I defer questions of efficacy
We could look to the future, to Star Trek, that source of sometimes astonishing prescience. With that in mind, I was always somewhat disappointed that the future turns out to be command-and-control. I do hope we don't "make it so".
I lead
do you happen to lead it courtesy of democratic process?
I ask because, from my limited knowledge of university life, I think not! Just to note in case you hadn't noticed the juxtaposition in this paragraph, in the context here.
Catholic
Not being at all well-versed in Catholicism, this seems incongruous with what I think I know ... an elite, hierarchical patriarchy. Having done a quick search for "catholic" below to see if you put me right, I find just a fleeting mention of subsidiarity. Perhaps if you're going to reference Catholic social thought here, you might elucidate further?
from the cybernetic school
Re. design and cybernetics being two sides of the same coin: https://pangaro.com/published/Dubberly+Pangaro-ConversationsForDesign-SpringerVerlagPreprint-January2019.pdf
sought to organize these flows at the scale of a country
See also Morozov's "feedback infrastructure" https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii116/articles/evgeny-morozov-digital-socialism
rich in relevant
this sounds a little odd to me. relevance invokes a binary: relevant, or irrelevant rich invokes excess: more than is needed.
for recasting molds of meaning in software code
I'm always intrigued by claims — popular amongst projects that self-describe as dweb, or web3 more specifically — for democratizing intentions. Democratizing publishing. Democratizing finance. Democratizing art. Etc. I'm intrigued as to what they think they mean exactly.
my office at the University of Colorado Boulder
OK, how do I get a job like yours? :-)))
Here I find permission to think about fungi as media
For a reader less well read in terms of the Wood Wide Web, I would imagine that this jumps out at them as in --- whoa, where did that come from? Personally, I appreciate the earlier picnic mentions, but even so, for those not into their fungi and rhizomes, this might need some situating; just a sentence or two?
that the design of online social spaces has contributed to the atrophy of everyday democratic skills
Ooooh, interesting. A promise of evidencing a cause and effect. 😮
Spaces
Already wondering if you'll discuss place (a space with social meaning)? In other words, a space can be many places. Not sure if this translates from the analogue to digital though. 🤔
who is involved and what kinds of say they seek
This may be read I think as an exhaustive list. Perhaps add "for example", or make it exhaustive.