Transformation through decentralisation : learning, democracy and technological sovereignty

Abstract

Taking inspiration from the Barcelona smart city, European Commission policy and prominent European universities and organisations, this paper argues that pedagogical strategies and technological infrastructure for citizen lifelong learning should be incorporated within a paradigm of the digitally sovereign individual, city and nation state. In support of the proposed European Union Single Market fifth freedom of knowledge, the author suggests that lifelong and lifewide learning are a crucial part of digital epistemic human rights for access to and interactions with digital knowledge as a digital public good that sustains democratic society. The right of the citizen to learn, share and contribute to information and knowledge is considered in relation to individual agency, autonomy and personal data sovereignty, within the idea of an authentic learning city. In this context there is a pressing need to adopt self-hosted, open source technical solutions for provision of information management and social channels that are supported by civically owned, decentralised and federated knowledge resources, open and freely accessible to all.