Welcoming Michelle Thuo: A New Chapter for the Meta-Layer Infrastructure SIG

We're seeking 25 founding members, including:

• General members: provide input, insight, and effort on SIG direction, operations, and projects. Vote.

• Stewards for each Desirable Property of the Meta-Layer
  These leads will guide working groups that define, translate, and evolve each property into enforceable requirements for applications and overlays.

• A Secretary
  To support procedural transparency, documentation, and governance.

• Three Board Members
  To help shape the vision, represent the SIG, and ensure long-term integrity.

All roles require ISOC membership (free and open globally). We want a team that is globally representative, ethically grounded, and deeply committed. To ensure youth representation in leadership, at least three of the six board members of the SIG will be 25 years or younger.

What’s Happening Next

This is not a think tank. It’s a launch cycle. Over the next 4 months, we’re:

• Hosting workshops and onboarding sprints

• Building coordination spaces (including a WhatsApp community and async channels)

• Submitting a SIG application

• Publishing a Meta-Layer Fieldbook to showcase early use cases

• Leading live sessions during ISOC’s SIG selection process (Sept 25 & Oct 16)

We are designing for real activation, not symbolic support.

Once approved, the SIG will formally assume the governance mantle of the Meta-Layer Initiative -- an existing open project gathering public and expert input on the Desirable Properties of a meta-layer and translating those into real-world infrastructure. This includes guiding the development of an interoperable application substrate designed to serve as the civic backbone of the Web’s interface layer.

Call to Action

📝 Ready to get involved?

Fill out our onboarding form and indicate how you’d like to participate: as a steward, contributor, supporter, or listener. You’ll get:

• Early access to community events

• An invitation to our contributor WhatsApp group

• A chance to co-create the Internet’s civic layer

👉 https://forms.gle/U5bxUvW8Y77KVuuW9

This is not just a proposal. It’s a foundational moment.
Let’s shape the layer that shapes how we show up: together, in context, and in trust.

Trust won't be platformed. It will be Meta-Layered.

The Internet Society's Emerging SIG Gains Momentum with Young Leadership from Kenya

We are thrilled to announce that Michelle Thuo, a brilliant young coder from Kenya, is joining as Vice Facilitator of the Meta-Layer Infrastructure SIG -- a new Special Interest Group proposed for the Internet Society. This SIG is the first of its kind: a global, interface-focused working group that will shape the civic architecture of the Internet’s next layer.

Michelle brings both technical depth and community-centered values. She embodies the future of Internet stewardship, one grounded in integrity, equity, and imagination.

"We need a browser-based layer where trust, visibility, and cooperation are defaults, not exceptions. I’m excited to help bring this vision to life with a global team."
— Michelle Thuo

Check out Michelle's blog post about the SIG.

Why the Meta-Layer?

The Meta-Layer is where tooltips appear, annotations live, and overlays can support truth, safety, and presence. A space just above the webpage that most people overlook. Yet it’s where civic infrastructure can take root: presence signals, trust indicators, and contextual tools that make the Internet more humane and navigable. We barely notice it. Nevertheless it is essential infrastructure for a safer, smarter, more human Internet.

This SIG will make that layer public, interoperable, and people-first—so that communities can:

• Co-create context and shared meaning across the Web

• Deploy trust signals like PEARL badges, verified flags, and provenance overlays

• Make AI more transparent at the interface level

• Build collective agency and accountability without relying on platforms or financialized incentives
  

Why Now, Why ISOC?

Most Internet infrastructure stops at access. But today, we need participation infrastructure—where people have agency, trust, and the tools to shape their digital environments.

The Internet Society (ISOC) is the ideal home for this:

• It’s independent of platform interests

• It has a strong base in open access, safety, and trust

• It supports Special Interest Groups (SIGs) with visibility and core funding

This SIG will position ISOC as the first global organization to champion interface-level agency, transparency, and accountability as shared civic infrastructure.

Join the Founding Team

We are currently assembling the core leadership group for the SIG. The initiators are lead facilitator Daveed Benjamin and vice facilitator Michelle Thou.