Reclaiming the Interface – An Invitation to the Meta-Layer SIG Event Series

The next two years offer a once-in-a-generation opportunity: to reclaim the interface for humanity. While web titans have focused 100% of their energy on proprietary silos, few have even recognized the civic potential of building in a layer. Why? Because to work in layers is to decentralize power – and that threatens monopolies. To design openly at the interface is to transfer agency back to the people.

This is exactly what the Meta-Layer Infrastructure SIG has been founded to do. For the first time in ISOC’s history, members have the chance to participate in a global task force-in-formation – a SIG that is intentionally time-boxed to two years, after which it sunsets and transitions into the Meta-Layer Task Force. Our mission is to build the governance, terminology, Desirable Properties, and substrate of the meta-layer so that humanity has a civic counterpart to the extractive silos of industry.

The IETF has been a cornerstone of internet architecture, focusing on protocols and standardization. But there has been little focus on the interface layer – the point where humans and AI meet, where communities interact, and where civic governance must live. The Meta-Layer SIG is stepping into that gap, creating what can become the meta-layer analog of the IETF. Not to replace protocols, but to provide the civic substrate that connects them in the space above the webpage. This is where consent, trust, and context must be made visible and enforceable. This is where the internet’s next frontier will be won.

We invite you – especially young people, the builders of the next era – to join this movement. The Meta-Layer SIG will not be a quiet group. Expect 10x the activity of a normal SIG, with constant opportunities to participate in global working groups, events, and design sprints. This is about more than discussions; it’s about prototyping the future and taking the ground together.

Upcoming Events:

• ISOC Q/A Session #1, Sept 25, 12:00-13:30 UTC - Register Here

• Meta-Layer Info Session #1 – Sept 27, 12:00-13:30 UTC Register here

• ISOC Q/A Session #2, Oct 16, 00:00-0130 UTC- Register Here

• Meta-Layer Info Session #2 – Oct 18, 00:00-0130 UTC Register here

• Meta-Layer Office Hours, every Tuesday at 11:30a PDT through Oct 28 View the calendar

This is not just another SIG. This is a launchpad, a civic laboratory, and a movement. In two years, it becomes the Meta-Layer Task Force – the standing global body for interface-level governance. Join us, help shape it, and together we will reclaim the interface for humanity.