Participant Agency and Empowerment
How do we ensure people stay in control of their digital lives?
Algorithms controlling what you see
Your attention should belong to you.
Feeds, recommendations, and AI assistants increasingly decide what you notice. Participant agency means you set the terms: what reaches you, who can interact with you, and how assistance works on your behalf.
Why this matters
You open an app to check one thing and leave an hour later unsure what you came for. The feed was optimized for time-on-site, not for your goals. When algorithms and AI steer attention by default, people lose the ability to shape their own digital experience.
- Attention is harvested
- Filters are opaque
- AI acts without clear consent
- Presence settings reset per platform
Today's challenges
- Engagement-maximizing feeds
- Opaque ranking
- Dark patterns
- AI assistants without user control
- One-size-fits-all moderation
- No portable preference profiles
Why today's Web struggles
Platforms own the interface between you and the world. Preferences, block lists, and attention settings stay trapped inside each app, so agency does not travel and defaults favor engagement metrics.
Platforms optimize for engagement over user choice
Imagine instead
You carry portable agency settings across the web: smart filters, presence rules, and AI permissions that you author and revise.
- Choose feeds and filters that serve your purpose
- Set AI boundaries that travel with you
- Decide who can reach you in each context
- Earn reputation for constructive participation, not outrage
Users control filters, feeds, AI, and attention
Why this matters to everyone
- Parents
Shape healthier attention environments for families.
- Teachers
Help learners focus without platform distraction defaults.
- Researchers
Study agency-preserving interfaces instead of engagement traps.
- Young people
Grow up with tools that respect autonomy, not addiction loops.
- Developers
Ship products that honor user-controlled preference layers.
Meta-Layer capabilities
- Attention Agency
- Presence
- Consent
- Smart Tags
- Reputation
- Context Overlays
Real-world examples
- Social media
User-authored feed policies.
- Education
Focus modes that students control.
- Civic tech
Participation without engagement bait.
- Workplace tools
Notification and AI consent you set once.
Join the challenge
Choose how you'd like to contribute.