Saving the web by decentralizing data networks? A socio-technical reflection on the promise of decentralization and personal data stores

Abstract

In this article we elaborate on Personal Information Management Systems (PIMS) or Personal Data Stores (PDS) that provide a person with affordances for managing his/her personal data, giving him/her granular control over the data captured about him/her, and over how that data is shared and used. We examine the promise of PDSenabled data cooperatives from a socio-technical approach by critically unpacking the current discourse on data activism and related concepts such as data cooperatives, data collaboratives or data bazaars in the context of PDSs. We highlight critical reflections on user empowerment, power symmetries and user appropriation. While we see promise in a collective approach to the management of (personal) data, as it may reorient markets and change who benefits from datafication, we point out that further research into the potential obstacles or hurdles that hinder the implementation of data cooperatives in a PDSecology and into what consumers think about these and other possible data management models, is needed.

Personal data store ecosystems in health and social care

“…Further, such infrastructure should facilitate “participatory data stewardship” ( 15 ) not only on the account of individuals self-managing their data as part of personal data stores, but also by mechanisms that allow individuals to influence and contribute to how data are governed once made available to others [e.g., for individual care, research] in different “data governance spaces” ( 64 ). As personal data stores ecosystems need to appropriately balance risks and benefits at both “individual” and “population” levels ( 65 ), attention needs to be given on the types of trusted third-party intermediaries ( 65 ) that are required to give rise to robust data stewardship practices across multi-stakeholder ecosystems—e.g., “consent intermediaries” ( 46 ) [for further examples also see ( 57 , 66 , 67 )].…”

Personal Learning Environments as socio-technical systems: does decentralised data finally give us the right balance?

“…As algorithms are used to automate services based on data, this creates asymmetry between the ones who understand and the ones who do not. To counteract this centralization of data and power in a few large corporations, technologists have also been formulating technological solutions, by re-exploring the decentralized web (Mechant et al, 2021), where data is stored in Personal Data Spaces or Personal Data Stores and shared actively by individuals in data networks. One such technical implementation is the Solid project, fronted by Tim Berners Lee (Sambra et al, 2016).…”

“…These types of collaborations need to be supported by other technologies such as distributed ledgers (Verborgh, 2018). However, this is by no means a given recipe for success, as Mechant et al (2021) point out, that collective governance has often failed.…”

Decentralization and web3 technologies

“…For example, openPDS presents a model for autonomous deployment of a PDS which includes a mechanism for returning computations on the data instead of the raw data itself [57]. In fact, PDS are a key technical component of the Solid project (social linked data) started by Tim Berners-Lee for decentralizing the WWW [58]. Moreover, blockchains can be used to design a decentralized PDS which acts like an automated access-control manager that doesn't require trust in a third party [59].…”