Online/Virtual Event

Thursday, March 31st 2022 from 4:00pm to 5:00pm

See a recording of this webinar here.

Want your FedEx package? Now you must allow the company to scan your ID. Check into a hotel? Hand over your passport. Rent an e-bike? Key in your driver’s license, which includes your address, birthdate, and weight. What if you could maintain control over your personal identity and share only what is needed? Enter decentralized or self-sovereign identity (SSI). In the future, we believe each person will hold an e-wallet and control his/her/their own personal information.

About This Series

The World Wide Web started with so much promise: to connect people across any distance, to allow anyone to become a publisher, and to democratize access to knowledge. However, today the Web seems to be failing us. It’s not private, secure, or unifying. The internet has, in large part, ended up centralizing access and power in the hands of a few dominant platforms.

What if we could build something better—what some are calling the decentralized web?

In this series of six workshops, we’ll explore the ways in which moving to decentralized technologies may enhance your privacy, empower you to control your own data, and resist censorship. Join us to hear from experts in the leading peer-to-peer technologies, from identity to data storage. We’ll see demonstrations of blockchains, cryptocurrency, NFTs, and decentralized storage projects in action. Learn how the decentralized web might yet create systems that empower individuals by eliminating central points of control.

About the Presenters

Wendy Hanamura (Moderator) is the Director of Partnerships at the Internet Archive, one of the world’s largest digital libraries. She helps to steward the DWeb community that now encompasses eleven global nodes of technologists, policymakers, artists, and activists all working to build a better web.

Kaliya Young, "Identity Woman" is Co-Founder of the Internet Identity Workshop (IIW) and the author of two books: The Domains of Identity (2020) and A Comprehensive Guide to Self Sovereign Identity (2018). For the past 15 years, Kaliya has been working to bring about the creation of a layer of identity for people based on open standards.

Lambert Heller is Director of the Open Science Lab, National Science Library of Germany (TIB Hannover). His research centers on how infrastructures and cultural heritage institutions change and grow in a networked, globalized world. His areas of interest include: Responsible Research Data Governance and building digital capability. He has an academic background in sociology, political science and philosophy, and a dedicated professional career in library systems.

Irene Adamski is Head of Operations at JOLOCOM, a Berlin-based company focusing on developing Self-Sovereign Identity solutions. She also served as BEPAB Member with the OECD, General Secretary of the German Blockchain Association and Co-Chair of the INATBA Working Group Energy. A big motivation of her work is the gradual increase of system resilience via decentralization and self-sovereign users, as well as coherent international standardization and collaboration. Her academic and professional background is in linguistics, international law and energy transition.