The future of online public spaces depends not only on new technologies but also on the principles that shape them. A newly founded initiative, the Open Social Web Alliance (OSWA), brings together researchers, civil society organizations, and digital policy experts to develop a roadmap for open, interoperable, and public interest oriented social networks. Among the founding members is Philipp Lorenz-Spreen, who leads the Computational Social Science research group at Center Synergy of Systems (SynoSys) at TUD Dresden University of Technology.

Over a period of seven months, the alliance met regularly at the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Berlin to examine key challenges facing open social networks. Each workshop focused on a specific obstacle to scaling public interest platforms. Together with invited experts, the group discussed evidence, developed evaluation criteria, and stress tested recommendations that now form the basis of the alliance’s roadmap.

Philipp Lorenz-Spreen contributed his expertise on digital public spaces, online discourse, and platform dynamics. His research examines how the design of online platforms shapes participation, information flows, and democratic debate. At SynoSys, his work combines computational social science, network science, and empirical research to better understand the societal effects of digital communication technologies.

His participation in the Open Social Web Alliance reflects SynoSys’ broader mission to connect interdisciplinary research with real world challenges. By bringing scientific evidence into discussions on digital infrastructure and platform governance, the alliance aims to support the development of a more open and resilient social web.

The alliance’s roadmap was presented on July 10, 2026 in Berlin and provides practical recommendations for strengthening decentralized and interoperable social networks.

👉 Learn more about the Open Social Web Alliance