Tech culture is failing communities. How can we make it better?

We need a roadmap towards truly community-owned technology.

Californian design principles have taken over the internet, turning people into products. Despite technology promising to bring us together, social isolation is a major player in the current epidemic of depression, loneliness, eating disorders, and suicide.

The tech industry has been dominated by wealthy men from California, funded by venture capital and driven by the Lean Startup model—creating limited but profitable software. This approach has become the default for solving problems, even social ones, with little consideration for alternative approaches.

A decade ago, technically-skilled activists envisioned a decentralized, cooperatively-owned internet through projects like Indymedia and mesh networks. Today, that vision has been replaced by commercial apps and corporate social media platforms. Something shifted fundamentally.

A Community Technology Partnership Manifesto

Complete > Perfect: Build systems with low barriers to entry that embrace messy, real community knowledge rather than demanding perfect, pre-structured data.

Communication > Code: Prioritize getting accurate information to people through multiple channels—print, digital, and in-person—rather than treating technology as the primary goal.

Distributed > Centralised: Enable people to use existing technology and improve their data sharing practices incrementally, rather than imposing new platforms.

People > Computers: Focus on building skills and community strength through technology as a tool, not as an end itself.

Locality-based > Interest-based: Direct attention toward geographical communities where social divides are most entrenched, not just online interest groups.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Help organizations do more with limited budgets by using fewer technologies, sharing resources, and creating reusable solutions for common problems.

The article concludes by applying Tony Benn’s five questions about democracy to technology: Who holds power? Where did they get it? Whose interests does it serve? Who is accountable? How can it be removed?