The digital living room for your community

PubHubs stands for Public Hubs, a secure and trusted online platform. PubHubs features a central login that provides access to separate online environments (Hubs) managed by individual organizations. These Hubs are responsible for moderating discussions and exchanges within their own Hub.

Most people communicate online via global social media platforms that operate on a business model where user data is exchanged for free access. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X (Twitter), or TikTok focus on global connectivity between individuals. Their centrally managed, global (algorithmic) content moderation is insufficient to provide a safe public environment. PubHubs, on the other hand, is based on a public space where (institutional, local, professional, etc.) collectivity, not global connectivity, is central. PubHubs treats users as citizens who want to collaborate in a safe and trusted online environment for communication, deliberation, and content sharing. PubHubs aims to give existing societal organizations more digital control and autonomy. A school, football club, or public library does not need global reach to organize communication among its community. They prefer a self-moderated online environment with various functionalities where they can decide on data storage and content access.

PubHubs users include organizations such as patient associations, broadcasters, libraries, and their end-users. Municipalities and cultural institutions (from the PublicSpaces coalition) are also interested. Both these organizations and their end-users are PubHubs' target audience. Each organization will want to use PubHubs for different reasons and tailor it to their own community. Currently, PubHubs is developing core functionalities (such as local pseudonyms and access control for Rooms) that uphold public values and are necessary for all Hubs.

Autonomy: affiliated organizations can decide on the storage, management, and access to their data and content. PubHubs has no central authority that owns, manages, or stores data and content on a single server; this falls under the management of the organizations running a Hub. Safety and privacy: safety is ensured through a central Yivi login, which provides access to all Hubs and potentially restricted Rooms. Additionally, PubHubs offers flexible identity management: within each Hub, organizations can provide a self-moderated chat function through Rooms with person verification and content authentication.

Identity management is a core feature of PubHubs. With the central login, users provide their email address and mobile phone number for recognition on subsequent logins. This personal information remains known only at the central level. Within a Hub, users are known only by a pseudonym, i.e., a randomly assigned name that differs in each Hub. This ensures that what users share in one Hub, such as in a patient support group, cannot be linked to them in another Hub, like a sports club. Users can replace the pseudonym with a self-chosen name for recognizability. PubHubs also offers 'proportional and attribute-based authentication.' Proportional means users only share information essential for the context, no more, no less. Attribute-based means each piece of identity information can be revealed separately. For example, if a library reading group is only for 8-12-year-olds, only the verified 'age' attribute (not the birth date) is needed. Professional caregivers can be recognized in a patient environment, for instance, via their BIG registration.

In PubHubs, communities ('Hubs') are managed by participating organizations with a duty of care, which are also responsible for underlying discussion groups ('Rooms'). Rooms are public or restricted chat environments for conversations or data sharing. Human moderators (employees of the managing organization or volunteers) will be active in Hubs and Rooms, overseeing interactions and possibly themes.

PubHubs' central login provides access to all affiliated Hubs. To log in, users provide their email address and phone number as an ID check. PubHubs uses the privacy-friendly Yivi app for proportional, attribute-based authentication. Yivi is not part of PubHubs but a separate login tool. In the long term, other open-source, nonprofit, and privacy-friendly 'wallet-id apps' will also be supported for PubHubs login. Once registered, users receive a PubHubs 'ticket' in the Yivi app for identification on subsequent logins. Information like email addresses and phone numbers is never shared with participating Hubs or third parties, protecting user privacy while verifying identity.

The key difference is the purpose. PubHubs is not a global social network but an online environment for existing organizations focused on public values and rooted in (physical or offline) society (currently limited to the Netherlands). A social network like Facebook may present itself as a place for individual connections, but it primarily serves ads. As a centralized platform, Facebook collects user data to link profiles to advertisements. PubHubs centers participating organizations and their audiences, with organizations responsible for moderation and no commercial incentives or software designed for such purposes. PubHubs is a nonprofit, open-source online environment developed in co-creation with involved parties.

PubHubs is a co-creation project for Dutch organizations focused on public values, offering an alternative online environment that reflects those values. It is also a research project to better understand what is needed to build (technology development) and manage (governance and moderation) such an environment. Started in late 2021, it is still in development. The team at Radboud University Nijmegen designs and builds core functionalities like login and Room communication. Utrecht University explores potential governance models. Together with PublicSpaces partners, they are identifying shared 'must-have functionalities' for participating organizations through workshops.

The managing organization for PubHubs is yet to be established as a separate legal entity, but PubHubs aims to provide a nonprofit online environment without ads, product sales, or data trading. Development is currently funded by the Stevin-Spinoza prize, SIDN fund, and ZonMW subsidies. Moderation costs will be borne by participating organizations; costs for open-source software development and maintenance will likely be covered by PubHubs members (and funds).