Help Shape the Meta-Layer: The Next Level of the Internet
As an Internet Society chapter, your community has deep expertise in building, governing, and advocating for an open, secure, and trustworthy internet.
Now, we’re inviting you to contribute to the next evolution of web architecture—a Meta-Layer built not by platforms, but by people.
🗓 Public Input Open Through June 30, 2025
🌍 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.


Contribute | Build | Participate
Join us to shape the future of the web.
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© 2025. The Meta-Layer Initiative. All rights reserved.
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