PGMT Lab member Dr. Paloma Viejo Otero presents at the symposium “Statecraft, Sovereignty & Digital Government” that takes place on 16 – 17 April 2026 at Goldsmiths, University of London. It is hosted by the DIGI-FRONT project, led by Irina Papazu (IT-University of Copenhagen) and Jessamy Perriam (ITU/Australian National University), and co-hosted by Nathaniel Tkacz (Goldsmiths, University of London).
States have increasingly used digital technologies, from early e-government to AI-driven services, to reshape how they engage with citizens. While countries collaborate on digital transformation and shared ideals like openness and participation, they also compete globally and use digital initiatives for political influence. In a context of democratic challenges, Big Tech dependencies, and rising concerns about digital sovereignty, the symposium seeks to explore how we should think about digital government and the provision of public services in light of these shifting technological and political conditions.
On Friday, 17 April, at 11:00, Dr. Paloma Viejo Otero will present her paper, “Media Persistence and Grassroots Digital Sovereignty: Lessons from Community Based Networks”, which she is working on with Prof. Eugenia Siapera and Dr. Efraín Foglia. The paper starts from a deceptively simple question: what is already working? Not what should exist, not what we’re building toward, but what exists now, has existed for twenty years, and has survived platform capitalism, budget cycles, and geopolitical rupture. The presentation will be part of the panel “Digital Sovereignty: Alternatives & Lock-ins”.
Find the whole program of the symposium here.