will accept concept notes until June 13, 2018. Read more about the
process and criteria, and submit yours here.
​ [3]​



[1]
https://www.fordfoundation.org/ideas/equals-change-blog/posts/every-day-we-rely-on-digital-infrastructure-built-by-volunteers-what-happens-when-it-fails/

[2]
https://ford-foundation-6.forms.fm/digital-infrastructure-research-rfp/forms/4770

[3]
https://www.fordfoundation.org/library/reports-and-studies/roads-and-bridges-the-unseen-labor-behind-our-digital-infrastructure

[4]
https://ford-foundation-6.forms.fm/digital-infrastructure-research-rfp/forms/4770


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Joly MacFie  218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast
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