🤖 AI Summary
This study examines the tension between power distribution and principles of online democracy in decentralized systems within the Internet of Things era, focusing on the governance practices of Bitcoin and Wikipedia. Through case studies, policy analysis, and qualitative comparative methods, it uncovers non-democratic tendencies in their decision-making processes, including elite dominance and unequal participation. The research proposes a set of refined pathways to enhance fairness and consensus mechanisms in digital governance, offering both theoretical grounding and practical strategies for developing more inclusive and transparent decentralized governance models.
📝 Abstract
In the era of digital revolution many contemporary events that changed the world were shaped through the internet. Nowadays, the emergence of internet of things (IoT), combining physical objects with virtual networks is expected to have even more influence. This new 'decentralised' structure in the world raises questions such as power, governance and the notion of democracy online. The aim of this paper is to investigate these notions. We have taken the examples of Bitcoin and Wikipedia and examined their decision-making process. Our analysis has found some inconsistencies in their policies, that are in contradiction with democracy and consensus principles of governance. Starting from our findings, we present further improvements that can be used to achieve more democracy and equity in the digital context.