Reimagining Digital Governance: MEDLab at the Governance Futures Network Convening in Bogotá
What if we radically reimagine our future? The trends are clear: VC-driven business models perpetuate endless cycles of investment and reinvestment for maximum returns, rampant inequality, market consolidation, a handful of platform monopolists steamrolling towards digital totalitarianism. But another way is possible—and it starts with exercising our radical imagination to ignite alternative paths ahead.
Thinking about new tech futures, I recently joined the Governance Futures Network's annual convening in Bogotá, Colombia (June 9-12, 2025) to explore how democratic ownership and governance models can transform our digital lives. The Colombian colorful context proved particularly rich for this conversation, offering examples of community-led governance innovations, such as bioregional governance and peace processes, that emerge from contexts of conflict and transformation—lessons highly relevant for navigating the disruptions facing digital spaces today.
The Governance Futures Network focuses on connecting people, ideas, and initiatives to promote innovative approaches to governance. This international working group brings together people from diverse professional and cultural backgrounds with a shared vision: building "a world where people and planet flourish by transforming how we collectively steward our interdependent well-being, now and into the future."
During the three-day convening, we engaged in "greenhouse" working groups—incubators for emerging governance innovations. As the associate director of MEDLab, it was my pleasure to join the pro-social media governance greenhouse discussions, centered on a critical question: How can we shift from probable futures following current trends toward possible futures that disrupt those trends in favor of more democratic internet governance? The greenhouse sessions employed a methodology of radical imagination, contrasting likely scenarios based on existing trajectories with transformative alternatives that could fundamentally reshape digital power structures. This approach allowed our group to envision concrete pathways toward more equitable online ecosystems.
We brainstormed key infrastructure elements needed to enable alternative digital futures: shared ownership models that distribute both control and value among community stakeholders; alternative enterprise models that prioritize social and environmental impact alongside financial sustainability; a new financial architecture to support democratic digital projects without requiring them to sacrifice their values or governance models to access capital; and alternative exit options that don't rely on acquisition by tech giants or public offerings that prioritize shareholder returns over community benefit.
The Bogotá convening emphasized the interconnected nature of current governance challenges, from bioregional stewardship to intergenerational decision-making to citizen engagement. For MEDLab's work in digital governance, these connections emphasized how online democratic innovations can learn from and contribute to broader movements for participatory governance.
The future of internet governance remains an open question—and gatherings like the one in Bogotá show us how working together is fundamental to start building new futures shaped by democratic participation rather than greed and algorithmic extraction.