# Open Conversations: Infrastructure Must Be Human-Centered (Shady El Damaty & Nanak Nihal)

- Speakers: Shady El Damaty
- Channel: [Funding the Commons](https://streameth.org/funding_the_commons)
- Date: 2025-10-07
- Duration: 03:14
- Watch: https://streameth.org/watch/yt-LtTL3rUMgqU
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtTL3rUMgqU

## Description

A conversation with Shady El Damaty and Nanak Nihal from human.tech by Holonym Foundation. As digital infrastructure becomes more embedded in daily life, questions of privacy, consent, and control are becoming harder to ignore.

Shady and Nanak explore what it takes to build systems that put people first—where privacy is protected by design, access is possible without centralized gatekeepers, and identity remains in the hands of the individual.

Created at Funding the Commons at the Internet Archive, San Francisco, March 2025.

Relevant Projects:
human.tech by Holonym Foundation: https://human.tech/ 
Funding the Commons: https://www.fundingthecommons.io

Thank You to Our Sponsors:
Protocol Labs: https://www.protocol.ai/
NEAR Foundation: https://near.foundation/
Holonym: https://holonym.io/
Octant: https://octant.app/
Drips Network: https://drips.network/
Filecoin Foundation: https://fil.org/
OpenLedger: https://www.openledger.xyz/
Orange DAO: https://www.orangedao.xyz/
Regen Network: https://www.regen.network/