SHIFTSPACE COMMISSIONS
While the Internet’s design is widely understood to be open and distributed, control over how users interact online has created largely centralized and closed systems. The web is undergoing a transformation that promises user empowerment–but who controls the terms of this new read/write web? The web has followed the physical movement of the city’s social center from the (public) town square to the (private) mall. ShiftSpace attempts to subvert this trend by providing a new public space on the web. ShiftSpace has announced a new commissions program based on a developer API, through which users can create their own online spaces. The platform evolves through an Open Source process that seeks to build advanced social software tools, develop workshops and create online public spaces within a distributed network architecture. The commission program was announced in NYC in early November. A team of 12 jury members will inspect the applications and will announce 10 winners by mid-March. The commissions range from $100 to $2000.
Submissions will be accepted through to 25 February 2008.