Help Shape the Meta-Layer: The Next Level of the Internet

🌍 What Is the Meta-Layer?

A meta-layer is a space that already exists above webpages—a place where new interactions, annotations, identities, and applications can live, connected to what you’re looking at, but not owned by the webpage itself.

You’ve already seen it in action:

• Hypothesis 🖊️ (for social annotation)

• Honey 🛒 (for discount code overlays)

• Ad blockers, password managers, AI sidebars

These are early glimpses of what a meta-layer can be—a shared space above the web where people can think, meet, and build together.

It’s not a new internet—it’s a new way to interact with the internet.

🧑‍⚖️ Why Internet Society Chapters Matter

Your chapter represents local expertise in:

• Policy and internet governance

• Digital rights and privacy

• Standards and protocol development

• Capacity-building and community education

You have the knowledge—and the community—to help ensure this next layer is designed with the public interest at its core.

🔍 How You Can Contribute

1. Submit Input

Contribute a chapter-level perspective on one or more of the Desirable Properties of the Meta-Layer. This could be:

• A short essay

• A shared working doc

• A single idea from a local issue

• A translation or localization of a key concept

2. Facilitate Community Participation

3. Become a Chapter Cat Herder 🐾

Host a workshop, member discussion, or async survey to gather input from your local community.

We’ll provide:

• A facilitation kit

• Slide templates

• Sample use cases to explore

• Recognition for participating chapters

Each ISOC chapter can designate one or more members as “Cat Herders”—volunteer coordinators who help organize engagement before the deadline.

They’ll be credited and receive:

• A Cat Herder digital badge

• Early access to findings

• Invitation to post-June debrief and design sessions

We’re inviting ISOC chapters to engage in any or all of the following ways:

📜 Suggested Areas of Contribution

These are a few areas where ISOC chapter insight is especially valued:

• 🧾 Authentication, identity, and trust

• 🌐 Interoperability and simplicity

• 🧍 Participant sovereignty and privacy

• ⚖️ Governance models for diverse communities

• 🤖 Transparent and ethical AI

• 🏛️ Infrastructure and protocol design

• 📚 Documentation, permanence, and history

📅 Call for Input Deadline: June 30, 2025

We believe AI should be governed in public, with real input from the people building and thinking about it every day.

This is your invitation to shape the protocols that shape what comes next.

✨ Recognition for Participating Chapters

• Your chapter listed as an official contributor

• Optional badge or seal for your website

• Invitation to Meta-Layer design sprints and policy workshops

• Cross-chapter networking opportunities

📣 Help Us Build the Next Layer—Together

Your chapter has already shaped the internet.

Now help shape the space above it.