The Web At War
The Web At War:Hypertext, Social Media, and Totalitarianism. Blue Sky Award Paper, ACM Conference On Hypertext and Social Media. June 28-July 1, 2022, Barcelona.
Abstract: In 2022, much of the world faced the prospect of a prolonged conventional war with a totalitarian state. The origins of hypertext lie in the wars of the 20th Century, and efforts to avoid a repeated conflict — and confidence that conflict could be contained if not entirely avoided— is deeply embedded into the architecture of the World Wide Web. The Web was not designed to confront a war, and it remains deeply vulnerable to totalitarian subversion. Our systems, platforms, and our discipline will need to adapt.