Paper short abstract:

We discuss how the design of Internet technology related to the way members of VOCI (a voluntary community in Syria) shared ownership during a situation of conflict, and to the way they blocked out each other from online spaces. To explore an alternative, we engage in a design controversy with VOCI.

Paper long abstract:

In our attempt to uncover some of the implications of Internet technology on governance, we focus on the local. We study how the Internet and social platforms relate to the way a local community of volunteers (VOCI) in Syria established an environment to plan and conduct their activities, as well as to govern how the community evolved. When a conflict erupted within the community in late 2012, the online tools that VOCI members used became in the core of the struggle over access and control among the members involved. We show that the design of basic Internet protocols, as well as tools operating on it, is strongly related to the way VOCI members shared ownership during conflict, and to the way they blocked out each other from online spaces that belonged to the community. Based on these observations and the STS tradition of studying controversies, we actively engage in "mapping the issues" (Marres 2015) and in a design controversy with VOCI members to design Modus; an online tool for governing shared ownership.