Creating public communication spaces that are open, accessible, comfortable, and sociable

The briefing outlines a framework for democratic public communication spaces that prioritize excluded voices and user sovereignty over data. It provides a set of recommendations across four domains—ethical, political, educational, and technical—to counter neoliberal ideologies and ensure affordable, open-source access to communication technology and literacy training.

• The Working Group defines democratic public communication spaces as both analogue and digital environments designed for considered dialogue that strengthen excluded voices, guarantee user control over data and knowledge free from state or commercial co-option, and uphold social justice and communication rights.
• To ensure equal access to information and expert insights, the document argues for guaranteed access to affordable or cost-free media, literacy training, hardware, software, connectivity, and sustainable energy sources for communication technology.
• The Working Group proposes specific recommendations to foster these spaces: ethically, by prioritizing neglected voices and autonomous media; politically, by creating communities of resistance against neoliberal consumerist ideology; educationally, by developing dialogue skills and digital literacy; and technically, by normalizing open-source, interoperable standards and affordable devices.

APA

Rowley, S. (2024). Creating public communication spaces that are open, accessible, comfortable, and sociable. World Association for Christian Communication. https://waccglobal.org/creating-public-communication-spaces-that-are-open-accessible-comfortable-and-sociable/

Chicago

Rowley, Saskia. Creating public communication spaces that are open, accessible, comfortable, and sociable. World Association for Christian Communication, 2024. https://waccglobal.org/creating-public-communication-spaces-that-are-open-accessible-comfortable-and-sociable/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Rowley |first1=Saskia |title=Creating public communication spaces that are open, accessible, comfortable, and sociable |publisher=World Association for Christian Communication |date=5 May 2024 |url=https://waccglobal.org/creating-public-communication-spaces-that-are-open-accessible-comfortable-and-sociable/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rowley2024creating, author = {Rowley, Saskia}, title = {{Creating public communication spaces that are open, accessible, comfortable, and sociable}}, institution = {World Association for Christian Communication}, year = {2024}, month = may, url = {https://waccglobal.org/creating-public-communication-spaces-that-are-open-accessible-comfortable-and-sociable/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }