The Desirable Properties Community Review Event

A layer above the web needs public criteria before fixed implementation. Without shared Desirable Properties, builders risk shipping incompatible overlays, governance silos, and trust mechanisms that cannot interoperate.

The Desirable Properties Challenge asks the community to define, test, and refine what that layer must protect and enable – from federated authentication to community-based AI governance – before substrate code hardens around the wrong assumptions.

September 16 marks the Community Review Draft milestone: 23 properties organized in The Layered Web, open for patching, critique, and governance feedback on the path toward Version 1.0.

• Walkthrough of the Desirable Properties system and challenge timeline
• Anatomy of a DP – structure, elements, and how drafts evolve
• Governance circuit demo – layers, workgroups, documents, and feedback loops
• Site and tool tour – book, Gov Hub patching, workgroups, and activity feeds
• Contribution pathways – how to patch language, join a workgroup, or bring use cases

The event shows how community input moves through the build process:

1. Desirable Properties (DPs) – community-defined criteria and design principles
2. Meta-Layer Requirements (ML-REQs) – testable requirements derived from accepted properties
3. Architecture Decision Records (ML-ADRs) – documented choices that shape implementation
4. Substrate – shared technical foundation for overlays and coordination tools
5. Implementation evidence – prototypes, pilots, and real-world experiments
6. Updated drafts – refined DPs informed by what worked and what is still missing

• Patch language – submit specific text revisions on Gov Hub or discuss chapters on the book
• Join a workgroup – steward one or more DPs toward Version 1.0
• Bring use cases – share scenarios that test whether the properties hold up in practice
• Identify missing requirements – propose candidate DPs or extensions the current set does not cover
• Support translation and synthesis – help turn community feedback into coherent draft updates

Join us virtually on September 16, 2026. Registration is free and open to all.

For the broader civic infrastructure framing, see the Meta-Layer Initiative event page.

Start with these featured Desirable Properties before the event:

• DP1 – Federated Authentication & AccountabilityAuthentication and Accountability
• DP2 – Participant Agency and EmpowermentAuthentication and Accountability
• DP12 – Community-based AI GovernanceAI Governance and Safety
• DP19 – Amplifying Presence and Community EngagementCommunity Participation and Feedback
• DP22 – Civic Memory & Epistemic ContinuitySecurity, Transparency, & Trust

Browse all 23 DPs →